steering shaft ? for SOA

[jfz80]

So as some might know i had a little steering snafoo on the piggie on the trip to URE. The slip yoke compressed and jammed the splined end into the female half of column and it did not release resulting in the steering shaft being pulled off the steering box and a near oopsy poopsy moment. So three hours of hammering later i got it freed and reinstalled. fun stuff.

So my ? was was this a result of body flex? and how would be the best way to prevent this from happening again?

Would it be best to pull the shaft and have it lengthened by 1/2'' or would this cause any possible problems ( jamming again or putting stress on the box when compressed ) ?

thanks for the opinions


oh and so the plan is to pull the shaft apart, wire brush the splines and grease/lube them up and reinstall, too bad i had to cut the boot off on the trail, so may pick up another of those too.

 

[jfz80]

so as i type that out it seems like lengthening the shaft (either half) would make it more prone to getting jammed under compression. Seems like i would need both the male and female splined sections lengthened so in effect there was more travel in the slip yoke. any thoughts?

 

[Trollhole]

Can we see a pic?

 

[BELMONT148]

Get a double D slip shaft from Summit racing made by flaming river and cut to length. The slip should have plenty of movement for your body flex given that you install it properly. Now would be a good time to acess the quality of the rest of the steering. Steering and brakes is something I don't skimp on. Either spend the money and do it right, or park it and wait till you can. That's what I do.

Jeremy

 

[jfz80]

Absolutely, steering and brakes have been my first priorty, thats why shes sat beside the house for 6 mos. But you know there is only one way to find out if its up to muster; and yes there were several short shake downs prior to the first time out.

NO, NO pics for you, youll just point out what else is missing

J/K, ill snap one in the morning but its a hard one to get a shot of. I have heard great things about the flaming river stuff. The shaft was converted at IPOR so want to think it was done right, but i have no idea of what type of shaft was utilized. I feel the body lift may be the root of all this evil, allowing the extra body flex that pulled this out and also knocked the tcase into nuetral at the same spot.

Im guessing that there is only 2'' of "slip" available on the splines, but ill measure in the am.

thanks guys

steve, you want a 3'' body lift??? you could be the big pig on campus

 

[BELMONT148]

If your shaft is mounted with 1" of compression and 1" of expansion, and it is pulling apart, then you might want to control that flex. I suggest getting rid of the body lift and getting some good body mounts. Then re cut your shaft putting the splines in the middle of there range. Did you remove any of the factory crossmembers in the frame. That could contribute to some extra flex as well, but it is probably the body lift.

Jeremy

 

[jfz80]

SO wouldnt you know i gotta work on a monday. Here is a quick pick while on lunch, prolly wont be able to touch it till tomorrow at soonest. THanks for the thoughts guys, tryin to have it ready in case i can pull off the PPR. It seems to have 1.5'' deep female splines, i need to pull apart to see how long the male shaft is. It does appear to be set about half way at rest. one inch of splines exposed. The hose clamp is part of the trail fix, set screw at box is in, just havent taken off the clamp yet. Still cannot get the ujoint off the stub at firewall, soaking w/ pb today.

 

[jfz80]

some more, im gonna try and at least get the shaft out tonight. Let me know if a certain shot would help.

 

[jfz80]

I pm'd the PO hopin he might shed some light on this either through experiences or any knowledge of the modifications he completed here. I have not removed or altered any crossmembers, actually i added an additional to provide a solid surface for some triangulating braces off the steering box reinforcement plates. This is what i did last week for the steering. the angle iron w/ the 1x1 attached went right behind the stock crossmember and the two angles attached to the inside of each frame rail, w/ the driver side attaching to the newly formed plating. All welds look good after the trip so i dont think its frame flex.

 

[Trollhole]

Call Kurt with Cruiser Outfitters and show him this post. I'm betting he has something that would work. Personally I would cut the top section of the shaft and use a section of pipe to make it longer. But this is the single most important piece of equiptment. I would go with a new shaft all around.

 

[concretejungle]

take it off and drive it up to the guy in WS that builds drive shafts. See if he has scrap laying around that has a longer slip area, so he can cut out that section and weld in another section allowing more slip. My suggestion.

if i remember correctly, the shop is oliver's driveshaft...something-or-other....

anywho.com says:

Oliver's Drive Shaft Repair Inc
944 N Liberty St
Winston Salem, NC 27101

(336) 724-1021

 

[jfz80]

So you guys dont think that making either half longer would make it more prone to compressing the splines to the point that they are jammed together unable to extend back, or is it that i wont matter b/c its long enough to be fully compressed and not pull off the splined stub out of the steering box. The lower half of the shaft was redone after the PO did the SOA, maybe he was just a 1/2'' off. The body mounts are all tight but the passenger side front is tightly bolted to some suspicious sheetmetal, gonna see if Lance cant get out a new body mount like Eventhough replaced on his pig here.

 

[Trollhole]

Pull it apart. SOmrthing tells me you don't have near enough of the male section in the female section.

Wow that sounds dirrty.

How long is the female section. I cannot imagine that area compressing and contracting more than an inch both ways. Is it possible when you fabbed up the new plate you moved the steering box forward somehow.

 

[BELMONT148]

Your shaft is to short. Either remove the body lift, or replace the shaft. If it were me I would do both. But that's just my .02. I hat body lifts and blocks.

Jeremy

Edit: Proof reading that first statement made me laugh. Reminded me of old Beavis and Butthead episodes.

 

[BillWright]

I saw some stuff on the internet that's supposed to make it longer when you rub it on. But it might make it bigger too. Would that be all right?
b

 

[GXO]

Definitely too short...body lift sounds like the culprit.

 

[jfz80]

ok, will try and get it apart tonight. it was only too short b/c the splines were jammed together. I'm under a tight deadline to get some designs done, but then i got the time to mess w/ it. The steering box was not moved foward w/ my fabbing as i used the existing mounting holes to line up my sleeves in between the plating. No response from PO yet.

sorry not saying it was ONLY too short b/c the splines arguing the fact it may be, just saying this is what made it short enough to be pulled off when the flex relaxed. thanks again for the commments and suggestions guys.

 

[jfz80]

Go figure; it comes off when you dont want it too, and wont budge when you do!?!? Heat, hammer, healthy dose of cussing and no luck. You can just weld these things on there right?

 

[BELMONT148]

You can just weld these things on there right?

Sure, why not. Then you can post up here about why your steering box is leaking. I think you were joking, but I had to respond because it has been done before.

You can weld the ujoints on, but not the slip shaft together. Even if you weld the ujoints, I would still put a set screw in each side.

Jeremy

 

[jfz80]

yup, i was just joking but have gotten two pms about doing such since i posted that above comment. The steering box has leaked out of the back seal since i got it. tryin to get a reman here before the trip (reman is 120 vs 55 for the two seals). Raining here, so gonna try and find somewhere dry to give it a better shot this weekend.