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Upgraded Lower Steering Shaft

xj92

xj92

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Junction City, KS
Anybody know of any upgraded or heavy duty pieces for the lower steering shaft? The one that connects the steering column and the steering gear, located in the engine compartment next to the fenderwell? The rubber vibration dampening piece has worn out to the point that there is a lot of slop in it now. I got a junkyard piece to throw in and then noticed it has the same problem & slop as mine.
New dealer pieces cost $351 (OEM Part # 4713943), or partstrain has just an aftermarket replacement piece for $111. If I'm going to spend big on it anyways, I'd like to get something even stronger. I know eventually I need to get hydraulic steering to help out with the big tires in the rocks, perhaps that contributed, but for now I just need a steering shaft.
 
I just got a basic replacement from Crown for $75. Some people will tell you to just weld that joint up so that it can't move. Don't know how wise that is, but people do it.

A Borgeson unit runs about $260 or so.
 
I've been researching since I posted the above, and also came up with Borgeson or Flaming River. I'm leaning toward Borgeson at this point, just trying to find it locally now. I thought about welding it up, even wrote that as part of my post, then deleted it because I just wouldn't feel comfortable messing with the metal on that shaft. If it became brittle and broke under stress, however unlikely, that's a scary thought. Anybody run the Borgeson shaft? Is it higher quality than OEM? They don't advertise it as heavy-duty or anything.
 
Nobody locally carries any steering shaft at all, and I'm leaving on a snow camping trip in 4 hours, so I decided to weld it. Time will tell if I'm a Darwin victim or if I saved a few bucks, but I believe it will hold up. This may be a temporary or a permanent fix, not sure yet. I know all the welding I did on it wasn't necessary, I just got carried away. A little welding next to the u-joint is all that would have been needed. Click the thumbnail for some pictures of the one I welded next to a stock one for comparison.
 
I already had it pulled before I welded it up. It did take care of a lot of the slop, but there is still some left and a tiny clunk that sounds to be coming from the steering column/upper shaft now.
 
xj92, when you welded it, did you add some steel or is that all weld that's added? I'm thinking of asking my buddy with a TIG to do this for me this spring.
 
I don't think that welding the shaft is a bad idea because of stress on the metal. I thought that the shaft was designed to collapse in a hard frontal impact. Welded steering shaft = impalement spike.
 
DeftwillP said:
I don't think that welding the shaft is a bad idea because of stress on the metal. I thought that the shaft was designed to collapse in a hard frontal impact. Welded steering shaft = impalement spike.
Click to expand...

I don't know too much about this subject, but that's the first thing that came to my mind as I drive mine 70+ miles a day.
 
Correct, I did not alter the slip part of the shaft. I used little pieces of 1/4" steel to create the shape & angle I wanted, then filled the rest in with weld and ground it smooth.
 
Thanks for the response on that. You, too, RCP. I thought I remembered that part from an old thread, but I wasn't sure. Looks like I'll be doing this, too, but I have one more question. Why add the extra material instead of just welding around the end of that joint?

EDIT: I ask because I weld a bit, but I'm by no means good enough to trust my kids' lives to my welding skills.
 
The only weld really necessary is the weld nearest the steering column, and on that weld I did not add any steel, just weld. The weld I put on the end nearest the steering gear was overkill, but the gap is too big to do it cleanly with just weld. There is also a rubber bushing inside that sleeve that will burn & smoke once you start welding that. So far I really like the results and will probably leave it as a permanent fix. I'll probably do it to my Comanche too just to avoid future problems, but I'm going to burn out the rubber before I weld this time probably.
 
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