Pull-A-Part is my Toys-R-Us, so I was there anyways. The Jeep shaft does not require laying anywhere to remove, but you did get a pretty good deal.
XJ Steering Shaft Upgrade (88-94 Trucks) 95+instructions on page 31
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kenh
I see nothing I hear nothing
So maybe not such a great idea to melt the plastic out of the shaft??? If/when I do this to mine I'll do it the hard way and try not to heat it up.
Ken
Good luck, let us know if you figure out how to do that. She’s in there pretty tight.
12turnda
Newbie
Idk if anybody has already confirmed this or not, but I had no issue using the lower portion of a '98 Ram steering shaft and my stock upper steering shaft to get rid of the factory rag joint. Should work with 94-02 Ram steering shafts for the 95+ trucks with the U-joint under the dash. I cut the Ram shaft after the factory pinch retainer for the sliding mechanism, slid the old shaft out, and slid the top portion of my factory shaft in. 10 min job at most.
The splines that mated to the steering box fought me a little going in, but I think that was the paint on my garbage reman steering box's splines.
The Ram shaft was $20 at an overpriced u-pull it and seems to be a much cheaper solution than anything aftermarket.
I also have an XJ steering shaft if anybody is still looking for one, I bought it before I realized I had the under dash joint.
The splines that mated to the steering box fought me a little going in, but I think that was the paint on my garbage reman steering box's splines.
The Ram shaft was $20 at an overpriced u-pull it and seems to be a much cheaper solution than anything aftermarket.
I also have an XJ steering shaft if anybody is still looking for one, I bought it before I realized I had the under dash joint.
454cid
Sooper Pooper
I just looked at a picture on Rockauto, and it seems that the Dodge shaft has a rag joint too.... is that the upper end, then?
12turnda
Newbie
The one I bought from the yard looked like the picture from Rockauto but without the rag joint, maybe the rag joint was an update for later years?
But based on that picture, yes the rag joint is on the upper portion that collapses into the larger lower end on the steering box. I cut the crimp retainer under the boot and removed the upper end entirely.
Is it really supposed to be this easy? I bought a new replacement Jeep shaft because anything here in New England has turned back to iron oxide if left unattended in the local boneyards. Even vehicles that are still driving that are older are pretty well on their way to rot. Anyways, the shaft that arrived did not have the injected nylon retention, but was swaged at the lower end of the upper tube to retain the lower half. I used a cut-off wheel to sever the swages and the lower shaft pulled right out. I removed the truck's ('89 Cheyenne) steering shaft and installed the reworked jeep shaft. Must have taken all of 20 minutes. What concerns me though, is the upper DD coupling. Every video I watched, shows a notch being made so that the fastening screw could be slid across to the adjacent side to be threaded and tightened. Mine just slid across with no interference. So in a way, there is no retention factor, if for some reason that screw should loosen, allowing the coupler to just slide off. I used lots of loc-tite on the screw, hoping that will prevent the screw loosening.
Attachments
If you leave the bottom disconnected, can you slide the XJ shaft on and off with the retaining bolt in place? If so, I wouldn't use it. I found a good junkyard XJ shaft and I had to grind the notch to install it.
To answer your question, yes, and no. Once tightened, the upper half will not pull off. There is a good clamping effect. But, if for some reason, the screw should loosen (don't see how, using loc-tite, but anything's possible) there is the possibility of separation, but first, the lower half would have had to dis-engage the steering box, and both set screws tightening the inner/outer halves would have had to release their tension. I'm not set on "this is the shaft I'm gonna use", but for now it works. I'll just keep an eye on things. I'm sure the boneyards in your part of the country have a lot of good dry/clean parts. Here in N.E., yards start crushing things that are 10 yrs. old or older due to the amount of rust, and to get get more for the cleaner recycling value
Isn't the upper clamp intended to be attached with a bolt through the BOLT HOLE in the steering column? It's nucking futs to use a part that merely "clamps" when the engineered intention was to put the clamping bolt into shear as well.
I don't know what you guys are paying for a "Jeep" or "Ram" steering shaft that then needs to be modified; when it was me I used Genuine GM parts that dropped into place with zero modification beyond needing a longer bolt (also Genuine GM) at the steering gear attachment.
Losing the shiity, small, wiped-out rag joint was worth every bit of the ~$220 cost. Among the best and most cost-effective mods I ever did to that truck, with the 9.5" semi-float axle with attached 11.x Duo-Servo rear brakes coming in a close second, at almost triple the cost.
I don't know what you guys are paying for a "Jeep" or "Ram" steering shaft that then needs to be modified; when it was me I used Genuine GM parts that dropped into place with zero modification beyond needing a longer bolt (also Genuine GM) at the steering gear attachment.
Losing the shiity, small, wiped-out rag joint was worth every bit of the ~$220 cost. Among the best and most cost-effective mods I ever did to that truck, with the 9.5" semi-float axle with attached 11.x Duo-Servo rear brakes coming in a close second, at almost triple the cost.
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