Question about rag joint end of steering shaft....

[cdherman]

Actually two questions.

First, I have one shaft that is a little loose on the bracket end. The bracket appears to be splined and then swaged on the end to make it a tight fit. Now its a little loose.

One could weld it. Many people weld these when they shorten the shafts. But welding makes stuff brittle and after all, there must be a reason why ford did it this way.

I am thinking of heating the end of the shaft cherry red and driving a large punch down into where it was originally swaged and see if I can get the shaft to expand back up so the bracket fits tight. Does this sound crazy? futile?

Second question.

I have a couple shafts (OK, I have scrounged no less than 3 short shafts in varying states of disrepair) that have had the hole wallowed out some where the pilots run from the rag joint. This only occurs when a rag joint fails and the metal pilots start to rub. When the rag joint is good, the rubber/canvas takes all the strain.

So my question is -- why bother to "rebuilt" the holes in bracket on the shaft. I mean, If I run a good rag joint and don't have sagging cab mounts that tend to eat rag joints, those pilots and the slots they run in are just a safety feature. As long as they eventually engage, they are still functional. So is my logic....

[fordman]

i don't understand what you mean in the first part about the swag on the steering shaft. or are you talking about the part on the bottom of the rag joint that fits onto the steering box? if so the bolt is suppose to hold that tight onto the box. unless the splines are worn and not making good contact with the box splines.

[convincor]

He's talking about this end of the shaft-

[fordman]

yea i read your other post after this one. i just didnt understand what he was saying when i read this. i thought they wer welded on. i havent ever looked at them.

[cdherman]

I see in that picture that one of the two has been welded as well. That's the issue -- is that really a good idea?

I'm thinking its OK, but I figured if I would tighten it up by just heating up the end of the shaft and "mushrooming" it little, well that might be even better.

And in the pictures, you can see the oval pilor or "guide" holes that I was talking about above as well.

[convincor]

With the expansion/contracting not to mention the annealing that's going on when heated you'd be better off swedging it cold.
As for welding, as long as it's a good weld I see no problem.

[sargentrs]

So, when you put that rag joint bracket back on the end of the steering shaft, you mushroom (or swage) the end of it out to make sure it doesn't work it's way off? That's why the recess in the end of it?

[cdherman]

I think if one is removing the rag joint bracket from the the shaft, assumedly to shorten the shaft, the best method then is to weld it back on.

The orginal has splines and is then swedged (swaged?) on with a mother of a press. The end of the shaft was literally mushroomed. Thats what left the indentation in the end of the shaft.

If the bracket is removed to shorten the shaft, the splines will be gone as well. What sounds like a good method to me is to go to a machine shop and have the bracket milled off. Then the shaft can be shortened to the desired length and milled down to slide into the bracket. But the splines will be gone, so at that point, one just welds it.

I am going to try and beat on the end of mine with it in a vice, but I doubt anything short of a huge press/swageing machine has the force to mushroom the shaft enough to tighten it back up.

I will probably give up and weld it......

[sargentrs]

My friend and I removed mine by heating it cherry red, then sliding it through a short pipe welded to a heavy bench and snatching it HARD and it just popped off...after about 10 or 12 snatches.