What is involved in using one of these on my car? (69 Chevelle w/ 95 Caprice quick-ratio steering box)

http://www.flamingriver.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=results/Category_ID=183/home_id=82/mode=cat/cat183.htm

According to the tech guy at Flaming River, the box should have a 3/4", 30-spline shaft, but without being near my car right now, I don't know what I need on the steering shaft end. He said he needed to know the diameter of the shaft from the column.

Anyone done this swap? Is there any other work involved, or is it as simple as just sticking this thing on and living happily ever after?

I need a new ragjoint anyway, so this seems to make sense to me just to get one of these and take as much of the slop out of the steering components as possible.

Aren't there sheets for the rag joint that are reinforced by a metallic screen?

I installed a box from an early 70's Z28 that seemed to be made this way. I would think such a joint could be just as rigid as a universal joint. The benefits of composite construction. No?

I was cleaning out the garage last weekend, and found the receipt (with GM # on it) for the OEM rag joint I used to connect my '64's shaft to the late model Trans-Am box I used. About $75. I had to drill out 1 hole about 1/16" larger to mate up.

Granted, it was mid-80's to '64 (not '69 to '95), but did they change that much???

Lemme know and I'll dig out the number.

It was mentioned in this topic, ( http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119318 ) so I figured it's worth upgrading if I need to buy something anyway to make it work. The price difference is minimal, so I'd like to do it if there is a steering performance gain to be made.

John, I'm not sure what year they went to the 3/4" 30-spline, but what you bought may be what I need if I stick with a rag-joint.

Derek,

Jim Shea's (JIML82) has a great write up on steering conversions.

http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/?page_id=5

Click on 'A&F-Car Fast Ratio Steering Gear Upgrade - 7 pages (Rev 24JN05)' The link opens to a word document with what you need to know.

Goto page 2, "Gear input shaft to flexible coupling" It list what rag joint will work and what to modify on your steering column on pages 3 to 4 and reference to fig #1 on page 7. I grabbed mine from some 2wd pickups.

I did this for my 64'.

Derek, I’ll post some info and pics this weekend on the sweetest DIY gearbox set-up with collapsible shaft yet...no rag joint.

Derek,

Jim Shea's (JIML82) has a great write up on steering conversions. http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/?page_id=5 I read that, and figured that's what I'd use until I walked behind the shed to find the truck missing that had one of those... dad scrapped it out, so then I figured if I had to buy one, I'd upgrade to something that will give a more solid feel to the steering.

Derek, I’ll post some info and pics this weekend on the sweetest DIY gearbox set-up with collapsible shaft yet...no rag joint.Please do! :) What will I need for supplies? I'd like to get my stuff ordered real soon if possible.

Collapsible shaft, no rag joint..... I'd be interested in seeing pictures, Dennis

Please do! :) What will I need for supplies? I'd like to get my stuff ordered real soon if possible.
Patience grasshopper...most of the pieces are small items like metric o-ring to JIC fittings and pipe crimp fittings for the #6 hose. I have most the stuff at the shop but you can pick it up at any hose fitting shop. I''' have a complete list tomorrow sometime. The only junkyard part you need to find is a steering shaft out of a 1994-1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The lower end is a direct fit to the aftermarket 3/4 shaft boxes or the Jeep, Caprice junkyard swap.

I WANT PICTURES NOW!!

kidding. ;) but I'm lurking none the less.

Are you ready?



Are you sure?



Really, really, ready?



OK, enough torture. Rather the post some big old write up with a bunch pictures to suck up bandwidth I posted a page on my site with all the details. Please link to it below and ask any questions you may have.


steering shaft upgrade (http://www.onrails.us/steering%20upgrade.htm)

I will update the page when I actually put the parts in to show how to make the necessary modifications to the column for those who need a little extra hand holding. :p

Seems simple enough. Good work Dennis!

Denny, Looks great. My Chevelle has a splined shaft at the end of the steering column though. Not the double d.

LK

Yeah, they all do. Hence the line from that page that reads The only hiccup in the collapsible steering shaft plan is the column connection. The Jeep shaft uses a double "D" connection which is easy enough to make with a die grinder on your original column.

Could a different u-joints on this page be used instead of cutting the column, and if so which one? I know they are expensive but some of us don't want to do anything that can't be undone later.

Dennis,

Is the Jeep box lighter than the standard GM box? I can't tell if it's just the pictures, but it looks like it's slightly smaller - maybe I'm just crazy.

Ryan

No, the box weighs the same, the shaft on the other hand is aluminum, very light.

No, you cannot change the ends on the shaft. You would have to do some serious fab work to make the Jeep shaft work with a stock column, most the work would require fab equipment most do not have access to.

Denny, does the shaft need to be from a Grand Cherokee, or is any Cherokee going to be the same? I know the Grand Cherokee is the one that has the quick-ratio box, but do the others have the same parts, but just not quick-ratio? I don't need the box, so if any Cherokee (what years?) will work, it'll be a lot easier to locate one. :)

I don't think the XJ body is the same although it may be. I'd bet any ZJ you can find is going to have the shaft in place...nobody takes those.

I did most of this swap last night... was real simple, but I needed to finish some things under the dash before installing the column :)

Cool!! Pretty smooth swap huh? Did the column need much cutting to make the double "D" fit OK?

I should have mine done with the rest of the front-end by the end of the month, only missing a few small peices yet.

Cool!! Pretty smooth swap huh? Did the column need much cutting to make the double "D" fit OK?

I should have mine done with the rest of the front-end by the end of the month, only missing a few small peices yet.OK, I got it installed tonight. :)

The hardest part was cutting the old shaft with a POS taiwanese chop-saw :rolleyes:

Your '68 may be different, but I was expecting to be able to remove the old shaft completely and install it directly onto the column, but the splined part on the column where the stock shaft goes on was hollow and couldn't be ground down for the double D connection, so the top of the original shaft had to be used, and the shaft itself ground down to the double D. It only took minor grinding to get it to fit in the double D.

I chopped both parts of the new shaft to get it to collapse shorter. Before doing that, it was nearly collapsed all the way when connected from the column to the steering box, and I didn't want it to be out of its range of travel in the case of an accident... I want it to collapse at least a few inches so the steering column doesn't spear me in the chest, should I wander into the path of a speeding truck.

The upper U-joint on it is very close to my header... probably wouldn't work with a Big Block :(

I'll post pics of the install when I get access to a camera.

Derek and Dennis, any chance either of you kept the pics and process description saved somewhere? Dennis' old site is gone, and I'm rather interested in what you guys did with this mod

Here is a thread about the Borgeson shaft I installed with u-joints: http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=272686

http://www.vcviolator.com/elcohome

Archived site...not everything is there but lots of the information is available. I didn't see anything on the steering though.

Thanks Dennis, any chance you remember the basics of your install?

Derek?

I used custom built high pressure hydraulic hose with JIC fittings from the local hydraulic hose shop, Jeep steering box and Jeep steering shaft. Grind down the stock steering column to from the double D for the upper connection and hook it all up.

If I did it again today, i would probably go the Lee custom steering box and Flaming River intermediate shaft route though.