Hey all, it's been a while. I saw another intermediate steering shaft thread, and I thought I would post up one as well.

Well, I was plagued with the notorious bad U-Joints in the intermediate steering shaft. Also a few years ago the rubber in the vibration joint was completed rotted away which left crazy play one day as it failed. I had to find a suitable replacement in the junkyard. I found some replacements but there is no way to secure the new joints in the housing, also the slip shaft had too much play in between the two pieces. I compared the old shaft sizes and found the joints I needed on https://www.borgeson.com/xcart/home.php. I actually found way better prices for the pieces on ebay for $150 for all 3.

Borgeson Steering Universal Joint 3/4" 36-Spline 1" DD (Vibration Reducer) Part#033452
Borgeson Steering Shaft, Telescopic, Steel, 24" Extended Length Part#450024
Borgeson 3/4-36 Spline X 3/4" DD BLACK Universal Steering Box U Joint Part#013449

I wanted to keep the slip shaft as well as the vibration reducer, although, with 35in mud tires, there will be enough vibrations.

Here is the old worn shaft.


Here are all the new parts.


Here is the shaft cut to length and drilled.


Here is the final assembly.


Here is the final install. There is no more play. Nice and solid at the shaft.

 

Freakin awesome man thanks for posting this up. Really good timing for you and Ralph to be sharing this info as I've just about reached the point where I'm not confident in my truck's steering safety.

Not keen on spending that much money but it's gotta be done. Thanks again.

 

I actually bought my parts off of Ebay, which I'm assuming it was an old distributor of Borgeson as it had the same part numbers. I paid $150 for all 3 pieces, compared to the site's almost $300.

Also, there are lots of other manufacturers of these style joints, search around for a reasonable price, use the specs of these parts.

 

Yeah I can't find any deals like that anymore. The specs will help a lot and in the end I'll pay whatever is needed as there's no other options but to fix it.whatever the cost. Thanks.

 

Alright, so after hemming and hawing for a week I decided to bite the bullet and order all Borgeson stuff. The telescoping shaft could not be found any cheaper, but I did find u-joints about half the price of the Borgeson ones. I decided that cheap driveshaft u-joints are one thing, but skimping on steering was not the way to go. Ended up not going with the vibration reducer, just two u-joints. Only different part number is 013452 instead of 033452. I hate spending the money but fact is every time I feel the steering knocking it makes me think the steering isn't safe...and indeed it really isn't safe. I'll update with my findings in a couple weeks but I imagine it'll be no surprises.

 

Cool, post up some pictures when you get all together.

 

I just got my 6th square body Dakota but my 1st 4WD, meaning 1st without rack n pinion. My 96 that I just bought yesterday had to be trailered home as the tranny and T case is laying in the bed, but as I steered while my son ran the winch, the play in the steering was the 1st thing I noticed.... reminds me of my old Ramcharger. so once I rebuild the trans, checking out the steering will be very next on the list.... before the other "automatic" things I always do upon buying a new to me truck.... check brakes, complete tune up, belts and hoses, and tires/alignment if necessary (they are on this one, fronts are not very good)

 

Yes, always do a check of all the systems and flush out all old fluids and replace all replaceable parts.

 

So I got the parts here and I'm pleased with the quality. Glad I.went with all Borgeson.

I got the steering box end of the old shaft off no problem, and I got the roll pin out of the upper u joint. Air hammer with a "custom" bit precision made by my Hitachi angle grinder worked great for it. Got the master cylinder unhooked and the brake booster out. God I hate working under the dash.

But now there's a problem. I can't get the upper u joint to free up off the main shaft. Roll pin is completely out. It doesn't have a convenient place to pry against like the lower one does, and besides it really seems more rusted in there. I've sprayed it with pb blaster, hit the sides of the joint with a hammer, and Jerry rigged a way to use a pickle fork and a 2x4 to pry against the firewall. No dice, won't budge. Gonna let it sit for now. Too cold to be just standing still outside.

 

Alllright! Got the old shaft out. I used my air hammer to drive the upper joint away from the firewall. At first I didnt think I could get the angle I needed, but it worked perfectly.

I built up the new shaft. Probably install it tomorrow and I'll post pictures. Figure I may as well post them here in this thread seeing as it's exactly the same as crazys except I'm not using the vibration dampener. I'll let you all know my thoughts on that as well, but I'll say the exhaust vibrates the truck so much that I dont know if I'll notice a subtle difference.

Also I kinda busted the bottom part of the preload spring above the upper u joint. I'll post pics of how I'm dealing with that too. It's not very interesting though haha.