Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

When you put yours back together I'd like to see a pick of how it goes together at the column if you don't mind.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

sure.

it occurs to me that you have a much longer column sticking out of the firewall, you will probably be ok with the shorter slip shaft borgeson sells, its too short for mine (barely) but I have to cut about 5 " off the longer one. you may need to trim even the shorter one. looks like your column came out of a van or maybe a high cab truck like a topkick, its really long.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

I was told the column came out of a 1884 truck. I looked up those teliscoping shafts and the pic only show the bland end. You did say the other end was splined right? Looking at the pic of the ujoint you posted it looks like the 1"DD to 1" DD is splined in the pic even though I'd does not say it is. I took a measurement on mine and its aboard 20" from where the ujoint at the box would be to the nut at the column. I found the Borgeson 450024 which is 21" to 27" at the same price as the longer one.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

it goes

steering column, the end is a 1" DD

borgeson 015252 Steel Double D U-Joint 1" DD x 1" DD, one end to the steering column, the other end to the

borgeson 450024 telescoping shaft 1" DD to 3/4" DD 24 inches long, which goes to the

borgeson 014931 Steel Double U-Joint 3/4" DD x 30 spline which the spline will directly fit the steering box once you take the rag joint off and throw it away.

rag joints are just misalignment fixers that also act as vibration reducers, they can take maybe 2 degrees of misalignment of the shaft to the box before they pull themselves apart. the knuckle that is on your current shaft is that GM knuckle, it cant take a lot of misalignment either without shredding itself.

the way those parts were originally used was to have the steering column output DD pointing almost straight at the steering box input, so there was no stress on the rag joint or the knuckle. but the way its installed now is the steering column and the steering box dont point at each other, they dont even point in the same planes any more where the shaft is just slightly offset, the steering column points more down installed in an AD. The steering box cant be rotated up or down easily.

so if you get those three parts, you unbolt the through bolt at the column and remove the knuckle and there will be a 1"DD under it, you undo the ppinch bolt and remove the rag joint and there will be a 30 spline under it, and you throw everything in between away. then trim the telescoping shaft to a little more than the length needed and install the upper 1"DD to 1"DD u joint on the column, install the lower 3/4"DD to 30 spline on the steering box, compress the telescoping shaft a little then install the top part to the 1"DD open on the upper u joint, and the bottom part to the 3/4"DD open on the lower u joint, making sure the shafts dont stick into the inside of the u joint (it can bind it) and tighten all your set screws. test the system, and if its good, tighten the lock nuts on the set screws.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

Thanks for the info. It takes a little bit for this ole man to see the light. I will be ordering all 3 Borgeson parts mentioned above some time shortly after all the holidays are over and I can recover from the pinch on my wallet. Looking forward to the upgrade and a better feel on the steering wheel.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

Thanks for the great info and the part numbers Joedoh. I am looking at making the same changes for safety and to create a bit more room where the steering shaft goes by the headers (S10 has that big lump in the middle of the steering shaft that is too close to my headers).

Wade

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

wade if you have the shorter column you may need the longer telescoping shaft. they are the same price, so not a big deal to make sure you get the right one. just add 1.5" to the straightline measurement between the column DD and the steering box splines. remember that you want it to have some room to telescope in a wreck, so dont use the fully collapsed measurement, add a couple inches.

zippi make sure you punch your builder in the mouth. I cant believe someone was so cavalier with someone elses life to save/make an extra $250. also, remember what I said about straight up on the steering box, the flat of the splines will point straight up and the drag link/idler arm will point straight forward at that point. if you use the u joints and DD shaft the steering wheel will also be centered. but if you have adjusted the tie rods incorrectly from this point you may need another alignment, sorry. I dropped my current truck 3 inches with springs and the steering went straight down the road but needed the tie rods adjusted to make the steering wheel point straight.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

borgeson 153-450036
Joedoh,
Thanks for the heads up, I was thinking since the steering wheel is locked in place I could just remove all the old crap and replace with the new and be good to go? I will check the box and see where the flat is though. If it's not straight up then I'll be scratching my head.

I pulled the steering shaft out of the truck. As you had noted it didn't look like the telescoping section was in very far but it was in 3". That's what made me take it apart this morning. I did get the nut broke free at the rag joint but have not gotten it off yet. It is about 1/2" away from a pulley so this will be fun. I'm assuming the 1" DD shaft will slide inside the tube with the hole at the column?

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

I must be explaining this poorly. but no. the 1"DD shaft will not slide in or even touch the tube with the hole at the bottom of the column.


you will put a u joint at the steering column. one side of the u joint will slide OVER the tube with the hole at the column. then the 1"DD side of the telescoping shaft will slide into that u joint on the other side.

same thing at the rag joint, you will take it off and the u joint with the 30 spline will go on the steering box in its place, and the 3/4"DD side of the telescoping shaft will slide into that u joint on the other side.


that slip shaft is not supposed to be out that far, it should be in as far as the rust is showing, about another 4".

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

Your doing fine on your end of explaining. It's me. The tube at the column just looks big for that 1" DD coupler to fit over. I think I'm good to go. I have it apart now just need to order the parts.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

well measure before ordering parts, I would hate to steer you wrong. should be a 1"DD shaft coming out of the column. remember that the 1" is the diameter of the circle before squared off with the Ds. so if you measure the widest part of the circle, it should be 1"

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

Thanks Joedoh. I am away from my truck for a couple of months, but I want to pick up these parts. Is it ok to buy the longer telescoping shaft regardless and then just cut it to the length required when I can measure it on my truck?

Thanks.

Wade

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

mine are all 98+ trucks, so I need a longer shaft because the steering column end is under the dash, not through the firewall. its possible that you will need the shorter one too if your column ends on the outside of the firewall like zippis, but his is extremely long past the firewall like I havent seen before.

I will get a rough measurement on nicks 54 is a couple days, just to see. I want to say you can cut the long one down as much as the short one, but without seeing both its just a guess.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

OK, thank you. I believe that my steering column is from a 1993 S10 (not totally sure as it was put in by a previous owner), and it does not stick through the firewall as much as zippis, but the end of the steering column is through the firewall by a few inches.

Wade

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

Joedoh,

I think one of the things I was stuck on was the pic you posted of all three parts that were needed. The one ujoint that slips over the column showed a round spline. I contacted JEGS and ask about the pic that they were showing on their website and they said it was a pic of the wrong part. So when you were telling me a 1" DD and the pic was showing a round spline it was throwing me off. Still a little curious as to how the 1" DD ujoint is going to lock onto the column with that big hole there. I know you said to weld or tape a piece of metal inside the tube but I don't have a welder and just not sure about taping a piece inside. I guess I'll figure it all out when I get all the pieces in front of me.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

you only put a small piece of metal on one side, covering one hole. the set screw goes in and pushes against the metal, which pushes against the tube, which pushes against the u joint and locks it all together in compression. the tape is just to hold it in place until you get the set screw in. its easier to just zap one tack from the outside to the piece of metal inside, but without a welder all you can do is tape, or glue I guess.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

Yup, gotya. So....you no longer have your AD?

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

not any with steering installed, I have a 47 a 49 and a 53 in the storage building waiting starts, and nicks 54 in my garage. the most recent one kechi is sold.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

Before I throw all this crap away I thought I'd show a good pic of what I pulled out of my 49. All the money that was spent on this truck and the PO didn't change this out.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

those factory parts cant take any angle, the u joint less than 10 degrees and the rag joint zero!

glad you are fixing it up!

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

Just go a notice from FEDEX that my parts are out for delivery by the end of today. Should be back up and running tomorrow unless I run into something. Sure hope this cures all the play I had in the steering wheel.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

Those old parts look very scary Zippi. Good to get them removed and replaced.

Wade

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

Got my parts from JEGS in 2 days. Started my project this morning and I'd like to say it was a no brainier but I did have a couple issues to work through. The Borgenson 30 spline u-joint did not want to fit over the steering box shaft without a little help from a BFH. The tube from the steering column was a little big so I had to get out the Dremel. Once I cut and drilled a 3/8" hole in the telescoping shaft and mounted everything up I had a hard time getting to the set screws and nuts to tighten them up. Had to get the wife help on this one. I wasn't sure what I was going to put inside the steering column tube for the set screw off the u-joint to tighten up against but I cut a short piece off the old shaft and tapped it inside the tube and it worked like a charm. All went well and only took about 3 hrs. I want give a big THANK YOU to joedoh for all his help and anyone else that contributed to this thread. That's what these forums are far and I greatly apprecitate all the help fellows. This project cured all my steering issues. I am now a Happy Camper.

Re: *Steering Wheel Centering*
 

congrats! looks great!