Steering Shaft Boot Replacement

[FloridaFordGuy]

Hello all! I went looking high and low for a replacement boot (part 3D510) that sits between the steering shaft (part 3A526) and the gear box:

Old Boot.PNG

No such luck, as nothing is being made now by anyone, Ford or otherwise. I found an alternative that, with a couple of minor modifications, works fine.

Search Google for part number 18018.01. This will bring up a number of sites that list a Lower Steering Shaft Boot for the 72-86 Jeep CJ (original Jeep part number is 8132676). This one in particular is made by Omix-Ada, Inc., to whom I have no affiliation, though I will say the part appears to be pretty well made:

Boot.PNG

The main modification is that the shaft this CJ boot goes on must be notched, whereas the Ford shaft is round. I took an Exacto knife to the interior of the top hole and rounded it out as best I could. I then rolled up a piece of 100-grit sandpaper and turned it round and round in the opening until it was pretty close to the diameter of the shaft. The only other work was sanding down the outside of the opposite opening just a little so it would fit in the gear box.

After much fretting and nail-biting over whether or not I'd be able to get the thing over the pin on the end of the shaft, I heated up the boot end in hot water and crossed my fingers the boot wouldn't split on me:

New Boot.PNG

Back in business! I hope this is helpful to someone!

[cep62]

Good info, thanks for sharing.