I've been fighting with rebuilding the power steering box on my Dakota for
the last week or so, and I was getting tired of the fight to install and
remove it. I knew that the intermediate shaft was supposed to have a slip
joint, so I decided to pull mine out and try to break that slip joint free
so that it wasn't such a pain...
Well, it took an Act Of God to get the slip broken free, so I decided to
pull it apart to fully clean and lube it. Also, the u-joint that lives
right up against the firewall was total junk.
Getting that joint pulled out of the shaft was a horrible expirience, all
4 caps broke while I tried to press the joint out, things were very
thuroughly rusted, etc etc.
So now I've got a slip joint that I for some reason can't get back
together, and a u-joint that I can't find a replacement for at any of the
big box stores. I'm going to swing by FleetPride on my way to work
tomorrow to see if they have any joints small enough to think about using,
but I'm still worried about getting that slip joint back together, so I'm
wondering what those of you who have fixed the "steering clunk" have done
to replace/rehab their steering shafts.
I don't know if the part interchanges with a second gen Ram (I think
there's a Borgson upgrade shaft for them, or something like that?), I
don't have one to check against, but I know it's definitely very very
different from a TJ Wrangler....
Archive search turned up WAY too many posts, none of the first dozen were
at all helpful. Hope somebody has some thoughts/expirience.
-- +-- Mike Maskalans ---------------- Rochester, NY ----------+ | '98 Dakota CC, SAS on 40s '84 RamCharger 4x4, plow truck | | '02 Jetta TDI 5sp, daily '97 Intrepid, not on the road | +-------------------- <http://mike.tepidcola.com/trucks/> --+. . .------------------------------------------------------------------. | Make your plans NOW to attend the National DML Meet in Colorado! | | Date: July 15-23, 2006 - More info: http://meet.dakota-truck.net | `------------------------------------------------------------------'
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