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Jeep XJ Steering Shaft - Sweet upgrade!

jeff in co

jeff in co

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In the midst of my axle exploring, I did pick up a steering shaft from about a 92' Jeep XJ (Cherokee). For $9.99 I think it was worth a shot!:waytogo:

Got it home and it didn't want to collaps. After some reading, I put my small torch to the slip joint and heated around evenly. After about 30 seconds, it started to move and with a little more heat, it separated completely. Basically there is some plastic in there that keeps it locked together (from what I can tell). Anyways, after it cooled, I scraped out the plastic with a razor, put a little grease on the shaft and put it back together.

On the blazer, pretty simple. Only thing I did was use a saw-all to cut off one of the knubs at the rag joint and the old shaft was free to be removed.

I used just a simple grinder on my drill and maybe took off about 1/16" off the steering column to allow the bolt go through all the way. The other end bolted straight up to the steering box. That's it! Best $10 spent so far! It really helped with the slack that was in the rag joint and a big improvement overall.

ON another subject: The night before, I adjusted my ball joint tapered sleeve again and found out the next day I nailed it! The truck doesn't jump around anymore after big bumps! I guess the Caster was off (and also the camber). Now the caster is dead even (Caster 7.1 each side, Camber 1.5 Drivers, 1.0 Pass) and I think that was a big contributor to the truck's behavior. Overall, a great weekend!

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Great write up and pics, I've had an XJ shaft sitting in the back of my blazer for months. I should really get around to installing it finally...
 
i have had my shaft sitting in my shed for awhile now just been lazy now i might actually put it in
 
DK5 said:
Good job. And thanks for sharing! I'll be doing this soon.
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DK5, weren't you the one that was having some wandering problems? I've taken my front end apart probably 5 times adjusting the upper ball joint but I can say once dialed in....MUCH better. Did you get an alignment with some readings?

I think it was you.......or my memory is fading.:whistle:
 
This is a really nice mod. I installed my own long ago.

One thing to point out though.


If you remove your old column, and test fit the top, shave, test fit.....etc and have it all ready for assembly using the new(er) shaft, you wont need to "melt" the inserts out.

I've read in the past how many people experience sleeve play in these columns because there aren't any inserts left to keep a snug fit. Some of their solutions are.... questionable - And some are out right dangerous (Bolts through a column is a bad idea).

Get the whole show ready to install, throw on some heavy gloves, and then heat your shaft, holding it vertically while leaning on it, close to your truck. Once it starts to collapse, put your weight into it and it will collapse completely. Set the burning torch down (Pointing in a safe direction of course) and move to the truck.

Put the low joint on the gear box and re-heat (Wont take long because its already hot). Pull the top joint up to the steering column and your done - No slack. Tighten your hardware.


That's the way my install went over anyways.... Just providing more insight.

This mod does remove a good amount of slop in the steering and is well worth the minimal effort to make it happen.



Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
 
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good idea here for fix and remove any slop a SAFE WAY . http://coloradok5.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2500789&postcount=167

welded on block with few set screws. holds tight but in crash will slip and let the shaft get shorter.

weld the runner flex / anti vibration joint up for zero play total in the system. not a safty thing but if unwelded keeps vibs from coming up to the steering wheel.
 
I did the exact same thing, except I used a couple of nuts to weld on instead of the bar. Tighten them down and all is good. I can loosen them up to make sure while offroading there is room for movement and frame flex.

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Drives damn near as straight and true as my DD s10.
 
K85 Octane said:
I did the exact same thing, except I used a couple of nuts to weld on instead of the bar. Tighten them down and all is good. I can loosen them up to make sure while offroading there is room for movement and frame flex.

1150.jpg


Drives damn near as straight and true as my DD s10.
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Those bolts going through the shaft is what's going to cause the steering wheel to cave in your chest if/when you're in a bad enough accident. The shaft is made so that if there is a head on impact the shaft will collapse rather than taking out your chest. :deal:

EDIT: I see what you did now, you made a set screw that pinches the shaft tight. You need to remove those set screws so the shaft will work as it was intended in the event of an accident.
 
Scott is right about not putting bolts through the shafts, it's been covered pretty good.

I'm positive, and thus willing to put my face/chest in front of it, that these set screws will not hinder the collapsing feature needed for safety. I'd say they will slide easier than the OEM rubber design....since I know how hard that was to collapse. :waytogo: The set screws are very flat on the inside and wont dig or get stuck in the male end.
 
jeff in co said:
DK5, weren't you the one that was having some wandering problems? I've taken my front end apart probably 5 times adjusting the upper ball joint but I can say once dialed in....MUCH better. Did you get an alignment with some readings?

I think it was you.......or my memory is fading.:whistle:
Click to expand...

Yep that was me.:waytogo: I had the stealership check the alignment and it all looked good. But then I took the truck into NAPA and they found that the pass side lower balljoint needed replaced and I need a new steering box. They told me that everything else was tight, including the wheeljoints!

So the wandering problem is due to the steering box. I still have to remove it and replace it with my other one. But I have to order a steering brace first. Hopefully I can get started this week. :thumb:

I will probably have the shop replace the balljoint and do another alignment after I install the new steering box and steering shaft. :woot:
 
DK5 said:
Yep that was me.:waytogo: I had the stealership check the alignment and it all looked good. But then I took the truck into NAPA and they found that the pass side lower balljoint needed replaced and I need a new steering box. They told me that everything else was tight, including the wheeljoints!

So the wandering problem is due to the steering box. I still have to remove it and replace it with my other one. But I have to order a steering brace first. Hopefully I can get started this week. :thumb:

I will probably have the shop replace the balljoint and do another alignment after I install the new steering box and steering shaft. :woot:
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Alright, cool. If you are going to do all the ball joints and then have it aligned, see if they can used the tapered sleeves to get it dialed in all the way. If you are paying for them to go into that far, get it dialed in all the way (caster and camber). Mine has also been "in spec" for the last 4 alignments too but because my Caster numbers were different from one another, it caused the truck to jog slightly to the side if I hit big bumps.

At $10/alignment check, it was finacially OK but taking the whole thing apart each time (axle shafts pulled and ball joints released)....it was a labor sucker. On a good note, I did get really good and pulling the whole front end apart each time :rolleyes:.

Hopefully they will only charge you an extra $50 or so to get that aligned too (since they are in there already). MY shop wanted $100 extra on top of the alignment charge to mess with the upper ball joints.

Anyways, just my experience. Also, recommend doing all 4 ball Joints if possible. I'm sure the others can't be too far behind on replacement. And one last thing, probably change the axle shaft u-joints. Then you know that's all done up there.
 
This mod is new to me. What years are the shafts swappable from the XJ's? Is there another good write up for the swap? I would like to do this to my Suburban.
 
MT86K5 said:
This mod is new to me. What years are the shafts swappable from the XJ's? Is there another good write up for the swap? I would like to do this to my Suburban.
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I think it's early 90's to mid 90's cherokees. Not grand cherokees as they are too short in length.
 
Ok, I went on Wikipedia and it looks like they were the same from 84 to 96. That should make it pretty easy to find one in the junk yard.
 
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