I thought i had read somewhere that the steering shaft from the Jeep Grand Cherokee could be used on my 69 Chevelle now i have added the power steering box from this model. I have lined it up and can grind the steering wheel end with flats to accept the joint but it is too long. Some sites mention that this lower Jeep column may be "floating". Mine has two different diameter shafts joining each other half way up. Should this slide as mine seems to be fixed, but it may just be seized ?

This is the last part i need now for the upgrade and don't want to buy more parts from the US so anything i can source from the UK would be good.

Mike

Hi Mike, I did the swap as well and I did use the GC Intermediate shaft that came with my used GC gear. What I did was to drill out the fastening pins in the upper shaft coupling to remove the DD universal joint. I then ordered a new universal joint w/ 1" slip fit and the 1" splined female end to mate w/ my stock 68 steering shaft.
I did'nt Like it at all, Way too much road noise in the steering wheel. With the double ended U joints there is no cush in the shaft. Just order the Rag Joint Kit from Lees Power Steering and use your stock shaft. The cost are the same. I love the swap BTW

Tony

I suspect that you can find the answer by doing a search on the topic or search for JimL82, as he has posted a lot of excellent info on Saginaw steering gears. I used his information on rag joints when I put a 1996 steering gear into a '72 Chevelle.

The shaft should collapse.

Shep 77

That's what i thought, and this should avoid some of the vibration/noise to the steering wheel and avoid the use of other linkages.

Do you know if there are any internal mechanism's, or does it just slide ? I am thinking that some old fashioned brute force may free it along with some penetrating oil.

Mike

There should be two plastic shear pins that are engineered into the shaft. These would have to be drilled out before the shaft would collapse. The intermediate shaft on your car should work provided you get the rag joint from a 2wd 1979-1984 Chevrolet/GMC truck or order a new one from Lee Manufacturing.

Getting parts from other vehicles is a problem as i am in the UK and i would like to avoid further expense on this conversion if i can.

If i remove any pins i assume the shaft will slide to where i want it to in order for it to fit. As each end is fixed, can anyone see why this could not be left like this or at least re drilled and pinned so that i could use it as it is.

Mike

I wouldn't drill and re-pin the intermediate shaft. The plastic pins are designed to shear off in an accident and allow the column to collapse so that it doesn't push the steering wheel into the driver. The intermediate shaft and main column shaft are both designed to collapse.

But if you do attempt this, yes it will collapse with a little brute force (hydraulic press works, so does a hammer if your careful) - if you do it this way I would just get it to the length you need and leave it be without the pins so it can collapse if you do end up in an accident.

BUT like everyone else has said I would just order the parts you need.

The GC shaft does not have any pins in it to keep it from collapsing, at least the one I had didn't. It was simply a solid lower shaft inside a hollow upper shaft. This was from a US model a UK model may be different. Brute force may be required to break it loose.