Club Cobra - Steering shaft joint

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Steering shaft joint

Hello all I have a bad steering shaft joint. It looks like its welded
Do I have to replace the complete steering shaft or can I cut the shaft and replace the joint
I have seen some of these steering joints (look like u joints) on web sites

Steering joints recommended reading.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roncal1 (Post 1317541)

Go to Borgeson Universal Steering Components to get updated on steering components. Read all of the sections under the "Steering Designing". You may have a racing setup. The website has great information on components and how they work together. Safety is a major factor in using these and thier OEM parts from other companies.

I had something similar. I gutted the steering system and replaced everything with Borgeson parts. It's a very nice and tight setup. Above all it's safe.

It kind of depends on where it is welded. It was easier for me to just cut out the shaft and buy 2 joints and the Double-D bar and replace the whole thing. If one joint is bad, the others may not be far behind.

I found Sweet Mfg. in Michigan makes all the various joints and they are really nice. The diameter is a lot smaller than Lokar or some of the other brands also.

Do you have a support bearing?

Smaller diameter can make for better clearances and things look nice under the hood. However, the smaller diameter will twist under torque. you will have stressing things like welds on the knuckles which... you cannot determine if they are good or bad by looking at them. The trade-off for a larger diameter steering knuckle is only a little more space for clearance. For your heavy front end, high HP car it's your choice. For me I'll take the larger size components with good mechanical assembly for peace of mind.
Power Steering does reduce the stresses on the steering components from the rack back to the wheel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xack (Post 1317627)

Uhhh...no. If you are twisting the u-joints by simply turning the wheel, either you are really strong or you have a lot of other problems. The smaller diameters in this case allow the u-joints to handle a bit more angle than some of the larger brands. The steering shaft on an Arntz or Butler sits at a pretty hefty angle where the shafts meets the column. The smaller u-joint allows that angle to rotate a little easier as the large style joints have a tendency to bind.

Also, on a Butler or Arntz, the front end is pretty light due to the motor sitting way back in the engine compartment. The weight bias is about 48/52 depending on the engine. Besides that, they use a crappy MGB style front end, so there are a lot of other issues more than the u-joints...like king pins being worn.

If your Butler has the MGB front suspension and MGB steering shaft, you should have a short length/intermidiate shaft about 9" long 3/4" diameter with 48 splines at both ends. This shaft connects the steering column to the rack and the original MGB universals worked fine with no binding issues.

If you have something custom, and it sounds like you do you will have to be creative. Post some photos of your setup.

I changed my MGB front suspension to an IFS made by FastCars. The setup is a little different and requires a 26" long intermediate shaft. I used a telescoping 3/4"DD with sweets universals to make the connection. The Fastcars IFS is fully adjustable and is also about 80 lbs lighter than the MGB IFS.