eliminated rag joint with flaming river

[midnightrider1818]

i ended up dishing the money out for the flaming river steering shaft coupler. worked well and elimintated the whole rag joint and coupler. steering does feel better and it is safe and very efficient. straight shaft all the way to the box. no play at all in steering wheel. very little vibration in wheel. just a tad more then before. will post pics when i get home for the weekend from work.

 

[Boomhauer]

How did the rag joint come off of the steering shaft ?

 

[midnightrider1818]

well it was demolition. i cut it off of the shaft and the coupler where the shoes are there is a pin that goes through there and you knock the pin out and slip the shaft on and knock the pin back in

 

[skymynx]

Forgive my irgnorance, but what exactly is the benfit here?

 

[daredevil]

it looks much better and when converting from power to manual you need a longer joint

 

[AdamR]

Great mod. It replaces the old factory joint with a nice stainless steel U Joint.

 

[midnightrider1818]

skymynx, the benefit here is you dont have all the slop now in the worn out rubber in the rag joint. that will cause very sloppy steering and also dangerous. i would never put a bunch of money in a car and put that rubber piece in it called a rag joint that controls the steering.

 

[steved033]

got any pics yet?

I just wishlisted the part over at summit for coupling the power steering.

sjd

 

[5.7 hemi]

Here is what I did, this was for power steering and a Ididit steering column.

 

[skymynx]

Ah that makes alot of sense. Thanks looks alot better then the stock

 

[Deleted member 214]

I don't know why these are called "rag joints". I have dealt with cards that did have a rubberized fabric disk between the steering column and the steering box, but the muscle car era Mopars have two steel shoes held agains the coupler with a spring-like piece of flat steel. No rags involved. That said, a U-joint would have less slop. My car had sloppy steering and I replaced the shoes and spring with new pieces which didn't help a bit. I ended up tighting up a screw on the steering box (manual) and that took car of it.

 

[69HEMICORONETR/TCONV]

O.K., I got to admit the U joints look nice , Even though I'm a DIE HARD restoration Guy, I just can't wait to see if they hold up to 40 years of use and abuse like the original Chrysler couplings have.

 

[5.7 hemi]

I suppose that like the u joints in the trans yokes and rear yokes you gotta replace them or service them at some point.

 

[boss vega v8]

no, 73 up B bodies have actual RAGJOINTS, round disc of rubber, and a standard mopar coupler..

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

:grin:

 

[Meep-Meep]

My concern with using a U joint on a power box is the absence of axial movement - at least it appears as such. There is a reason why MoPar spent the time to make the shoe type coupler function the way it did, and the reason is to allow axial movement of the steering box shaft. If you rock the splined shaft on the power box back and forth you will notice it moves in and out as well. I don't see where the U joint will allow for that. You might be able to get away with it on a manual box because it has no control valve.

The rag joint is a good cheap way to stop the transfer of noise into the car. Kind of like the iso-clamp leaf springs.

 

[69 Runner]

:grin:

I just messed myself:blush:
:rolling:

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

Just showing off my JOINT:tongueflap:

 

[moparstuart]

Just showing off my JOINT:tongueflap:

nice :yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes:

 

[73roadchicken]

you have this set up on a 73 roadrunner?