Holy Crap!! Check that rag joint....

[zigg]

I had a lot of slop in my steering(about 4 inches), and couldn't find anything specific, so I got another box from the wrecker that appeared to have next to no play in it, and decided to swap it in.

The old one didn't want to come out at all. All ya gotta do is pop the ball joint off with a puller, 3 bolts on the frame, and slide the thing down...(not)

Some previous owner had bashed the thing, and it was badly bent/dented at the slip joint and just wouldn't slide apart. I spent 2 hours banging and fighting to get it out. had to finally remove the tire, and cut a huge section out of the wheel well to get at it, and then finally drove it out with a prybar and mallet.

Anyway, once out, it became evident what was wrong with it. The rag joint was nearly liquified. It had become saturated with oil/grease etc, and was so sloppy it finally just came apart in my hands. THAT was scary. There was no discernable play in the steering box.

After I changed my pants, I put the new (used) one in with a nice tight rag joint. Took about 20 minutes, and the difference is amazing. Maybe 1 inch of play now, but mostly I think I'll sleep tonight knowing that I removed that sloppy thing.

I highly recommend anyone who has the "classic Ford sloppy steering" to check the rag joint before you do anything else.

Zigg

 

[jtate]

mine was the same way when i bought it. it had so much slack in it that one day i was comming back from new orleans after the storm, i blew out the front passenger tire when i went to turn the steering wheel to keep it on the road nothing straight to the ditch. 65 miles an hour skidding through the ditch you couldnt of drove a 12penny nail up my ass with a sledge hammer. stopped 5ft from going headon with a 5ft culvert. put a new rag joint on the steering is so tight its kind of annoying. lol

 

[towcat]

zig-
take a minute to change out the PS pump return line hose while you're in there. Give it a little extra length too so when the motor torques over, the hose has some give to it. I found most power steering leaks are from there. in extreme cases, changing out the resivoir takes care of the rest.

 

[Exekiel69]

Does any one have a pic of this rag Joint? How to get it off? I do have a sloppy steering wheel and maybe just for the sake of it would be good to check it out.

Thank You.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

No picture; but, the rag-joint is on the steering shaft, under the hood, just against the steering-gear box, hidden in a plastic sleeve.

It looks like a piece of rubber, sandwiched between two metal "forks", with bolts holding it all together.

Not a very trustworthy looking piece, even when brand-new.

 

[zigg]

Towcat

Yeah, I know what you mean, and I did have a look at that, but there seems to be quite a bit of length there already, and I cut about 1/2" off the end just because it looked a little ratty. No leaks at all.

Zeke

I will take a pic of one I got in my shop here in the next day or two. To change it out would not require removal of the steering box like I did. Essentially on the top of the box(which is on the bottom of the steering shaft coming out of the firewall) there is a splined shaft with a locking bolt. The rag joint is just above that, on the steering shaft, and, above that, the steering shaft is in 2 pieces that slide upon each other. So, to change the rag joint, you'd have to undoe the bolt and slip the spline off, and then slide the lower half of the shaft off, and then the new one would go back on in reverse.

In my case, it looks like the box that was there was already changed and came from a wrecker too,but from a van. The steering shaft pieces had a male on the bottom half, female on the top, and the one I put in was off a pickup, and the shaft pieces were exactly opposite. There's another keyed bolted fitting at the firewall, so I ended up changing out the whole box and shaft too, but if you got the right part, you'd probably only have to swap out the bottom half with the rag joint. The joint itself is all permanently riveted together, so, unlike a u joint, you can't just replace the joint itself.

On my wife's Mercedes, they have the same type of thing on the driveshaft in place of u-joints. They're about 6 inches across, and about 3/4" thick, and obviously very sturdy. This car has 500,000km on it, and still runs like new without a hint of vibration...

Zigg

 

[swampdigger]

On the weekend I fiddled with my steering, looking for my slop. Ended up tightening the backlash adjuster on the gear box and probably killed 2.5 to 3" of play in the steering wheel. Still centers good too, so I know I didn't overdo it.

Interesting that you mention them on the Benz though: I've never thought to compare our rag-joints their much sturdier siblings (always called 'em Lovejoy couplers, but guess that's just the company that makes 'em). Those couples get HUGE, like giant solid rubber tires when we're talking about half megawatt industrial electric motors...... maybe that's what I need for my steering column!

It sounds like I'll be inspecting my rag joint this weekend though, and installing an RDT

 

[The Warden]

I found the same thing with my rag joint. I ended up Dremeling the rivet heads off so I could replace the rubber by itself, then through-bolted it all back together. It worked, but I think my joint's getting loose again (had a power steering fluid leak that got the joint wet)...I want one of these when $$ allows (based on towcat's observation, my slide joint's loose as well, so I need a complete shaft)

I also need all new ball joints... *sigh* I really should just rebuild the entire front end; I just wish I could do it without having to disassemble the wheel bearings that I nicely repacked in '05...but, I'm sick of my truck wandering all over the road like I'm drunk

 

[f-two-fiddy]

I replaced my old rotted fiber type rag joint with the 90's version rubber rag joint.

 

[Agnem]

Doesn't somebody make a genuine U-joint conversion kit to get rid of the rubber deal altogether?

 

[towcat]

Doesn't somebody make a genuine U-joint conversion kit to get rid of the rubber deal altogether?

click on "the warden"'s linky. its to the borgeson site.

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Doesn't somebody make a genuine U-joint conversion kit to get rid of the rubber deal altogether?

My thoughts exactly.

I had one figgered out when doing the Ranger V-8 conversion due to the high heat from the headers right beside the joint. Just never got to it due to project costs.
I'm thinking a speed shop may have something of use prolly from the circle track catalogs.
I'm on a mission now. Thanks.
On edit, Warden is on the right track.

 

[subway]

Doesn't somebody make a genuine U-joint conversion kit to get rid of the rubber deal altogether?

I was wondering that to, i know borgeson sells indevidial joints but they are expensive. does anyone know of a better price place for them.

i have heard of people using the joints from tractor supply that are designed for PTO's but they look way to big.

 

[jtate]

i know like lmc sells the complete steering shaft wit universal joints on them but they,re like $300.00. thats crazy.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

BORGESON



A complete Borgeson shaft has U-joints at both ends, completely eliminating the factory crap.

Also, they telescope farther, in case you have, or want, a body-lift.

As soon as the weather breaks, I am going Borgeson shaft, RedHead gear-box, and work my way across from there.

I would really rather find a Dana 60 front end and get rid of this tire-eating wandering-around Twin-I-Beam mess.

I will find one, real cheap, a few days after I get done spending a fortune on the mess I already have.