my whacked column rebuild

[Raider L]

Today I went out to try and find a shop open on Saturday to see if I could get that pin out of the intermediate shaft end. I went by this guy's shop who works on my wife's Subaru, his shop press was down so he sent me around the corner and I got it done there.

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Now I could get the old boot off.

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NAAAASTY!!

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The clamp on the Left is the factory clamp. The one on the Right is one I modified from some that went to my old Honda, and ground the finger's down so it would fit inside the coupler better and clear the insides good. It's a little wider but I don't think that will matter. I'll take a close look to make sure before I commit. It's the exact same size as the factory one so it won't be any tighter on the end of the boot. It just needs to be a good seal to keep the grease in.

Does anyone know the actual name of these kinds of clamps. I'd like to see what I could order before I have to put the old one back on there, just in case the new one doesn't work out?

 

[Raider L]

This is what I've observed by looking at different boots on line. If you have the long coupler, like us Square Body guys, and are rebuilding you intermediate shaft your boot should look like a donut. If you have a similar shaft, but in a Chevy car with the short coupler, then you need the boot with the bellows body and has the clamp on the outside of the coupler down on the shaft in the open. Ours with the long coupler has the clamp on the inside of the coupler. If you put on the kind of boot with the bellows on it, won't the grease in the coupler end up in the boot over time, and very little left in the coupler where it belongs?

That might be a "duhh" with you more experienced owners, just sayin'.

 

[idahovette]

These couplers are very similar to the old dogdgde couplers, except the dogdgde where on the bottom end going into the gear. Whenever I replaced the "bell" and the "shoes" and the pin, I would drill the "bell", thread it and install a zerk. That way they could be greased at every service, weather they got lubed or not was another story. At least I tried!!

 

[Raider L]

@idahovette,

Good info. Thank you very much.

 

[Raider L]

I ordered a new boot last night, and a new clamp. I ordered a new clamp because I don't like the old one, besides I broke part of the end off one of the arms, if you look close at the clamp on the Left you can see the arm on the Left on the clamp, it's shorter by a little bit, I was trying to bend it back to make it easier to get hold of with a pair of pliers. I can still get it on, but I'd rather have a new one. The new one I got is from an industrial supplier I found on line. The width of the clamp is 12mm, which in American is just under a half an inch. That is the width of the old one. I was leary of using that other one I modified, on the Right in this photo, only because it was wider

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than the old one. I was concerned it may limit the flex of the boot.

 

[Raider L]

The finger ,clasping things, whatever, arms, on the one on the Right were already curved up like that. When I tried to bend the factory clamp, that one I was bending snapped off as soon as I got it where I wanted it. That told me right away they are spring steel. That's what happens to spring steel once it's set. It's not "ductile", it's "tough" but not ductile. That means you can't bend it or it will snap off right where you are trying to bend it. And it did. I knew that, but I was trying to see how far I could go before it gave. I got the other two, but got overly confident on the last one, and "snap!"

Oh yeah, I did find out what these kinds of clamps are called. On some sites they are simply called, "steel clamps". The best name I found for them was, "constant force steel clamps", uoooo. But what you have to do is cross reference the keyword. You guess what you think they are called. Then if a single example comes up in a group jump on that one and see what comes up. If you think they are called "steel clamps", and you see some by that name, type that in again and see if it comes up again by that name. If it doesn't pull up the steel clamps you're looking for then they aren't called that and you have to try again. Of course it does help if you include they are for automotive hose use.

 

[Raider L]

Today I removed the rag joint from the steering sector.

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My bolt took a 7/16" 12 point socket.

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Sorry, my hand blocked the flash, but you can make it out I'm using a large screw driver to pry up on it until it came off the sector shaft.

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The shaft has a flat place on it.

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It lines up with a flat place on the clamp on the rag joint. To replace it just line these two up and tighten it down. You don't need crayons, markers, punch marks, etc..

 

[Raider L]

Then I had to see how to get the rag joint apart. At first it actually did look like it was a threaded stud, the posts appeared to thread right on the plate. I put some WD-40 on it and they turned! I thought, "This won't be as hard as I thought." Not so quick!

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No, I had to grind the back of the post down to the plate surface.

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Then punch the post out of the plate.

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That's it on the vise next to the rag joint.

 

[Raider L]

You know I got to looking at the rag joint kit I have and it has the kinds of posts in it that are one small diam. and one post large. The ones that came out of mine are not like that. Both of mine are the same size. So I ordered another one I found on amazon ( I don't like amazon and use them rarely). That kit has posts both the same size. Why were there rag joints like that to begin with? Also, why are there two different size bolts connecting the intermediate shaft?

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Look at the bolts on the left next to those star washers, one big and one small, and the posts are the same size are next to the rag disc, above and below that end clip. I think I will reuse those star washers that came off of mine. I'll clean them up and put them back on.

 

[Raider L]

Here's a look at the fasteners in the kit I have. They're odd.

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See how one is small and the other is large? The threaded ends are the same.

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This one on the right in this photo above, there's only one of these. What is it for? Any of you have a rag joint that has a post in it like this? It's threaded end is the same as the other two as well.

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In this photo is some kind of specialized bolt. Under the head are serations with a small non threaded end on it. And a wavy washer, with some kind of long skirted nylock nut. According to the instructions it is supposed to go right up through the center where the shaft goes into the clamp side of the rag joint where it attaches to the intermediate shaft on the steering sector. Anyone have one like this?

 

[crpntr78]

Today I went out to try and find a shop open on Saturday to see if I could get that pin out of the intermediate shaft end. I went by this guy's shop who works on my wife's Subaru, his shop press was down so he sent me around the corner and I got it done there.

You must be registered for see images attach

Now I could get the old boot off.

You must be registered for see images attach

NAAAASTY!!

You must be registered for see images attach

The clamp on the Left is the factory clamp. The one on the Right is one I modified from some that went to my old Honda, and ground the finger's down so it would fit inside the coupler better and clear the insides good. It's a little wider but I don't think that will matter. I'll take a close look to make sure before I commit. It's the exact same size as the factory one so it won't be any tighter on the end of the boot. It just needs to be a good seal to keep the grease in.

Does anyone know the actual name of these kinds of clamps. I'd like to see what I could order before I have to put the old one back on there, just in case the new one doesn't work out?

I have seen these same type hose clamps on fuel lines before.

 

[Raider L]

@crpntr78,

Yeah, if it's not one of the band kind it's one of those factory spring wire kind that are so hard to get hold of and slide off the hose. There are tools for each one of those clamps. I have the tool that can take the spring wire kind off, but I just use a pair of pliers to get the spring band kind off like everybody else does.

I was just wondering if the spring band kind had a official name. I worked on commercial aircraft for a number of years for a airline and all that stuff had a name. I found that the band kind was just called a hose clamp and once you see what kind it is everyone knows what you're talking about.

 

[Raider L]

I was reading how to tighten up the Saginaw power steering pump input shaft and the AGR Power Steering site said about the flat spot on the input shaft end should be straight up for the wheels to be straight forward. So if your wheels are straight and the flat spot is off to the side then the sector needs adjusting. If you take the intermediate shaft off and reinstall it where the flat place inside the threaded part in the clamp down there, is lined up with the flat place on the input shaft is a good starting place. If you have a lot of slop in that input shaft go to You Tube and look at "Adjusting the GM steering sector" and it will show which is the correct part to adjust and it's not that nut and allen screw, it's the nut down there, with the two holes in the front of it where the shaft is. You'll see on the video's how to line it all up. Once it's all lined up then you can work on the front suspension looking for parts worn.

 

[Bextreme04]

I was reading how to tighten up the Saginaw power steering pump input shaft and the AGR Power Steering site said about the flat spot on the input shaft end should be straight up for the wheels to be straight forward. So if your wheels are straight and the flat spot is off to the side then the sector needs adjusting. If you take the intermediate shaft off and reinstall it where the flat place inside the threaded part in the clamp down there, is lined up with the flat place on the input shaft is a good starting place. If you have a lot of slop in that input shaft go to You Tube and look at "Adjusting the GM steering sector" and it will show which is the correct part to adjust and it's not that nut and allen screw, it's the nut down there, with the two holes in the front of it where the shaft is. You'll see on the video's how to line it all up. Once it's all lined up then you can work on the front suspension looking for parts worn.

Technically its both, You are supposed to set the input shaft backlash(preload?? I cant think of the correct term right now) to a certain amount and then tighten the nut and allen adjustment until there is a set amount of torque required to turn the input shaft. I have the saginaw written steps somewhere and have posted them on a thread here somewhere before. It is easiest to do outside of the vehicle.

 

[Raider L]

I cleaned up all the parts of the rag joint today. Then I found out the rag joint disc's holes were to close together.

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So, in this photo I marked the hole to see how much I would need to open the hole up to fit the plate. That's fine but how to cut the hole larger where it wouldn't take forever to do. I knew I was going to use my drill, but what kind of thing was I going to find did the job the best, easy to control, fast and clean cut, and not take forever.
I tried a drill bit first. Forget it. The flukes of the bit even though sharp weren't sharp enough. Then I tried a wood rasp you can put in a drill. I didn't have one small enough so I thought a larger hole wouldn't be to bad, so I tried it. It cut the rubber okay but for some reason it took a lot of effort to cut upwards, and the hole was to large and ragged some, not bad but just to big.
When the drill didn't work the first thing that came to mind was a rat tail file about 3/8th's round would work good. I knew I had a broke one somewhere and after some digging I found it. Before that I used a whole rat tail but it had problems, the end that goes in the file handle wouldn't stay tighten up enough in the drill chuck. So I finally found that broke one, about three fourths of one and the round end tightened up just fine. Below photo, is in the chuck.

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And this was what did the trick.

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Well, this isn't to good of a photo but the holes are lines up now.