PA BL Steering Extension

[BonesDT]

what exactly needs to be modified on the PA-883 steering extension? from what i understand it needs to be ground out larger to fit. but if you grind out the female end bigger, wouldn't that mean the male end would be too small and not have a tight fit???

also, the instructions talk about marking the shaft and not allowing it to turn independently. what exactly does this mean? looking at the extension, the shaft doesnt look like its completely round, so how would you be able to reconnect the shaft wrong?

 

[Robert]

The steering extension from kit # 883 should fit your '99 without modifications. It's usually the people that ordered the wrong PA kit for their year that have to modify the extension. The extension from kit # 853 fit my '97 perfectly.

 

[BonesDT]

yes, it was very confusing. some people never mentioned a problem and some talked about "grinding it out with a dremel". nice to know it will fit, thanks.

 

[BonesDT]

oh yea, could someone explain why the steering would turn independantly. the kit instructions mention in bold to make sure you mark the steering shafts. i dont really understand why you would have to mark it. the only way it looks like you could misalign the extension is if you turn the wheel a complete 360 degrees but that would be hard to do and easy to fix. the instructions say it is a very costly repair if you dont do it right, so id like to understand.

 

[coolchris]

actually when we did my body lift, i DID have the right steering extension and we still had to grind off a little extrusion with a metal hand file... it took about 2 minutes, no big deal at all.

 

[GR899V8]

It went on fine with no modifications on my '99, no grinding, it slid right on.

 

[rich98sport]

I think the reason for not letting the two parts of the steering shaft turn independently is because of the airbag system. Im Not Sure but I heard if you let the two pieces of the shaft rotate indepently it Might mess up the airbag sytem possibly set them off

 

[Klowns]

When I did mine, I had to use a drill press to drill down about 3/4 of an inch to get it to fit properly. The hole/bump didn't fit right, so we had to drill.

 

[Robert]

coolchriscush - What PA kit # did you use?

Klowns - What PA kit # did you use?

 

[coolchris]

i used kit #853 for 95-97 rangers. it sounds like klowns and i did opsite things here... while i just grinded down the bump with a metal hand file, it sounds like klowns drilled a new hole or something for the bump to fit better in (i could be wrong but thats what it sounds like he did mentioning using a drill press)

 

[section525]

I used the #853 kit too. What I did was lengthen the slot in the extension instead of grinding off the bump on the steering shaft. I figured that bump was there for a reason...

 

[Robert]

Well you both used the correct kits for your Explorers which is also the same kit I used on my '97. Mine fit on easily and required no modifications. My extension slid right over the end of the steering shaft. I wonder if maybe PA's quality control isn't that great and they left some extra metal in yours? Maybe it is just something about the '96 since you both have a '96 and mine is a '97. I know when Bullrider installed his PA kit on his '96 EB he had to do some grinding on his extension but we attributed that to the fact that he got kit # 883. His steering shaft had a little key knub on it that wouldn't quite fit into the PA extension so he drilled the extension out a bit to make it fit.