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Submitted By: Bose318
Date: February 10, 2009, 10:11:16 AM
Views: 15552
Borgeson Steering Shaft Install - Mike DuBose (Bose318)
There is nothing more annoying than driving along and your truck wondering around the road when you are not even moving the steering wheel. If you own a Dodge truck you know of this horrible condition that no matter what you do seems to not go away. Until now, follow me along as I install a Borgeson Steering shaft on my ’91 Ramcharger.
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First off you need to determine that it is your steering shaft that is worn out. The easiest way to determine if the shaft is worn out is by taking the shaft and trying to move it back and forth. If you can move the shaft more than a1/8" back and forth it probably wouldn’t hurt to replace the shaft. If you were like me, you probably asking yourself why not just rebuild the stock unit. Well that is what I did when I first purchased my RC and about a year later it was almost as bad as when I bought my truck. The best course of action is to just replace your steering shaft with one of these babies and not put yourself through having to do this twice. The shaft is kind of expensive, I ended up paying $211 to get it delivered to my door from Summit Racing including a new rag joint.
What you will need:
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Fig. 1
The first step is to take out that old, worn out, piece of junk, Chrysler calls a steering shaft (Fig. 1). First thing to do is to drive out the roll pin that is holding the shaft to the steering box. I used a hammer and a small drift to drive this out…just make sure that you are driving the pin out from the right side. You want to be driving the pin from the side that has the larger hole…and the pin should come out the other side.
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Fig. 2
Once you have the pin removed you can unbolt the shaft from the steering column at the rag joint. I found the easiest way to unbolt this was to lock my steering and the take out the bolts (See Fig. 2).
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Fig. 3
Once you have removed the old steering shaft it is very obvious how much better engineered and durable the Borgeson unit it. (See Fig. 3) The biggest advantage of the Borgeson unit is the U-joint used at the steering box instead of the slip joint used by Chrysler (See Fig. 4 & 5). Borgeson also has you covered as far as frame flex and if you want to put a body lift on your Dodge.
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Fig. 4 (old slip joint)
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Fig. 5 (new universal joint)
The shaft of the Borgeson unit is made of two pieces, a hollow DD shaft and a solid DD shaft. The solid shaft slips inside of the hollow shaft making it absorb any frame flex and the unit also has enough movement to accommodate up to a 3” body lift.
Now for the fun part….putting it all back together. The process is very simple you just reverse the steps you used to take the shaft off. There is one aspect that you have to be careful of tho…you need to provide a spot in the steering splines for the setscrew in the U-Joint.
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Fig. 6
To accomplish this I decided to put the shaft completely on and tighten down on the setscrew ever so slightly to get an impression in the splines. I then took the u-joint off and took a drill and drilled into the splines about a 1/8 of an inch (See Fig. 6)
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(picture of the completed shaft)
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Totally complete with boot for protection from elements. The boot is a normal shock boot with a zip tie on the top to hold it in place and the big end free so water and whatnot can escape. As you can see I did paint the shaft. It is recommended that you paint the shaft because it is raw metal and will rust over time.
If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
Mike
Date: February 10, 2009, 10:11:16 AM
Views: 15552
Borgeson Steering Shaft Install - Mike DuBose (Bose318)
There is nothing more annoying than driving along and your truck wondering around the road when you are not even moving the steering wheel. If you own a Dodge truck you know of this horrible condition that no matter what you do seems to not go away. Until now, follow me along as I install a Borgeson Steering shaft on my ’91 Ramcharger.
First off you need to determine that it is your steering shaft that is worn out. The easiest way to determine if the shaft is worn out is by taking the shaft and trying to move it back and forth. If you can move the shaft more than a1/8" back and forth it probably wouldn’t hurt to replace the shaft. If you were like me, you probably asking yourself why not just rebuild the stock unit. Well that is what I did when I first purchased my RC and about a year later it was almost as bad as when I bought my truck. The best course of action is to just replace your steering shaft with one of these babies and not put yourself through having to do this twice. The shaft is kind of expensive, I ended up paying $211 to get it delivered to my door from Summit Racing including a new rag joint.
What you will need:
- About an hour on a nice afternoon
- Borgeson Steering Shaft (part #940)
- Borgeson rag joint (part # 941)
- Various sockets and ratchets
- Standard allen set
- Hammer and a small drift
- Can of your favorite color paint (to paint the shaft)
- Shock boot if you wish to cover the u-joint
Fig. 1
The first step is to take out that old, worn out, piece of junk, Chrysler calls a steering shaft (Fig. 1). First thing to do is to drive out the roll pin that is holding the shaft to the steering box. I used a hammer and a small drift to drive this out…just make sure that you are driving the pin out from the right side. You want to be driving the pin from the side that has the larger hole…and the pin should come out the other side.
Fig. 2
Once you have the pin removed you can unbolt the shaft from the steering column at the rag joint. I found the easiest way to unbolt this was to lock my steering and the take out the bolts (See Fig. 2).
Fig. 3
Once you have removed the old steering shaft it is very obvious how much better engineered and durable the Borgeson unit it. (See Fig. 3) The biggest advantage of the Borgeson unit is the U-joint used at the steering box instead of the slip joint used by Chrysler (See Fig. 4 & 5). Borgeson also has you covered as far as frame flex and if you want to put a body lift on your Dodge.
Fig. 4 (old slip joint)
Fig. 5 (new universal joint)
The shaft of the Borgeson unit is made of two pieces, a hollow DD shaft and a solid DD shaft. The solid shaft slips inside of the hollow shaft making it absorb any frame flex and the unit also has enough movement to accommodate up to a 3” body lift.
Now for the fun part….putting it all back together. The process is very simple you just reverse the steps you used to take the shaft off. There is one aspect that you have to be careful of tho…you need to provide a spot in the steering splines for the setscrew in the U-Joint.
Fig. 6
To accomplish this I decided to put the shaft completely on and tighten down on the setscrew ever so slightly to get an impression in the splines. I then took the u-joint off and took a drill and drilled into the splines about a 1/8 of an inch (See Fig. 6)
(picture of the completed shaft)
Totally complete with boot for protection from elements. The boot is a normal shock boot with a zip tie on the top to hold it in place and the big end free so water and whatnot can escape. As you can see I did paint the shaft. It is recommended that you paint the shaft because it is raw metal and will rust over time.
If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
Mike
