Cunningham Machine Upper/Lower Steering Shafts?

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chevyrider838

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@Cunningham Machine I ordered the Cunningham lower a while back for my ‘99 K1500 Classic and it’s great, however, I’m trying to install the Cunningham upper now but I’ll need to turn steering wheel 90 degrees to insert the upper into the steering shaft at the steering wheel. Website states that this could happen if you don’t have the Cunningham lower…but I do!!
Is this normal or did I get one with the incorrect orientation? The Cunningham upper is horizontal on one end and vertical on the other end. Can I install like this?

I’ll wait to hear back from you guys before continuing install. Thanks

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Below is the original upper that came out…same orientation on both ends unlike the Cunningham.
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offroadtahoe

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i have installed the lower shaft with the set screw up and down,could do it sideways so it goes in correctly,
 

offroadtahoe

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A picture is a thousand words,This is what i mean by up and down setting of the set screw This is my old stock shaft with flaming river spline u-joint.

I personally have the lower Cunningham shaft for a 3" body lift and a stock upper u-joint on my Tahoe with the stock Intermediate shaft
 

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offroadtahoe

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Here is the stock u-joint version that comes on some of the gmc/chevy's so you can see the orientation as well
 

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chevyrider838

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A picture is a thousand words,This is what i mean by up and down setting of the set screw This is my old stock shaft with flaming river spline u-joint.

I personally have the lower Cunningham shaft for a 3" body lift and a stock upper u-joint on my Tahoe with the stock Intermediate shaft
Here is the stock u-joint version that comes on some of the gmc/chevy's so you can see the orientation as well

I really appreciate it. Cunningham Machine ended up responding as well through Facebook as well. Issue solved. Thx again!
 
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A97obs

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A picture is a thousand words,This is what i mean by up and down setting of the set screw This is my old stock shaft with flaming river spline u-joint.

I personally have the lower Cunningham shaft for a 3" body lift and a stock upper u-joint on my Tahoe with the stock Intermediate shaft
Not sure if your #2 Photo illustration is how you did it with the Cunningham set screw , but I’m fairly sure with the Cunningham lower shaft and splines being 360* degree splined with no flat spot on their shafts they say to lock their set screw in past the splines in the “Grooved channeled valley area of the gear box shaft “
This only pertains to Cunningham steering shafts afaik
Stock oem set screw may lock down on the flat area
Just my input and understanding.
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A97obs

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With my steering wheel locked !
Wheels straight
Oem shaft removed
Cunningham shaft slid up to and over gear box, Cunningham set screw will not naturally align over the flat part of the Gear box.
The Cunningham set screws lock down where it naturally aligns and lands “But it must be locked in the valley “ Not on the flat area !
Reference below how my alignment fell naturally. It’s not Like a stock GM steering shaft where flat meets flat .
Since the splines on Cunningham are full 360*

Set screw locks in “1” ✅
Does not lock in “2” Flat spot ❌
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A97obs

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Unless I credit my front end alignment as the culprit .. I don’t see how everyone else’s gear box shaft is at the 12’oclock position by default when they remove the OEM Steering shaft for an upgrade .

When I parked my truck locked steering straight

Took off oem steering shaft

Slid the new U-joint shaft up to the gear box , as shown my flat spot on gear box shaft lands naturally at the
1-2 o’clock position that’s me looking down at it from the front engine bay.

With all that said and the steering locked in place the set screw on the Cunningham shaft naturally aligns to the left of the flat spot.
That could be from an alignment issue with tie rods .

It’s said that the correct set screw alignment for Cunningham steering shaft is in the “1” ✅ placement I marked in photo in the Grooved channel
Not on the flat spot “2” ❌

The flat spot indent i believe would be for a stock steering shaft and bolt ?

But I need to know should all gear box shaft flat spot be at the 12’o clock position with steering locked and wheels straight
 

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