pteepee69
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- February 7, 2010
- Messages
- 160
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Lawrenceburg,Ky.
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '94 Explorer XLT
This is my version of a new steering shaft how-to. I put a 3" body lift and 32's on my Explorer in April and have had binding issues since. Before the lift and bigger tires, I had a lot of slop in my steering. Already replaced my steering gear last year. I do need to replace a lot of other bushings and such in my front end, but decided to do this first.
The parts I used are Borgeson, and I ordered them from Summit. You can order them from Borgeson, but if you order them from Summit you can get them a little cheaper. After I had already ordered my parts, I was researching my next project, and noticed that DuffTuff.com had the parts even cheaper. The parts I used for my '94 XLT:
BRG-013449, BRG-015252, BRG-450024
You will first remove the old steering shaft. Since I have a lift, my steering shaft has an extension added to it. I started by removing the 15mm head bolt and nut from the upper shaft, then removed the 10mm head bolt from the lower shaft. I pulled the top loose first, then the bottom second. After removing the old shaft, I measured the distance from the top of the steering gear shaft to the bottom of the steering column shaft. It measured out to be around 12-1/4" but I rounded it off to 12" so if I made a mistake it would be on the side of to long instead of to short, it is easier to make another cut instead of trying to add metal back.
The shaft I ordered is a universal telescopic shaft of 24", with one end being 1" DD hollow shaft and the other being 3/4" solid shaft. When fully extended it will measure around 27-1/4". The directions included with the shaft say it will measure 27" fully extended, so I rounded down to save another 1/4" extra metal for any mistakes I might make. My next step was to measure down the hollow end 10" and then the extra 5" is to be divided between the hollow end and the solid end. So my total measured cut on the hollow end was 12-1/2".
I then cut 2-1/2" from the solid end.
After these cuts, I took the 1"DDx1"DD universal and slide it onto the 1"DD hollow end until the shaft is flush with the inside shaft opening. Take the longer of the two set screws out and tighten the shorter one. Using a punch (all I had was a press punch) stick it through the hole where the longer set screw was and mark the shaft. Remove the universal and drill a 3/8" hole through the one wall of the hollow shaft.
Next, slide the 3/4-36x3/4DD universal on the solid shaft end until the shaft is again flush with the inside shaft opening, remove the longer of the two set screws, tighten the shorter one. Again, using a punch, mark the slotted side of the solid shaft. I drilled a 5/16" hole into the solid shaft, just enough for the set screw to recess into. This is not part of the instructions but I added this because I feel more secure with the set screw having a place to recess into.
After all this, put the 1"DDx1"DD universal on the hollow end of the shaft, tighten both set screws and nuts on the set screws. Put the 3/4-36x3/4 universal on the solid shaft end, tighten both set screws and nuts.
The parts I used are Borgeson, and I ordered them from Summit. You can order them from Borgeson, but if you order them from Summit you can get them a little cheaper. After I had already ordered my parts, I was researching my next project, and noticed that DuffTuff.com had the parts even cheaper. The parts I used for my '94 XLT:
BRG-013449, BRG-015252, BRG-450024
You will first remove the old steering shaft. Since I have a lift, my steering shaft has an extension added to it. I started by removing the 15mm head bolt and nut from the upper shaft, then removed the 10mm head bolt from the lower shaft. I pulled the top loose first, then the bottom second. After removing the old shaft, I measured the distance from the top of the steering gear shaft to the bottom of the steering column shaft. It measured out to be around 12-1/4" but I rounded it off to 12" so if I made a mistake it would be on the side of to long instead of to short, it is easier to make another cut instead of trying to add metal back.
The shaft I ordered is a universal telescopic shaft of 24", with one end being 1" DD hollow shaft and the other being 3/4" solid shaft. When fully extended it will measure around 27-1/4". The directions included with the shaft say it will measure 27" fully extended, so I rounded down to save another 1/4" extra metal for any mistakes I might make. My next step was to measure down the hollow end 10" and then the extra 5" is to be divided between the hollow end and the solid end. So my total measured cut on the hollow end was 12-1/2".
I then cut 2-1/2" from the solid end.
After these cuts, I took the 1"DDx1"DD universal and slide it onto the 1"DD hollow end until the shaft is flush with the inside shaft opening. Take the longer of the two set screws out and tighten the shorter one. Using a punch (all I had was a press punch) stick it through the hole where the longer set screw was and mark the shaft. Remove the universal and drill a 3/8" hole through the one wall of the hollow shaft.
Next, slide the 3/4-36x3/4DD universal on the solid shaft end until the shaft is again flush with the inside shaft opening, remove the longer of the two set screws, tighten the shorter one. Again, using a punch, mark the slotted side of the solid shaft. I drilled a 5/16" hole into the solid shaft, just enough for the set screw to recess into. This is not part of the instructions but I added this because I feel more secure with the set screw having a place to recess into.
After all this, put the 1"DDx1"DD universal on the hollow end of the shaft, tighten both set screws and nuts on the set screws. Put the 3/4-36x3/4 universal on the solid shaft end, tighten both set screws and nuts.
