Steering Shaft upgrade?

[oldsmobile joe]

Oldsmobile joe, I've never heard of anyone needing a front end alignment and swapping steering shafts..
Maybe I wasn't clear in my post, Mc87ss reclocked the shafts himself so you can just bolt them on. I was just letting guys know that the Astro van shaft needs to be reclocked just in case they want to go to the yards and pick one themselves....timo22

yes, you did make it clear in your post. and i agreed with you. but i too wanted to let people know that there is an alternative. re-clocking of the shaft is not necessary because you can re-clock the lock plate by grinding off one of the splines located on the inside diameter. now the reason re-clocking of the shaft or the lock plate, is for the steering wheel to be straight and the turn signal cancel cam to operate properly. if you've ever taken off one of our steering wheels, you'll notice that the spines will allow it to go on in any direction. the only thing keeping us from doing that is the cancel cam. and the cancel cam is clocked by the lock plate. the lock plate is splined in a 12 tooth minus 1 arrangement. so it can only go on one way. but if you remove one of the teeth, 90 degrees to the right and re-clock the plate, your lock plate will now be right and so will your cancel cam and steering wheel.
now, you may be right about the alignment, but i found when i did it this way, i was off by 10-15 degrees. now i have the fortune of being able to do my own alignments at work, so i adjusted the toe to get my steering wheel straight again.
joe

 

[Injectedcutty]

I agree with Steve....the astro i pulled my shaft from still had the rubber boot intact from the factory. The cocoon GP mentioned bolts to the firewall, then has a lip to seal around the steering box.

A pic of mine literally minutes after removal, I've yet to see a jeep shaft this clean...especially with fresh looking grease in it....

Then after the necessary mod of reclocking, welded it solid because i wanted it to look like 1 piece (not needed, I'm just picky lol), grinded, sanded, prepped, painted, and regreased!

 

[xitabl442]

My Jeep shaft modded.

 

[The Last Don]

This is exactly what I need done. My steering is loose, there is play when turning. At the bottom of the column where it goes into the steering box there is some kind of rubber bushing? Can someone give me some instruction how to rix this? I have a 87 MC SS.

 

[64nailhead]

From what year Astro's will their shaft work?

 

[Injectedcutty]

From what year Astro's will their shaft work?

Jim, 99-04 or 05. I pulled mine from an 02 2wd.

 

[pontiacgp]

From what year Astro's will their shaft work?

all of them except the all wheel drive and including the Safari. I checked with carpart.com to make sure that all the years work.

 

[timo22]

I’ve pulled a couple hundred of these shafts. 96 on up . The earlier models had a different style that is exposed to the engine compartment. The right years are easily identified by the fuse box mounted on the cowl by the drivers fender . The shafts are enclosed in a rubber boot to protect them. The first time I pulled one it took 20 minutes.
It takes about 3-5 minutes for me to get one now. Practice makes perfect! Lol. timo22

 

[86MCLS]

Pro tip: While I don't normally advocate or condone destroying a part to get access to another part because that's a dick move, bring a utility knife & some wire cutters to cut the boot off. Don't think those are in demand... Otherwise you're screwing around with trying to access the 4 little bolts holding the boot to the firewall and 2 of them are pretty buried behind wiring harnesses. Cutting the boot off will get you to the 3-5 min removal timeframe pretty quickly!

 

[Injectedcutty]

Pro tip: While I don't normally advocate or condone destroying a part to get access to another part because that's a dick move, bring a utility knife & some wire cutters to cut the boot off. Don't think those are in demand... Otherwise you're screwing around with trying to access the 4 little bolts holding the boot to the firewall and 2 of them are pretty buried behind wiring harnesses. Cutting the boot off will get you to the 3-5 min removal timeframe pretty quickly!

Hahaha, I just pulled another one today because I screwed up my first one, doh! I didn't have a utility knife, but I did have my tin snips 👍!