I got a new steering column and am ready to put it in my 85 Trans Am. It was recommended that while I have the whole thing pulled I should replace the rag joint. Is there anything else y'all would recommend I do before putting it back in?

Newbie restoring her 85 Firebird Trans Am

 

Hi Michelle , Kudos for restoring your T/A !

As to the rag joint , there are a couple of different thoughts on that . If your factory one looks good with no deterioration or play in it , it doesn't need to be automatically replaced "just because" . When they do wear out a lot of people here do "The Astro Shaft Conversion" which eliminates the rag joint alltogether in favor of a pair of U joints (sounds intimidating but it's pretty much a direct bolt in replacement , with one small notch needing to be filed in the steering shaft to accommodate the mounting bolt) . Just know that the Astro conversion does give rise to a small bit of additional noise being transferred to the steering wheel due to no cloth coupling to act as a noise damper , but if your exhaust is loud or you like to crank the tunes the additional noise will be minor .

 

Thanks OrangeBird. I appreciate all the expertise I can get in this new endeavor. Noise shouldn't be a problem because Skid Row, Metallica and Iron Maiden need to be played at max decibels.