G-Body upgraded intermediate steering shaft

[jimsmonte80]

The issue Jimsmonte is talking about is body to frame movement. It's real no matter how good your body mounts are. Every bump your car hits, I guarantee there is some distance change from steering box to steering column. Without a slip joint, there are bearings in that system that will not be happy.

The rag joint is not meant to deal with length change. It's a coupler that can account for any angle variance. The joint at the top by firewall is a sliding couple. This is what the Jeep and Astro upgrade do not account for.

I'm not here to say a rag joint is better than a universal joint but if there is no slip joint coupler then OEM for me.

Comparing a broken or worn rag joint to a universal joint is a poor argument.

Yes, thank you! These universal joints from jeeps are from a vehicle with a uni-body construction. Years ago my rag joint was shot, the jeep conversion seemed like a decent option with e decent price. At the time, the OEM rag joint intermediate shafts where going for $200. As long as the jeep shaft would telescope during operation, I was happy with that. But now I am having some play where the shaft telescopes. I am thinking about going back to the OEM rag joint. With the added shroud that surrounds the rag joint, I would think this would help with direct heat protecting the rag joint.

 

[Ribbedroof]

If you guys think unibodies don't flex , please explain to me why there are different sets of measurements on my frame rack measuring system for on wheels vs pinchweld clamps, engine in or out, and the ever popular subframe connectors for almost every popular unibody vehicle.

Makes no difference to me, just think all this angst over the movement of the body on frame might be just a bit obsessive.

Me, I rebuilt the OE shaft with new rag disc, and upper boot. Drives fine, especially given the terrible roads in OK. Had a jeep shaft, decided it was pointless to install a used 200,000 mile part and call it an "upgrade".

Obviously, a universal at each end is going to be better than a worn out rag joint.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

The Rag Joint was designed as a cheap alternative for a joint that needed to have some pivot to it when rotating. Body to frame flex yea the whole car will flex before that would be a factor IMO.

 

[MisterA]

Nothing wrong with whatever you want to run, as long as you don't do something ridiculous like try to weld a steel pipe to the column shaft and steering box 😆

For me, and my money, I've never had a problem with a rag joint, and I don't know what people do to make them go bad that I don't do🤔

It can't be pure luck I've never had one 'go bad'.... I've got 50 year old trucks on their original setup.. no issues.

I've got 500,000 miles trucks since new.... no issues. I've got 250k+ mile gbodies, I've got low mileage gbodies, none have issues from lots of use, or almost no use. And I've just never had one go bad, not in the last 40 years.

Im with you...I havent had any issues with the rag joint...

 

[kkgkeane]

I've been contemplating removing the rag joint mainly because of the slop in the steering wheel, I would say about 2" each way on the steering wheel. I cannot remember my original cutlass back in the 80's if this was normal. The comments in this thread definitely have me rethinking options.

 

[ck80]

I've been contemplating removing the rag joint mainly because of the slop in the steering wheel, I would say about 2" each way on the steering wheel. I cannot remember my original cutlass back in the 80's if this was normal. The comments in this thread definitely have me rethinking options.

Slop in the steering wheel can also be worn tie rod ends which would have nothing to do with the rag joint.

 

[69hurstolds]

There's also steering box gear lash can cause excessive play as well. Sloppiness in the system is additive. If more than one component is sloppy, it just gets worse at the steery wheel. You can get a new U-joint lower shaft, as it can help, but won't solve everything.

Removing all sloppiness will not happen no matter what you do. You can only minimize it.

Regrets on doing mods to your car are not uncommon. Happens a lot in this hobby. Setbacks are big and small in every project. All that work, money, and time, and it doesn't turn out the way you hoped. Then it's all the work and time and money to go back to the way it was. Nobody will fault you for it. Hell, I've done it plenty of times. But in a few years, you forget about all the stupid junk you did in the past until you have to do it next time, and that's when you remember not to do it that way again.

It's just a good thing that they make those reproduction lower steery shafts for a G-body so you can go backwards if you need to.

 

[88AZSS]

I tightened the tilt bolts in my column, added the bearing-type seal at the end of the column where the intermediate shaft meets, have a tight jeep intermediate shaft, installed a rebuilt quick ratio steering box, new tie rods, new center link, new ball joints, everything. And I still have some slight play in my steering. Its definitely less than what it was with all the old worn out stuff but its there. Its hard to say which of those things made the difference but there is one. I minimized the play, as 69hurstolds mentioned, but at this point I doubt itll go away. I do like the jeep shaft upgrade but dont think its the sole reason things have gotten better. If looking for a good upgrade, I'd say go with it and see how you feel with the changes. Nothing more than a few minutes swap back to the old shaft if its not what you expected.

 

[kkgkeane]

There's also steering box gear lash can cause excessive play as well. Sloppiness in the system is additive. If more than one component is sloppy, it just gets worse at the steery wheel. You can get a new U-joint lower shaft, as it can help, but won't solve everything.

Removing all sloppiness will not happen no matter what you do. You can only minimize it.

Regrets on doing mods to your car are not uncommon. Happens a lot in this hobby. Setbacks are big and small in every project. All that work, money, and time, and it doesn't turn out the way you hoped. Then it's all the work and time and money to go back to the way it was. Nobody will fault you for it. Hell, I've done it plenty of times. But in a few years, you forget about all the stupid junk you did in the past until you have to do it next time, and that's when you remember not to do it that way again.

It's just a good thing that they make those reproduction lower steery shafts for a G-body so you can go backwards if you need to.

Thank you for the feedback

 

[kkgkeane]

There's also steering box gear lash can cause excessive play as well. Sloppiness in the system is additive. If more than one component is sloppy, it just gets worse at the steery wheel. You can get a new U-joint lower shaft, as it can help, but won't solve everything.

Removing all sloppiness will not happen no matter what you do. You can only minimize it.

Regrets on doing mods to your car are not uncommon. Happens a lot in this hobby. Setbacks are big and small in every project. All that work, money, and time, and it doesn't turn out the way you hoped. Then it's all the work and time and money to go back to the way it was. Nobody will fault you for it. Hell, I've done it plenty of times. But in a few years, you forget about all the stupid junk you did in the past until you have to do it next time, and that's when you remember not to do it that way again.

It's just a good thing that they make those reproduction lower steery shafts for a G-body so you can go backwards if you need to.

Slop in the steering wheel can also be worn tie rod ends which would have nothing to do with the rag joint.

Thank you for the guidance