Steering slop?

[ChrisAU]

Ok, so a 84-96 XJ intermediate steering shaft will work right? Trying to decide if I want to pull the trigger on one or not. Saw a couple at the yard today but the cab-side of the shaft looked like too much of a B*tch to try to get to.

 

[the big blue bus]

okay in for the results. if better ill be doing this

 

[ChrisAU]

Ordered an XJ shaft this morning, hopefully I have the tools to make it work.

 

[woody80z28]

My steering box has some slop, but the rag joint does too. What is so special about the Jeep shaft?

 

[ChrisAU]

It has no rag joint, just u-joints, so no built in slop.

 

[sewlow]

Did this swap last week. Simple as pie! Took me longer to get the plastic cover off the rag joint/lower connection than to do the job. Had to cut it off with my dremel.
BIG diff! Much more positive feel.
Now I just need to get the front re-aligned with a bit more toe-in, due to the tires extra width & the drag that that causes.
I can hold a line much better through the corners, without the unpredictible twitchiness from the rag joint. Much, much better!
A very worthwhile upgrade, that only cost me $20.00 for the Jeep shaft, some paint, & a bit of bearing grease.

 

[90chevstepside]

Awesome!

 

[ChrisAU]

I'm hoping the shaft I bought wont require heat to collapse it, I'll find out Monday.

 

[sewlow]

I went through 2 to get one without a screwed up universal. Didn't realize that the first one was junk until after I got it all cleaned up. Thought that it was just dirt causing it to feel a little funky. Both needed to be heated up to get them to collapse. The first one was like butter. 30 seconds of the torch & it came apart. The second one took quite a bit more, but it was rusty inside. A couple of minutes on the wire wheel, then some bearing grease & it was like new.
You'll be able to see when it's ready to come apart when the plastic/wax/glue, whatever that stuff is, starts to bubble out the top of the connection point of the two shafts.
A small blue bottle propane torch worked on the first one, but for the second, a proper torch with a large orifice tip worked much better.

 

[DRAGGIN95]

I would like to see a pic of one of these shaft's that you guy's are installing to see if it will work or could be made to work on 95+.