On Dakotas with a body lift, the intermediate steering shaft U-joint at the firewall ends up with an angle that it can just marginally handle. On some, mine included, that joint tends to bind a bit causing a cyclic stiffness in the steering (it stiffens and relaxes cyclically as you turn the wheel) - this is a result of that joint momentarily hitting its binding point due to that angle. I found that lubricating that U-joint fixes that problem, but since there's no grease nipple there, I was using spray-on lubricants & this needed to be repeated every time the lubricant dried up (every couple of months). Today, I was in the process of re-spraying that joint & decided on a different method - here's what I did:

• I got an old bicycle tube and cut off a piece about 6" in length.
• Pulled the joint off the steering column,
• Slid the piece of tube over the joint,
• Put the joint back on the steering column,
• I put a hose clamp at one end and tightened it, then pumped a bunch of grease into the tube so that it felt full & then put a clamp on the other end and tightened it so that the whole thing sits there like a boot over the constant speed joints. You could probably get away with using zip ties, but I didn't want the grease to come out onto my new driveway, so I pulled it tight with hose clamps.

I now get no binding and don't expect to re lube this ever again unless the tube gets punctured.


I was going to post a picture in order to use fewer words, but they all turned out very dark so I was stuck with using words.

 

Your words were good. You put a condom on your shaft.

 

And now I'm safe for life

 

Sadly, this option is out for practicing Catholics - We Protestants can go down the road any time we want and walk into Harry's and hold our heads up high, and say in a loud steady voice: 'Harry I want you to sell me a condom. In fact, today I think I'll have a French Tickler, for I am a Protestant. . . . . (Those of you without a misguided youth watching late-night PBS might miss the reference)

 

I sort of relate to my experiences in the all-ranks-club at CFB Greenwood, also known as the Hug & Slug. It took a mixture of all the "cultures" to come up with some of the scenarios presented there.