I may try disconnecting at the bolt. If it gives me a hard time I’ll give up before I cheese it out. I can’t afford to wreck a steering shaft or gear. I’m very leery of pounding on a roll pin. I think I’m asking for trouble and with no backup, no steering shafts and no r&ps available anywhere I’d be up the creek.

Then I’ll try lifting the cab with the steering attached and see what happens. If I’m stressing it out I can unbolt the rack and see if that unstresses it. I think it should. It’s not like I have to raise it a foot.

I really need to find a Dakota at a boneyard and pluck a few parts off it. A steering column will be on the list. I looked at a couple nearby yards and they had no 1st gen Dakotas. I’ll have to look further. Some parts are just next to impossible to get except from a junkyard. It’s time I start looking into it.

 

Don't forget to hit up car-part.com and hollanderparts.com for possible boneyards near enough to drive to that might have what you're looking for.

RwP

 

Thanks Ralph. I most definitely will and I’m glad you posted those sites again.

Been a long time since I’ve scrounged around a junkyard. 1980ish. This is where battery tools come in handy.

 

Ralph, help me out with part names (I suck at it). When I say “steering shaft”, does that include BOTH u-joints? Or is that bottom u-joint part of the rack n pinion? Or a separate part altogether?

 

Well, there whole assembly is known as an "intermediate shaft".

The parts list calls the two parts 'Coupler, Upper" and "Coupler, Lower". See drawing 19-555 (page 615) in the 90-93 parts list.

As to junkyard walking - I've taken to my new roll around tool chest, and a 5 gallon bucket.

RwP

 

To sit on?

 

To put the parts I'm pulling when it's the small stuff (speedo cables, hood bumpers, overflow tanks, EVAP canisters, etc.)

RwP

 

OK, pg 615. Best I can tell the lower coupler includes the u-joint.

Why in the part description does it say "w/manual steering"?

I see lots of "Steering Column Shafts" on car-parts.com. Most from '94 -'96 in the 1st Gen. (I did an 88' - '96 search) Wish I had a 94 - 96 parts catalog to compare it to my 90 - 93 catalog. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of parts did not change but some surely have.

Have a '94 Steering Column Shaft" 34 miles from me,

 

Well, that one is in the FAQ message also.

But since you asked

Check the attached PDF.

Do notice they show the whole shaft; that's not uncommon.

And is why I'd pick up the others also - things like the wiper transmission is, for 94-96, a Wiper Transmission; for 86-87 it's a laundry list of parts.

RwP

 

I see the 94 - 96 parts manual in the stickies but it wants me to sign into google to see if I’m authorized for the download. I don’t remember having to do that for the 90-93 parts manual I downloaded. Anyway, I sign in and it says they’re sending an enail yet I never got one.

Confused.