My friends 17 year old son has followed my smoke trail and bought himself a 91, CTD, W250 ,reg. cab, auto. I have been working through the usual 1st gen bugs with him and we are at the classic steering shaft problem. Rather the dump a ton of money into a borgeson or a new dodge joint we are going the build one to save the kid some bucks for bombs! I have seen that some other members are doing this as well.

So what size are the splines on the steering gear of a 4x4? We are guessing 3/4"-36 after some preliminary measurements but were hoping another member could verify what they used to be sure. We are going to build a unit very similar to the borgeson with dual joints and a slinding spline in the center. We think we can do this for a little over $100 as we have a decent machine shop at our disposal.

 

They are $189 at Summit...with a warranty.
New Shaft. Don't know why they're so much cheaper than the 2nd gens.
They list the spline as 3/4-36.

 

Yes it is a 3/4 - 36 for sure.

 

I read a tech article once where a fella made a dual u-joint shaft from junkyard parts. He said some late-model chrysler vehicles use the same 3/4-36 coupler...maybe a neon? Can't remember, but he only had about 20 bucks+some fab time into the project and said it was just as good as the Borgeson unit on his other truck. I thought it was on ramchargercentral.com, but I looked there and couldn't find it.

 

You can buy the splined joint for $50 or so from any circle track supplier. There are a lot of options in the shaft department but I found a new transportation type telescoping shaft with a universal already welded on for $5 locally that will work. So why anyone would pay $189 is beyond me.

Thanks guys its fab time!

 

I hear ya. And agree if you can do (or have done) the proper welding job, but...

7000 pound truck + broken steering shaft = a bad day

I built a TBucket from scratch, including the steering column but I personally choose not to attempt it on my truck that also tows and takes much more abuse than a light weight street rod.

Peace of mind, thats my reason for spending the $$$.

Have fun.

 

Well there is another side to the topic, warranty is useless if your truck is totaled due to failure as I am sure this is a "part replacement only" warranty, or worse yet if you are deceased in an accident . So I guess I trust my welds over?

As long as one uses the correct DD type 1018 steel shafting and the correct joints it is no big deal to make one. These same shafts and joints were used on all 1973-1995 GM fullsize van and 40-90 series medium duty platforms. There is far more front % weight distribution on a loaded van or medium duty truck than a pickup. I've built tons of these for stock cars that run well over 100 mph in turns and never had trouble once. Safety is a major concern for the driver and thier family.

I have the idea to use a GM shaft and cut the pot joint out, weld in the universal and bolt the old gear end up to the dodge rag joint, cheap, easy, and really strong.