For what its worth, if you do decide on the original way with a rag joint..Buy a complete joint and not the rebuild kit. Ask me how i know

Better to spend the extra $20 and not have to get the grinder etc out!

 

Thanks all for your imput, being the original rag joint on there now, I'll just buy a new one and install it and not fool around with the rivets, it's not that expensive....

 

Ok, I bought the complete rag joint, $69. plus the new 12 point bolt. Had the steering box off the frame several times, new rag joint in place. I can't get the large bolt,large hole,small bolt, small hole to align, they are reversed when I try to bolt the joint to the steering columm flange. The joint only goes on the steering box shaft one way (flat spot). I assume the flange at the end of the steering columm has a flat spot also or can that be turned? It almost seems the the rag was assembled wrong. I fooled around with this for awhile, turning the wheel will make the wheel be off....I'm stumped....

 

Thanks Jim

 

73jst4fun
Looking at the gear from the driver position, with the gear on center, the flat on the input shaft will be at 12 o'clock. With the gear on center and the flexible coupling installed, the stop pins will be at 6 and 12 o'clock. The bolts that attach the flex coupling to the steering column flange will be at 3 and 9 o'clock. The big 3/8 bolt will be at 9, the 5/16 bolt will be at 3. The special bolt that attaches the flex coupling flange to the gear input shaft will be vertical, passing through the 9 o'clock quadrant. The head of that bolt will be sticking up so that you could tighten it by reaching over the fender of your Vette.

With the gear on center, if the big 3/8 bolt and the 5/16 bolt are reversed from their correct positions, the flexible coupling was manufactured incorrectly.

If the flex coupling bolts are in the correct location, then somebody misassembled the steering shafts inside your steering column. You will need to completely tear down your steering column to correct the orientation of the steering shafts (my disassembly and repair papers can walk you through the procedure).

Or you can just reverse the bolts in the flexible coupling. You can place a deep socket on the head of the bolts for support and knock them out. They are retained by tanged washers and can be quite easily reinstalled.

Let us know what you find.

Jim

 

As you can see, we ran into the same problem with my unit, which came from ZIP. With the exception of the original GM unit, which I think is still available, these are all probably manufactured by the same supplier. In my case, it was 180 degrees out, and we did have to enlarge the smaller hole as John noted. Then we pressed the small bushing out of the ragjoint (with John's fingers, it's just a spacer), pressed it back into the the other hole, and everything worked well. Sad to say, this isn't uncommon with today's replacement parts. It seems that modification is the name of the game today.....

By the way, a good wire brush, some muscle, some brakleen, and a little dab of Mobil 1 grease on the steering box sector shaft and column shaft, and the ragjoint slid up and down on both pieces with ease and went right into place. After we unbolted the steering column from the dash and firewall, of course. Oh, and here's my first chance to tell John (theandies) Thanks man for all the help!

Steve

 

You live and learn! I am not familiar with the aftermarket flex couplings that might be out there. Particularly the idea of using the same size 5/16 dia small bolts and using a bushing to make the small bolt fit the larger 3/8 dia hole in the steering column flange. My description above relates to the OEM flex coupling.

BTW, the flange on the steering column will only assemble one way on the steering column shaft. The cross bolt that pinches the flange (wrapping it around the shaft and locking it in place) passes through a notch on the steering shaft. So it will only go on one way.

Jim

 

Jay, I agree with Jim on this one. I just went out and took 2 pictures and emailed them to you of the coupler. Hope this helps out.

 

Thanks Jim for the helpfull info, and thanks Steve, looks like that's what I found also with this one from Zip. It seemed to be out 180 degrees also...still trying to figure out the advantage of one bolt larger than the other, why not make both bolts the same size I used anit sieze on the threads, the steering box really needs to be aligned and tight also, then the bolts just slid into place....another easy job that busted my $%^ "nothings ever easy"

 

We tried to make the steering system attachments that were made in the assembly plants as secure and fool proof (or was it full proof) as possible.

The flat on the gear input shaft and the flat in the flex coupling flange insures that the flex coupling will attach to the gear in only one position.

Different size bolts insure that the attachment of the flex coupling to the column flange could only be made one way.

The flange attached to the steering column shaft will only install in one position because the cross bolt must pass through a notch on the steering shaft.

On the steering wheel end, there is an identation on the end of the steering shaft and a matching indentation on the steering wheel hub to locate the orientation of the hub correctly. Also on locking steering columns, the plastic horn tower sticking through the column locking plate insures that the hub has to be close to proper orientation to be installed.

The cross bolt that attaches the flex coupling to the gear and the flange to the steering column shaft has a plastic patch on its threads. This insures that if you can see it and its head is seated against the flex coupling flange, a wrench or socket had to have been used to get it fully threaded in place.

Starting in 1975 a clip was installed on the very end of the steering shaft to insure that the nut that retains the steering wheel hub could not come off even if it was loose and not torqued in place.

The fact that you have to loosen the gear or pull the column back into the car a short distance to disengage the flex coupling from the column flange insures that even if a critical fastener was missing or was to become loose, the steering parts can't just suddenly separate.

We tried to insure that if something was assembled incorrectly there would be some operating time and therefore some warning to the driver that things were not correct or were loose before steering control would be lost.

I know that sometimes the above designs makes it more difficult to service the steering parts, but we really tried to make the Saginaw designed parts as safe as practical.

Jim

 

Thanks again Jim for the information and clearing up some questions I had...

 

Jim, it's pretty obvious that at the time, you guys were engineering these things to be fairly hard to screw up, whether in the factory or in the field. What you can't control is what engineers do when they are trying to "re-engineer" the original setup today to make it less expensive to produce. Since today's engineers weren't there to understand your reasons for building things the way that you did, they wind up reverse engineering the replacement pieces. Inevitably, that means the hobbyist/installer winds up on the short end of the stick and needs to be a bit of an engineer themselves. Once John and I figured out what needed to be done to make our piece functional, it was quick and easy. And as you've mentioned, the rest of the assembly makes it all go together safely.

Steve

 

There is a new posting where an assist cylinder was received from one of the well known suppliers with the hose ports clocked 90 degrees from the OEM position. Try and install the production hoses with the ports not in the design position. Off hand I don't know where the cylinder was manufactured but I am quite sure that it wasn't Saginaw!

I think that our suppliers are going to have to demand better quality control from their tier 2 suppliers.

Jim

 

Nice Flamming River Unit.. How much was it??