Thread: who needs those HIGH $$$ steering joints, not me! ! !

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i have used the stock u joints.I had a guy stop by the shop that work at saginaw steering gear just down the road a bit. he told me they are very strong and that the the joint will not fail before any thing like the body for the U-joint.I have used them were looks were not a big deal any thing is better than 1/2 stocket drive U-joints ? boy i should have not said that some rat rod guy may be using some or smoking a joint

here's a couple more pic's of everything ...joe



Frome left to right.. 1st steering joint goes to the steering box, this is the lowwer half of a Chevy Astro Van & has the same splines as the S10 steering box I'm using. 2nd is a piece of double D tubing which connects the 1st steering joint to a piece of double D shaft w/a piece of double D tube attached to it which goes to a steering joint. As you can tell everything has been drilled & tapped for set screws & lock nuts for safety.



As you can see both the Double D shaft & tube has be drilled & tapped for set screws & jam nuts for safety. Personally I believe this is a must.



From left to right. 1st is the double D shaft & tube w/the tube having a set screw & jam nut. 2nd is the outer steering joint w/a lowwer steering column bearing attached which goes into the tube that is coming out of the firewall to help hold the hold everything(EXTRA SAFETY) You can't see it but it also has a set screw & nut on the double D tube. Also I'm adding a set screw & jam nut to the opposite side of the locking bolt for added safety. 3rd is the inner steering joint that attaches to the column on the inside of the cab. 4th Last but not least is the bottom of the 93 Buick Park Ave steering column that I'm using.



This is how I mounted the Hiem Joint to the frame. I simply took a piece of pipe & mounted the Hiem Joint to it by welding a jam nut to the pipe & then had a friend chuck it in his lathe & clean up my weld. Then I took some angle iron & made a mount to bolt it to the frame.



As you can see everything is bolted together & looks good. It may look like the steering shaft is touching the exhaust manifold but really it's about an inch away from it. The upper joint is almost 2 inches away from the manifolds.




Be sure that you have some space between your Hiem Joint & any tubing you are using. You need this for body & frame flex so the shaft can side with in the Hiem Joint if it needs to.



As you can see the steering is complete w/a Hiem Joint to secure everything along w/the set screws & lock nuts for added safety............ PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASEEEEE be sure to check any used parts that you do use on your own projects for wear & defects along w/adding set screws & jam nuts w/lock tight for that added safety. REMEMBER that this is one place that SAFETY OVERKILL is a good thing.

toomany clean work. It looks really natural installed and made for the bus . I like the pic lay out off the build. A novice like me can see and say i can make a change and it would work on my build. Great work again


I like the green lock tight as long as someone else takes it apart (LOL)

hey Bob, ya want to know a secret????????













i have no idea what i'm doing , it's all just common sense to me. but then my mom did say i have 90w running through my veins & the wife says i work on stuff in my sleep.....joe

I cant imagine what you'll build when you do know what your doing (LOL)

Hey TooMany, Large Marge is a hoot! I thought I was the only crazy one. Check out Frankenbolt. I think I've used yer philosophy all the way through! I dont know how else I would have built it.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sharig...=/3fcd&.src=ph

Originally Posted by jimmyjeep

Hey TooMany, Large Marge is a hoot! I thought I was the only crazy one. Check out Frankenbolt. I think I've used yer philosophy all the way through! I dont know how else I would have built it. [/url]

arent u over on Stovebolt too??? cause i think i've seen ur work over there or somewhere else or even here unless i seen the Frankenbolt name used somewhere else in another forum. &&& folks thought i was nuts for stuffing a caddy mtr in mine, hell u went w/a MOPAR mtr it looks like....joe

Joe, do you know that Jon from www.hotrodders.com used your pics on this project, and made his very own wiki article about junkyard steering? I didn't see any credit given to you ither.

Isn't Jon one of the main honchos on that board, and shouldn't he know better?

yeppp Jon runs that place & it's ok guy's he asked if he could use them, heck he copied them from my post on his website. BUT i might have to give him a little ribbing about giving me credit. i guess i'm known world wide now, like i wasn't already ...joe

All of those pictures and parts look really good. Replaced my steering components with new Borgeson shafts and joints. Car was initially built for the drags before being converted to a street rod. Still had military spec steering components until recently. Still worked just fine, checked them all the time for wear and tear. In the car since the late 80's with no problems. Not cheap parts.....cost about the same as Borgeston or Flaming River parts, just not recommended for street use. Have never used junk yard parts in mission critical areas. Like to know the history of my parts so I probably never will.

but think about this, how many TRUE revolutions that steering joint really makes compared to the number of time a driveshaft or a PTO shaft makes before it ever wears out. i've seen the u-joints in own 84 suburban got over 100,000 mile b4 i changed them & even when i took the apart the grease was still good & there were no marks visible on the cross-shaft.
i dont want someone to hurt themselves & if there is ANY DOUBT in their minds whether or not a USED part is still good enough to use or they don't have the knowledge how to check for wear/defects then by all means buy a new parts.......joe

Joe can i get a Autograph . My first hot rod celebrity . You've been published great work . Route im going but waiting on it to get back in the 30's before i go site seeing in the yard.

Originally Posted by bluestang67

Joe can i get a Autograph . My first hot rod celebrity . You've been published great work . Route im going but waiting on it to get back in the 30's before i go site seeing in the yard.

hey Bob u need to step away from the exhaust
things MUST be getting bad when i'm consider a hot rod celebrity
thanks for the complement though.....joe