I'm going to be changing the steering shaft and rag joint in a week and was wondering if anyone had any tips. This is to remove play in the steering wheel. I guess this is a pretty common problem with our cars. If you have a whole bunch of play in your wheel then you may want to replace this.

I got the replacement part from GM, (intermediate shaft and rag joint) but was wondering if I should grease it up before putting the new one in. Also, it looks like a pretty tight fit. I know some of these things are collapsable, so would it be bad to compress it a bit to get the new one to fit in, or is this compression feature only designed in case of accidents? It seems there are only two bolts holding it in. One big one at the column and a smaller one by the rag joint.

Any help appreciated
Thanks a lot

 

No problem compressing it. The sliding joint makes it easier to get into place w/o pulling the steering box. And yes, two bolts.

RBob.

 

How does one go about compressing the steering shaft to get it out? Its really a pain trying to get the shaft out. I hope I don't have to loosen the column to get it out.

Any ideas?
Thanks

 

Sometimes the upper portion of the intermediate shaft compresses onto the stewring column shaft. At times I've had to take a hammer to tap it down and off.

Try to compress the new intermediate shaft. Should give you an idea of how much pressure it will take.

RBob.

 

Just did this job 2 weeks ago on our 83 T/A. It compresses... no need to undo anything else, just two bolts (one on each end of the shaft). Can be a bit of a pain if it's tight though.

 

Now how do you get the steering column shaft onto the intermediate shaft? I'm having problems with this now after putting in a new steering column, and yes, I know there is a little notch so it can only go in one way. How can I do this? It's nearly impossible, is there some kind of tool I could use or method?

 

Could you let me know the part number for the whole shaft? I have been thinking of replacing mine as well.

Thanks.