Steering Shaft
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Joined: Dec 2010
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From: Land of the Toxic Avenger
Thank you NYTman! Thanks for the time posting, very helpful indeed. I bought the non lift shaft, but also noticed my column in the engine bay has a spring, I didn't see the spring in other videos, is this a stock set up? Should still mount up with the upgrade hopefully. Regards
The steering brace should reinforce the weak sector of the front frame quadrant. It ties the laterals to the side C channel, giving it more rigidity. The reason these plates (and the areas where the holes are in the frames) crack is from small, minor flexing, over and over again over time. Metal fatigue is the issue.....
Now if they had kept the Reverse Rotation steering design in effect, you wouldn't be dealing with this at all. Unfortunately, the RR design has it's limitation for steering performance (parking and tight radius turning) as it hits the tires if you turn the wheel too far, which is why (besides cost) it was changed in the first place.
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Joined: Nov 2006
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From: Englewood, TN
Personally, I wouldn't use the double u joint unit. Why ?
The engineers (albeit not the smartest bunch of monkeys) put the rag joint in there to absorb the flex-ation between the steering column (which is mounted in the cab) to the frame mounted steering gear. The rubber allows for bending / twisting / lateral or vertical movement between the end of the steering column and the fixed length of the steering shaft. If you install a solid u joint in there, you no longer have that ability to absorb the slop / deviation between the frame moving / cab moving that happens in our old rides..
Obviously, it's been used by many, but I like the idea that the rubber disc allows for changes in position.....
The engineers (albeit not the smartest bunch of monkeys) put the rag joint in there to absorb the flex-ation between the steering column (which is mounted in the cab) to the frame mounted steering gear. The rubber allows for bending / twisting / lateral or vertical movement between the end of the steering column and the fixed length of the steering shaft. If you install a solid u joint in there, you no longer have that ability to absorb the slop / deviation between the frame moving / cab moving that happens in our old rides..
Obviously, it's been used by many, but I like the idea that the rubber disc allows for changes in position.....
I know I'm late weighing in here, but the folks at Borgeson agree with you T.
Back in February 2007 (when I purchased my new shaft), the technician at Borgeson (Gil Evans, gil@borgeson.com) advised me that if the truck is not lifted, one is better off going with the single U-joint shaft (part #940) and thereby maintaining the vibration dampening characteristics of the rag joint.
I've been running a Borgeson shaft for about 100,000 miles now and it's doing fine. I will note that I had the Borgeson shaft partially installed and then had to remove it so I could get rid of a piece of weld spatter left in one of the rag joint bolt holes -- so the quality assurance at Borgeson ain't perfect...
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 807
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From: Englewood, TN
Now if they had kept the Reverse Rotation steering design in effect, you wouldn't be dealing with this at all. Unfortunately, the RR design has it's limitation for steering performance (parking and tight radius turning) as it hits the tires if you turn the wheel too far, which is why (besides cost) it was changed in the first place.
I've assembled the components to change my steering to Reverse Rotation but simply have not yet had time to tackle the chore. Is your turning radius worse now that you've installed RR on your truck?
TIA.
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From: Land of the Toxic Avenger
Performance ??
A whole lot better, as I had the gear box upgraded to a quick ratio gear. Made a huge improvement, in every respect. Integral stops removed as well.
The only issue is if you have larger tires which potentially can hit the parallel to frame drag link when turning right. My tires are stock sized with a 3" lift, so no contact issues at all.
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Removable rag joint?
Can anyone post photos of removable vs not removable rag joints on a 1st gen? I want to purchase my borgeson shaft today but I don't want to order the wrong one. This is what I see when looking at my Rag Joint
