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Wrong steering box?

Joking aside, I think it would serve you best to keep the newer box. You can put an XJ on it easier and you get rid of the O-ring fittings. Switching to flare would be better. I wonder if there is a difference in ratios. Other than that, the old box looks wimpy. Heck, I've got an XJ on my C10 :D
 
couldn't of been for that box . . . that be ifs front end and there 3 bolt box and go inside of frame rail .

Weird..... My '72 has a 3-bolt, inside-the-framerail box on it... :thinking:

Must be a special edition, limited collector version or something.



-G
 
Joking aside, I think it would serve you best to keep the newer box. You can put an XJ on it easier and you get rid of the O-ring fittings. Switching to flare would be better. I wonder if there is a difference in ratios. Other than that, the old box looks wimpy. Heck, I've got an XJ on my C10 :D
That is the plan... and it already has some kind of modified XJ shaft on it?
 
Weird..... My '72 has a 3-bolt, inside-the-framerail box on it... :thinking:

Must be a special edition, limited collector version or something.



-G
Must be, as we know your rig is bone stock.
 
My memory banks have suffered a few hard drive glitches--but I believe they switched the steering colum input to the larger splines and the fittings to metric thread o-ring style ones sometime around 1978..

The coupling right at the steering colum and the colum itself also changed somewhere around that time,from a large splined end on the colum's shaft,to a "square D" type--that caused me a lot of aggravation the day the rag joint failed on my '77 GMC,which was built from spare parts off many trucks ranging from 1974,1977,and 1985..took 3 trips to the salvage yard to find three steering shafts,and still had to make "one out of two" to get one that worked..:doah:
 
Soo, this is the lower section that connects to the steering box, could it be that the PO simply welded on the lower section of an XJ shaft to the stock shaft?

67.jpg
 
Sure looks that way. Ugh

I like to use the double D shaft end of the XJ into the cut piece from the Chevy end that it fits into
 
Seems to work fine, anything I should be aware of?

68.jpg
 
Probably not, but I am one of those that doesn't trusted welded steering stuff. If the weld was only keeping it from moving, that's one thing. The only means of it staying together, not as much
 
Hmmm, almost looks like a flaming river end: http://www.flamingriver.com/index.php/products/c0005/s0003/FR2631

tn250_34-smooth-x-916-26-forged-u-joint-fr2631.jpg


It used to have the same nut with hex in the middle, had to drill that out in order to get it out as it was stripped. Tapped the hole to the next biggest size and now will have to use the bolt pictured above.

69.jpg
 
Does look like that. Not sure what the newer XJ joints look like.


How is the frame?
 
Has a crack on the inside that has been repaired in front of the reinforcement plate (in the middle of the front spring hanger). Didn't realize that was a thing on first gens, but I guess so.
 
that's not xj parts in that mix-n-match of a shaft .

little chunky of a weld . use red locktight or a jamb nut on your new pinch bolt.
 
that's not xj parts in that mix-n-match of a shaft .

little chunky of a weld . use red locktight or a jamb nut on your new pinch bolt.
It's looking like the PO probably just welded on a flaming river u-joint end to the stock shaft thus removing the rag joint, it still collapses quite a bit, isn't that the purpose of the flaming river u-joint end?
 
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That's the way mine is, one part of the shaft slips up into the other. The pic I posted is just of the lower section.
 
Welp, sent the RA box back and dropped off my old one at Raven power Steering. I might as well order up An ORD steering box brace while I'm at it.
 

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