Rag Joint Replacement

[96taho]

Just read all 5 pages of comments on this thread and one guy mentioned replacing rag joint with aliminum disk,But no one mentioned that they sell a “universal polyurethane disk”
To replace the laminated rubber bullshit..This way if your leery of the intermediate shaft swap you can just swap out the rubber rag with polyurethane and still maintain your OEM shaft and steering geometry if thats a concern...I’ll post a link on ebay for this polyurethan disck below...
https://m.ebay.com/itm/RAG-JOINTS-P...?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10&_mwBanner=1

 

[BJ Doolittle]

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[BJ Doolittle]

Johnnylawmotors.com helix steering u joints and D shaft. 39.00 for shaft 46.17 and 76.95 for u joints. Just double check spline count on gear and match ujoint . And steering Collum style cut shaft to fit.

 

[Bodageta1995]

Question. On the later trucks say 95 and up do you really even need a flexible joint at the rag joint location? Would the joint that was added in the later trucks do the job alone and the rag joint just maintained in the later design by GM to isolate the column from vibration traveling to the driver? My shaft to box alignment looks pretty straight on. Just wondering, thinking outside the box. I would need to look closer at the joint setup I guess. Of course if it went bad it could be bad. Rag joint offers extra margin of safety for misaligment but...maybe the existing is enough. If that were the case the fabric in the rag joint could be replaced with steel sheet etc. As a warning, dont try this at home. Just pondering...

 

[Bodageta1995]

The images above say no to my question but I assume it's the older truck. I would have to look at mine. Probably not going to work. Never mind.

 

[Steve A]

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Unis...-3-4-Inch-36-Spline-to-3-4-Inch-DD,21281.html

Here ya go guys, this should do it.

 

[ccreddell]

OK. Verified that the lower shaft of an early 2000s 1500 van works on 95+ trucks with the u-joint behind the firewall. The engagement is fairly shallow, so I wouldnt recommend it if you have a body lift, but man! is it nice and tite! BTW, I did this on my 99 2-door Tahoe.