Tacoma
Et incurventur ante non
- Location
- far enough away
Sadly, this isn't going to have any pictures, since I can't upload a @#%#@$ thing from my wife's work computer. must fix laptop screen!
anyway. I hate rag joints, hate them hate them HATE THEM. Why? Because they work fine until one day they dont' and then your steering is all sloppy. And I hate having to use 2 wrenches, and it's hard to get in there, waaah waah. SO! What to do. Get an XJ steering shaft, which uses U-joints and is therefore, and surprisingly, SUPERIOR. It is the only Jeep part you should EVER, EVER consider putting in your Chevy.
Now pay attention, this is an easy swap, seriously. Banana and a half, maybe. This mod works on '89's, not sure how early this works for-- because earlier GM trucks have different connections. What you want is a splined connection at the box, and a through-bolted, flat-sided deal at the firewall of your GM product.
1. Find an XJ, get the steering shaft off of it. There is a bolt at the firewall, and one on the steering box connection. Remove the one at the firewall, and loosen the one at the steering box. Remove shaft. Voila, step 1 is over.
2. Remove the GM stuff. Take the steering shaft off the box, and remove the through-bolt at the firewall. Use a suitable tool to tap the shaft off at the firewall. DO NOT POUND IT LIKE A GORILLA!! The stub sticking out of the firewall goes up to the steering wheel, there are a couple plastic bushings and bearings and races that DO NOT like the pounding. I tested a scrap column I had, and it really doesn't take that much to mess those up. So tap with intent, but kindness.
Once the shaft is off, remove the rag joint half from the steering box. Use a 12pt socket. I wigged for a second and then remembered that I had a set. They'll work.
Take that stuff, and throw it far, far from you.
I should mention here that GM also has a rubber, crappy blob up near the firewall on their stock steering shafts. Rag joint + that thing= slop. Booo!
on to the improvement:
1. take an appropriate drill bit, and drill out the plastic pins in the XJ shaft. This is so you can collapse it a little. Believe it or not, the XJ shaft is actually a bit longer than the GM shaft. If you like, and I think it's a good idea, pull it apart and shorten the box side the same amount you collapse it. This way, if you should get in an accident and need a collapsing shaft, you won't have one that's too long because you're using it in the wrong vehicle, and you won't get the other end stabbed into your face and feel stupid before you die horribly. Or, you can roll the dice. You're in a GM truck/Blazer, you're screwed anyway.
2. Still thinking happy thoughts, go have lunch or dinner. Getting the GM stuff off sucked, and you're still kind of irritated. Work it out. Pet the family cat or dog.
3. Refreshed, get back to it. PROCEED WITH CAUTION! Carefully take a grinder, and threading it under the brake booster, carefully take a few passes over the GM stub, just make it a little smaller. Not much. Like, hit it w/two quick passes . Maybe smooth out the ridges with a file if you want. I did. I wanted to. *NOTE: you might not HAVE to grind it, except for the detent notch mentioned below... but mine fit better once I did. DO NOT GRIND MUCH! you have to tap the XJ shaft on, it's a tight fit. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
Hold the XJ shaft up, and eyeball where the pinch bolt is going to be on the GM stub. XJ's use a pinch bolt with a small detent groove in the XJ stub, GM's use a through-hole with a nut and bolt, and have no detent groove. So make one. Dremels would make nicer, more precise grooves-- there is not much room to get a grinder in under the brake booster.
4. GENTLY tap the XJ shaft onto the GM stub-- angle the long end to and fro and you will get enough room to tap each side of the yoke.
Insert the pinch bolt, with Loctite, and crank 'er down. DONE up top.
5. attach the other end to the GM box. Tighten the bolt. Enjoy less-sloppy steering.
A few notes:
Depending on how you dealt with the pins in the XJ shaft, you may or may not develop a little play. If so, you can drill the holes (and maybe add one) and tap them for some set screws, or add a strip of scrap to beef it up and THEN add the set screws.
WJ/ZJ shafts will not work. Though they have a robust-looking set of yokes for the joints, the shaft diameters are totally wrong for GM stuff. Avoid!
Be careful when tapping the shaft on or off the GM stub. As mentioned, you can mess up your column without much effort. You don't have to be a girl about it, just don't gorilla the sh*t out of it, you WILL break something, and digging into a GM column just sucks. I have had every tilt column in every truck I've had needing to be tightened, so trust me when I say that.
Ok so that's it. Pretty easy. Hardest part is getting the GM stuff off, the angles are bad to get in and tap the shaft off the stub at the firewall. Second hardest is probably the grinding, because there's no room.
anyway. I hate rag joints, hate them hate them HATE THEM. Why? Because they work fine until one day they dont' and then your steering is all sloppy. And I hate having to use 2 wrenches, and it's hard to get in there, waaah waah. SO! What to do. Get an XJ steering shaft, which uses U-joints and is therefore, and surprisingly, SUPERIOR. It is the only Jeep part you should EVER, EVER consider putting in your Chevy.
Now pay attention, this is an easy swap, seriously. Banana and a half, maybe. This mod works on '89's, not sure how early this works for-- because earlier GM trucks have different connections. What you want is a splined connection at the box, and a through-bolted, flat-sided deal at the firewall of your GM product.
1. Find an XJ, get the steering shaft off of it. There is a bolt at the firewall, and one on the steering box connection. Remove the one at the firewall, and loosen the one at the steering box. Remove shaft. Voila, step 1 is over.
2. Remove the GM stuff. Take the steering shaft off the box, and remove the through-bolt at the firewall. Use a suitable tool to tap the shaft off at the firewall. DO NOT POUND IT LIKE A GORILLA!! The stub sticking out of the firewall goes up to the steering wheel, there are a couple plastic bushings and bearings and races that DO NOT like the pounding. I tested a scrap column I had, and it really doesn't take that much to mess those up. So tap with intent, but kindness.
Once the shaft is off, remove the rag joint half from the steering box. Use a 12pt socket. I wigged for a second and then remembered that I had a set. They'll work.
Take that stuff, and throw it far, far from you.
I should mention here that GM also has a rubber, crappy blob up near the firewall on their stock steering shafts. Rag joint + that thing= slop. Booo!
on to the improvement:
1. take an appropriate drill bit, and drill out the plastic pins in the XJ shaft. This is so you can collapse it a little. Believe it or not, the XJ shaft is actually a bit longer than the GM shaft. If you like, and I think it's a good idea, pull it apart and shorten the box side the same amount you collapse it. This way, if you should get in an accident and need a collapsing shaft, you won't have one that's too long because you're using it in the wrong vehicle, and you won't get the other end stabbed into your face and feel stupid before you die horribly. Or, you can roll the dice. You're in a GM truck/Blazer, you're screwed anyway.
2. Still thinking happy thoughts, go have lunch or dinner. Getting the GM stuff off sucked, and you're still kind of irritated. Work it out. Pet the family cat or dog.
3. Refreshed, get back to it. PROCEED WITH CAUTION! Carefully take a grinder, and threading it under the brake booster, carefully take a few passes over the GM stub, just make it a little smaller. Not much. Like, hit it w/two quick passes . Maybe smooth out the ridges with a file if you want. I did. I wanted to. *NOTE: you might not HAVE to grind it, except for the detent notch mentioned below... but mine fit better once I did. DO NOT GRIND MUCH! you have to tap the XJ shaft on, it's a tight fit. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
Hold the XJ shaft up, and eyeball where the pinch bolt is going to be on the GM stub. XJ's use a pinch bolt with a small detent groove in the XJ stub, GM's use a through-hole with a nut and bolt, and have no detent groove. So make one. Dremels would make nicer, more precise grooves-- there is not much room to get a grinder in under the brake booster.
4. GENTLY tap the XJ shaft onto the GM stub-- angle the long end to and fro and you will get enough room to tap each side of the yoke.
Insert the pinch bolt, with Loctite, and crank 'er down. DONE up top.
5. attach the other end to the GM box. Tighten the bolt. Enjoy less-sloppy steering.
A few notes:
Depending on how you dealt with the pins in the XJ shaft, you may or may not develop a little play. If so, you can drill the holes (and maybe add one) and tap them for some set screws, or add a strip of scrap to beef it up and THEN add the set screws.
WJ/ZJ shafts will not work. Though they have a robust-looking set of yokes for the joints, the shaft diameters are totally wrong for GM stuff. Avoid!
Be careful when tapping the shaft on or off the GM stub. As mentioned, you can mess up your column without much effort. You don't have to be a girl about it, just don't gorilla the sh*t out of it, you WILL break something, and digging into a GM column just sucks. I have had every tilt column in every truck I've had needing to be tightened, so trust me when I say that.
Ok so that's it. Pretty easy. Hardest part is getting the GM stuff off, the angles are bad to get in and tap the shaft off the stub at the firewall. Second hardest is probably the grinding, because there's no room.
