Has anyone thought about their steering coupler lately?

[ColeTrickle]

Has anyone either replaced or inspected the piece of rubber at the end of your steering shaft lately?

I've replaced a few over the years and it seems the originals outlast the "aftermarket" (HELP brand). But thats not all!!!:( The back side of the rubber is just a piece of thin metal! WTH!?!

The reason for this post is that I just went thru another today...:mad: Threw my power steering belt, tried to limp home and had to go over some rough terrain and boom...no more steering!

So, if anyone has made any improvements or upgrades to this area lets hear them.

Otherwise, inspect your steering it could save your life.

These rigs are what, going on 19 years now, not to mention the rigs like mine that have been put through my recklessness.:drivin:

[fulsizjeep]

He Lives! :)

Nope, but now that you brought it up, I probably will be... ;)

[Cecil14]

I'm running a Borgeson(sp?) shaft and coupler on my J-10. I got it from BJs...quality is very good. FAR better than either the OEM or aftermarket joints.

I know they can get the joints without the whole shaft...the u-joint in my original shaft was wasted too...so I replaced both.

aa

[janie]

Yeah Kenny,

I know what your talking about. That thin piece of metal that the rag joint sets inside of?

The one in Tequilla looked like a wafer thin piece of poo. We wound up replacing all of it, with an HD Borgeson steering shaft.

It made a world of difference.

Sorry to hear of your troubles with this. If it's any consolation , if I ever get to meet an AMC engineer who designed these, I'll give em a swift kick in the britches.

[CHICOWAGGY]

Pretty much all American cars and trucks from the 60's and 70's used that design.

[TPICherokee]

With larger tires, this is the only way to go IMHO, even stock tire size, it is an improvement:

http://www.bjsoffroad.com/CartGenie/prod-466.htm

[vintagetrks]

How easy is the install on the Borgeson shaft?

[fulsizjeep]

I have studied that a few times. Looks like a slick set up compared to the rag joint deal.

http://www.bjsoffroad.com/cartgenie/images/large/12-4008.jpg

[Dr.E]

Borgeson shaft and joint is the only way to go. I did have to cut some of the excess length supplied from borgeson.
Stock vs Borgeson:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y290/ceedds/Jeepsteeringhydroboost4-28-05007.jpg

[janie]

How easy is the install on the Borgeson shaft?

Took roughly an hour and a half. Most of that was spent ripping the old one out. I'm Jeepless right now, but this is an upgrade I would not hesitate to do again on a future rig.

[[]V[]AXX]

Hmm, I just pulled my steering column and shaft out to rebuild the column, and scoured all the rust off the shaft and put a coat of paint on it. My truck is 31 years old, and it still had the original rag joint. Of course it's bone stock too. What causes them to go out? Just the larger tire size, and additional drag tears them?

[TPICherokee]

V[]AXX']Hmm, I just pulled my steering column and shaft out to rebuild the column, and scoured all the rust off the shaft and put a coat of paint on it. My truck is 31 years old, and it still had the original rag joint. Of course it's bone stock too. What causes them to go out? Just the larger tire size, and additional drag tears them?

Tire size and age. Plus the constant flow of leaking oil sitting on the rubber doesn't help.

The Borgeson shafts we sell are cut down and ready to install out of the box, no mods necessary.

I installed mine in about a half hour but the old rag joint and related hardware came off really easy.

[shackwrrr]

it doesent help that the PS pump is right above it either

[Z71]

Those cheesy tin and rubber joints in the steering shaft are designed to fail for a reason.

The reason being that hopefully a serious head on collision doesn't drive the steering column through your chest like a 'vampire stake'!!

[jaber]

Those cheesy tin and rubber joints in the steering shaft are designed to fail for a reason.

The reason being that hopefully a serious head on collision doesn't drive the steering column through your chest like a 'vampire stake'!!

WOW, what a mental image....:D

[Cecil14]

The Borgeson shaft has a collapse point just as the factory shaft does. It's just not the same crappy design of the factory shaft. Most newer shafts have a shear pin of some sort that lets the shaft collapse, instead of tear the rag joint and moving the shaft aside.


aa

[waynestiles]

one of my few beef's about my '87 waggy is the somewhat vague, numb, slightly mushy steering. I'm sure that most of it is the state of power steering design in that era, but part might be simply wear-induced slop.

will that part make a significant change?

I have been told that part of jeep's heritage is that sloppy steering was built in to avoid hand injury's when driving in rough terrain. might be applicable to war era vehicles and their immediate progeny but seems inappropriate for the high-end seldom-off-road vehicles our GWs became

[ColeTrickle]

He Lives! :)

Nope, but now that you brought it up, I probably will be... ;)

;)

Brent I'd like to outfit all my rigs with that upgrade...but alas, I'm a Jeeper. :(

Good advice for what 75%+ of all FSJ'ers on this forum? I know only a few that haven't done any type of upgrade like bigger tires and lift.

Defineately will be upgrading on one of my rigs with the HD joint.

Thanks for the replies.:thumbsup:

[will e]

yeah, i went with the HD u-joint. I figured the price is less than my insurance deductible.

I love it.

[mike12]

i am going to look at mine to:rolleyes:

[mike12]

it pays to be safe my kids ride in the j10 from time to time.mike 12:fsj: