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I've got a few degrees of slop in my steering wheel, and I'm thinking it's probably the rag joint. I've tried looking around online, and I can't find one anywhere. Where would I buy the part? Anything else I should check? From the nature of how it moves, I doubt it's in the steering rack, it's something in the steering column or wheel itself.
Forget to mention, this is on a 1985 w/ manual transmission.
I believe the '84 & '85 use the same coupler. It's not a "rag" joint. The rubber sleeve inside the coupler can fail, causing your problem. Look for this pin in the bottom U-joint. The pin should stay centered in the hole when the steering wheel is moved. There is a dust shield over the u-joint at the input shaft of the R & P that will need to be removed to see this pin.
So this is at the end closest to the steering rack?
The steering wheel doesn't just wiggle, but if I take a hard turn it will 'slip' a few degrees one way or another. There's a definite hard stop at each end. I can't just wobble it back and forth. Does that make sense? I don't think that sounds like a loose U-joint (I would expect it to just flop back and forth), but I could be wrong.
If what you say is the problem, what do I do about it? Can you replace the coupler, or just the full shaft? Where would you buy the part?
Mine failed and would "slip" when turning the wheel. The little pin pointed out in the above post would go from one side to the other when it happened.
Mine failed and would "slip" when turning the wheel. The little pin pointed out in the above post would go from one side to the other when it happened.
I welded it solid.
I’ll have to check but I bet that’s the issue. I’m not much of a welder. Can it be done on the car? I could drive it to a shop or something.
Before welding that joint, I'd be interested to find out what it's purpose is. There has to be a reason Chevy designed in this complication. It may not be critical at all, in which case feel free to weld away. OTOH, what if it's intended to create a bit of flex that is important to safety or longevity of the rack? I don't know the answer - I'm just suggesting checking into it before changing the way the factory intended this to work.
The purpose of the joint is a vibration isolator. It is a rubber sleeve with two steel pins that fit through holes to prevent loss of steering when the rubber fails. I also welded the pins into the holes to stop the steering slip, and didn't notice any increase in vibration. This can not be done with the shaft in the car.
The purpose of the joint is a vibration isolator. It is a rubber sleeve with two steel pins that fit through holes to prevent loss of steering when the rubber fails. I also welded the pins into the holes to stop the steering slip, and didn't notice any increase in vibration. This can not be done with the shaft in the car.
Thanks for the insight. Can you tell me how hard it is to remove the thing from the car? If I can buy another one I might do that instead, if I have to remove it anyway...
There are covers on both ends of the shaft that have to be removed to access the clamp bolts. Remove the clamp bolts completely, and collapse the shaft. Once you get it out, you could take it to a shop to get the pins welded. I don't think I would trust a used shaft any more than your original. If you want a new one, companies like Borgeson make replacement shafts, but they are not cheap.
I believe the flex coupling was used because the engineers wanted " front steer". Mounting steering gear in front of crossmember causes a less than perfect steering shaft alignment where shaft crosses over crossmember. Mounting the gear behind crossmember may have made the rubber part of coupling unnecessary.
I believe the flex coupling was used because the engineers wanted " front steer". Mounting steering gear in front of crossmember causes a less than perfect steering shaft alignment where shaft crosses over crossmember.
The flex coupling is NOT a U-joint. There is no flex in the coupling. It is only for vibration isolation. The U-joints are separate parts of the steering shaft, and the lower U-joint is shown in my photo.
I welded mine in the car because momma didn't raise no bitch. Hit it the best I could with a wire brush and smacked it with some flux core. I learned how to weld from Uncle Ricky and it's been holding up great for 4 years
The early steering shaft...
in my 84 the rubber inside of the early slip joint started to fail, resulting in some weirdness.
i could also get it to slip enough to **** the steering wheel to one side.
what i did was to take a later saft from a 94, and then carefully disassembled the u joints.
you will want to reuse the coupler from your original steering shaft near the firewall.
i have a post on this from a little while back...
the result was a drastic change on how the steering feels, and improved feedback feel.
others just drill a hole and insert a sheer pin.
For me, i view this as a safety issue and was not willing to muck around with a possible steering wheel and broken ribs (or worse).
Thanks guys for all the replies! I'm going to see if I can fix it maybe over Christmas break this year. We will see if I end up having any time at all.
Steering wheel slop - replace rag joint
