Intermediate steering shaft replacement u-joint

[kevin74656]

Hi everyone - I hope someone out there can help me out.

After reading through this thread, I suspect that the intermediate steering shaft is to blame for my truck's sloppy steering. By "sloppy" I mean that I have to turn the steering wheel 15 or 20 degrees before the wheels start to turn. I can also feel the column moving longitudinally along the shaft when I accelerate or decelerate.

Unfortunately, Ford no longer makes the shaft and, apparently, neither does anyone else. Dorman made a shaft, part number 425-351, that is supposed to be a direct replacement for the OEM shaft. They discontinued it but I found one on ebay and bought it. It wasn't even close, so I returned it.

What I want to do now is to have a machine shop replace the u-joint on the shaft. Has anyone done this, and if so, how difficult was it to find a replacement joint?

Thanks!

 

[Bustedback]

You may want to check with Flaming River (google the name for a web site) and see if they have something that might work.

 

[kevin74656]

Thanks for the tip, Bustedback. Looks like they have pinch bolt u-joints, but only in stainless steel. A bit pricy but at least now I have a source in case I can't find anything locally. Thanks again!