Steering shaft upgrade

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Pillsbury42

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I’m thinking about doing the jeep steering shaft upgrade. Iv seen some new ones on eBay for like $50 was wondering if anyone has any experience with using one of these as far as fit and Quality of the part. Thanks
 

Schurkey

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There's an entire thread on exactly that subject. If you have a pre-Air-Bag truck, the Jeep shaft kinda works. When it was my '88 K1500, I used the Genuine GM C3500HD shaft and lower bolt, which is a direct replacement with no screwing around.

The trucks starting in...'95 (?) have a different steering column, the Jeep or the C3500HD shafts are a poor solution requiring extra bracing. You didn't specify what vehicle you're modifying.

www.gmt400.com/threads/xj-steering-shaft-upgrade-88-94-trucks-95-instructions-on-page-31.12087/

 

Menissalt

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I would recommend just getting the shaft from Cunningham Machine. Fit and quality are great, no fab/cutting needed. Plus it supports a forum member.


Put it in my 89 fairly recently. It was such an easy install my shop didn't even charge me for it.

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Vikingdude

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I also picked up a Cunningham Machine lower shaft for my 97. Great guys, excellent quality. Install took all of 10 minutes.
 

someotherguy

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I did the Jeep shaft many years ago and the rubber insert in it went bad, causing some extra play in the steering. Probably accelerated the wear by close proximity to the header tubes, but still.. anyway, the tab-looking thing you see captured in the tube there below the u-joint would clunk left and right. Note the difference in position in the two pics here:

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I replaced it with the Borgeson shaft which was a pretty good option at the time but expensive.

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Both the 3500HD and Cunningham options seem like good routes to investigate. The Borgeson was fine too, just pricey.

Richard
 

MNorton

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I ordered one of the 40 dollar ones off eBay and much to my surprise I did not have to torch the shaft to break loose the plastic thingys. The shaft I got was new and was for 84-94 jeep Cherokee. The shaft would move in and out 2 1/2 inches. My shaft was about 19 inches bolt center to bolt center and this new shaft would move from 18 to 20 1/2 inches so it fit fine as received. I did have to grind a small notch for the bolt. Installation took a whole 15 minutes. Got rid of rag joint and quite a bit of slop. Much better now!
 
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