my rag joint is shot, it seperates before doing its turning, leading to like 15* of play in the steering wheel before the turn begins. Anyway I want to get a billet rag joint eliminator. I figure if i take in my joint and have a piece of billet aluminum or even just some cast iron cut to the same diameter I can drill out where the holes go. Then i can install that piece at the end of the steering shaft and it will connect the shaft to the box ... it means i'll have a little more vibration in the steering wheel, but increased road feel and it can never have sloppy steering again. one less thing to fix in the future =) If you guys see any problems, have done this before, or have pointers, pls respond. thx guys =D

 

Like this (see pic):

RBob.

 

can you please please post the specs for that eliminator ? what you made it from, the sizes and where to drill the holes, what did you drill it with, and if you had it made what did it cost ? thanks man =)

 

The disk is mild steel 1/4" thick. It is 2.57" in diameter. I used the original rivets and placed the holes in the original locations. One set of rivets are peened into chamfered holes (see this pic).

The other set of rivets were then welded to the disk. Need not be a full weld as there is no pressure pulling the rivets out.

RBob.

 

thanks so much man =)

 

Or there is always Borgeson joints-
http://www.borgeson.com/steeringcolumns.htm

I have never done one on a late model car, Only on my '68 Vette. Sent the entire old shaft to them and they duplicated it. This was probably 8 years back.

 

Some advice:
Using a universal or the solid disc will need the use of a slip type steering shaft. Remember the rag joint will handle a 3 axis missalignment. The other two couplers can not without binding.
I bought my slipper shaft and universal at Flaming River. The new shaft gave more header (SLP) room too.

http://www.unbalancedengineering.com/

 

Bringing it back from the dead...

RBob, hows everything holding up with the solid disc in place of the rag joint?

I did this a few years ago and Ive always been afraid that with the camaros rubberized-body construction that possible bending moments from chassis flex might damage teh steering gear or jsut plain snap the input shaft clear off...

Anyone ever replace it with a u-joint? Ive been thinking about possibly trying to adapt one to a stock steering shaft to safely replace the rag joint.

 

I'm also curious about this. I'm very tempted to take the easy route and just replace the rubber with the solid piece (I assume the 4th gen unbalanced engineering eliminator will fit)

 

I'm interested in those borgeson pieces. Anyone have experience with them?

 

Does anyone have the specs on what the spline count, and size we need for our cars is?

Coleman sells many diffrent style steering joints, from alum, to steel, with needle bearings, etc.

http://www.colemanracing.com/catalog...hp?cPath=2_114

 

If anyone knows the sizes, etc. offhand, I'd like to know as well. I might be possibly changing the shaft and joint when I do the new drive train and box swap. The Flaming River ones look nice, but not sure on what to get....

 

Posted this long ago(been on car over 2 years,0 problems,NO play,very solid & smooth)Astro van U-joints w/camaro steering shaft.Still colapses,plus the lower joint has a vibration dampner built in.There is also a real bearing on the cloumn(from astro) out of the firewall.Instead of the plastic bushing the camaro uses.Spent a whopping $6 for the astro van shaft.

 

Upper Joint.U-joint ends match exactly from astro to camaro.Same # of splines & double D shaped hole on upper joint.

 

any particular year? 2wd or awd? v6 or v8 if that matters?

 

Im almost 100% sure ALL astro vans use a u-joint shaft & the bearing(in the steering tube coming out from the firewall).No matter the model.Non are V8s though.

 

I think replacing your rag joint with a solid disc is a bad idea. The steering shaft does not align perfectly with the steering gear (steering box). That would cause bind. You are much better off replace the rag joint with a new one or finding a universal joint that will work.

 

There is already a U-joint in that shaft. The solid disk works without issue. Only downside is that hydraulic noise is now transmitted through to the interior of the vehicle. Was spooky at first, but I got used to it quickly.

The upside is that the steering is more responsive and precise.

RBob.

 

84 1LE.

Do you still have that car? Anyway you could rotate the shaft for us and see if its stamped with a part number?

What would I call that part if I was to call GM or a junkyard n ask for it?

I like this idea, great find !!

 

RBob, I see you built your own from scratch...

Has anyone tried the unbalanced engineering disk? Looks like it's the same, but since it's for a 4th gen I dunno.

 

IIRC, When I talked with Jason at UE, he indicated it did not work for thirdgens. I'll try to find the info, or I'll ask him about it again.

--John

 

FYI. I asked Jason about this again.

 

Was the Astro van shaft the same length? I snagged one in the spring when I had to relocate my column over and the f-body upper coupler was still too big to clear the headers. I saw the Astro van used u-joints and the upper double D and lower steering box size was the same. I chopped off the yokes and welded them onto my steering shaft before measuring the length. If they're the same length, it would have been a lot easier to just swap complete shafts.

 

 

Yes i still have it(16 years now).Ive got a couple of these astro van shafts.None have a part # though.I would call this a "steering shaft w/U-joints)".As for buying id go to the junkyard(paid $3 for mine at the J.K)Dealer probably want a small fortune.

 

The Astro van steering shaft is SHORTER than the 3rd gens.The ONLY parts i used from my original is the actual telescoping shafts,flat per-load spring(inside the big u-joint),rubber boot.I had to shorten my original shaft by about 1.5 inches so it would colapse as much as the stock f-body unit.I pressed the small U-joint out of the astro shaft after grinding off the splayed end.The steering shaft slides out from the big u-joint- AFTER you press out the bearing caps so the cross & the doulble D end are still attached,but are apart from the other half of the joint(which will still be on the shaft).Push the shaft out past the U-joint.Then grind down the small stop(bump) near the end of the shaft.ALSO i decide to use the 4TH GENS DOUBLE D end.Because the bolt is a pass thru type.As apposed the the astro's.Which clamps the outter part of the U-joint.Theres more,but i wont get into now.Too much to type.

 

Stephen 87 What is that master cylinder from?? I have been looking for one where the lines exit towards the driver side.
Kevin

 

Just about any GM other than a third gen exits on the fender side.

It's a manual brake master cylinder from an S10. Notice the adapter fittings to put double flare brake lines into a metric bubble flare fitting.

I also moved the brake lines to the inside of the steering shaft to keep them away from the headers.

 

It's called an intermediate steering shaft.

I'm not much of a fan of the idea of replacing the rag joint with a solid disk. The steering shaft and steering box aren't perfectly aligned, plus the steering box does move around (due to frame rail flex) during aggressive turning conditions. Also add body flex into the equation, and you will be inducing bending loads in all these steering components, which is not a good thing. Put a U-joint in instead, and you'll eliminate any slop and won't bind anything up.

 

Thanks, looked it up and gm wants over 100 bux for it.

Since it will have to get cut, I'll find a used astro shaft, and used camaro shaft. Keep my stocker as backup.

Now time to find a saturday morning free to go hunt

 

how big was teh hole drilled into the middle of the disc? It looks like 3/4"??

 

Mike, there is no need to worry about bending loads... the end nearest to the firewall is a CV joint, not a ridged u-joint. CV joints allow for LOTS of movement and are almost always designed to move in and out a small amount.
The solid rag joint is awesome, I've tried it and I loved it... then I went with an astro-thirdgen-astro shaft and kept the astro's rubber insolator (not a rag joint). Feels even better

 

The newer fullsize Astro vans have a steering shaft that bolts in perfectly without any length issues. The only problem I ran into is that my steering wheel is off 90 degrees. I'm sure if I could get the wheel off, I could rotate it on the spline, but the wheel is this Dino leather wheel that doesn't work with the normal wheel remover tools or wheel pullers. :^/

 

Do you mean the Chevy Express vans? They don't make full size Astro vans, Astro was mid size .
If you ment full size Express... got any pictures? If I were you I wouldn't just remove the wheel and reclock it. Your signal indicators won't work correctly. Best way is to remove the U-joints and clock them "incorrectly". The only time having them clocked wrong is a problem is for velocity sinking.

 

I don't recall exactly what it was, but my old post just says '97 Astro.

 

The last astro i saw was a late 90s(dont remember the yr),but the shaft didnt look any longer than the other astros.BTW i think GM stoped making them already.Also the splined shaft for the steering wheel has the splines spaced apart differently,they are not all indentical.This way the hub only goes on one way.Simply rotaing your wheel will not correct your problem.

 

Stephen 87 IROC,

I see your headers are AIR equipped, but most of the holes are plugged. If the line coming from Cylinder #1 for EGT measurements?

 

Those are big block headers, they dont come with air.

Most likley each port is for individual EGT.

 

LOL! Redirected back to this thread from a newer one asking about eliminating the rag joint Sorry for the late reply.

Those are not AIR ports in the headers. They are EGT ports. I only have a single EGT probe. If I had a real data recorder, I'd put EGT probes in the the tubes.

 

Stephen87IROC, That sure looks good...Have you had any problem with the steering shaft yet???? Am considering some way of getting rid of that rag joint... Thanks, Tom