Steering shaft upgrade for 1978 model year Gbody

[revdoc]

Hi everyone, I'm looking to upgrade my steering shaft to get rid of the rag joint on my 78 Cutlass. The Jeep shaft that everyone uses won't work on 78's because the shaft coming out of the firewall is splined instead of D-shaped. Has anyone found a good substitute for the 78 models?

My other option would be changing out the steering column for a 79+ part, then the Jeep shaft will work. Does anyone know what year steering columns will interchange with a 78 as far as wiring and such? I'd like it to be plug and play as much as possible.

 

[pontiacgp]

I use the shaft from an Astro/Safari van. I'm not sure what spline you have but you can always buy a knuckle to fit the shaft and the splined steering shaft. I have a 1"D with a splined knuckle to fit the Delhi 600 box

 

[rastabusiness]

Did you solve your rag joint problem on your 1978 Gbody? If not, I can share my solution with you. I purchased a 48 spline X 3/4 DD U-Joint off of eBay. It was heavy duty stainless. Works flawlessly!

 

[revdoc]

I think that is what I need, if I'm looking at the pics right. The ebay part is just the small shiny adapter on the top end of the shaft, right? Cause the rest of the shaft looks just like the Jeep shaft I have laying on the counter. Then the close up is of the splines on the ebay part, which is what I need to adapt to the factory splines coming out of the firewall. I'll be looking into this, have you confirmed the splined female end fits your car?

 

[565bbchevy]

I think if you have splines coming off your steering column you might want to go with something like a Borgeson universal shaft and you can buy the universal joints separately to match your set up.

 

[kalidromos13]

I have a 78 monte carlo and i thought grinding down the shaft of the steering column to a d shape to fit the jeep shaft, but that looks like a better idea. Ill have to order the parts and try it out! Thanks Rastabusiness!!

 

[rastabusiness]

Yes, it worked out great. I am installed and good to go! My dilemma now is headliner retainer clips! Don't want to purchase wrong part number.

 

[oldsmobile joe]

Hi everyone, I'm looking to upgrade my steering shaft to get rid of the rag joint on my 78 Cutlass. The Jeep shaft that everyone uses won't work on 78's because the shaft coming out of the firewall is splined instead of D-shaped. Has anyone found a good substitute for the 78 models?

My other option would be changing out the steering column for a 79+ part, then the Jeep shaft will work. Does anyone know what year steering columns will interchange with a 78 as far as wiring and such? I'd like it to be plug and play as much as possible.

yes, 79 to 88 gbody steering columns will interchange with your 78. however, later year columns may have additional updates you won't need or use. i.e., wiper switch moved to steering column in '82? and the back up switch has an additional switch added when computers were introduced.
another alternative would be to swap out the steering shaft (and lower column bearing?) from a later model steering column. this is what i plan to do with my 78 cutlass that is a factory manual trans, with tilt, column. i picked up a column shift with tilt, that was damaged (chicago punched) and will swap the shaft from it into my 78.
joe

 

[rastabusiness]

yes, 79 to 88 gbody steering columns will interchange with your 78. however, later year columns may have additional updates you won't need or use. i.e., wiper switch moved to steering column in '82? and the back up switch has an additional switch added when computers were introduced.
another alternative would be to swap out the steering shaft (and lower column bearing?) from a later model steering column. this is what i plan to do with my 78 cutlass that is a factory manual trans, with tilt, column. i picked up a column shift with tilt, that was damaged (chicago punched) and will swap the shaft from it into my 78.
joe

 

[rastabusiness]

Did you ever get rid of your rag joint issue? If not, message me back and I can give you a simple solution to your problem without replacing steering column on 1978 g body's.