Borgeson Steering Shaft? Who's done it?

[Greenleaf]

I agree they are nice. I performed the install onto the 1992. Also, at the same time, I fixed the gear box leak. It was all pretty easy, except it took me a long time as I had no clue what I was doing.



If I recall, I had performed this in the evening after work. So, it was about a six hour job.

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

Yeah, I'd agree it was about six hours, provided you don't have to run to the parts store for anything. It's easy in the sense that it's pretty straight forward, and most parts are out there right in front of God and everyone for you to get at. I hope you like how your wheel well looks though, cuz thats all you'll be staring at all night.

 

[KSears]

J, yes I was talking about Chantilly Spring and Alignment,, can't remember theguys nmae right off, but they are pretty good and reasonably priced. About adjusting the steering box,, try to read up onit before attempting, not all have the same procedure, ex. some you lift the wheels off the ground some don't,if you have a vehicle specific Chilton's , I believe the procedure is in the book, you have to be careful, doing it wrong will trash the inner gears. I was able to move my steering wheel by removing and reinstalling about an 1/8 turn at a time, gets you pretty close to straight ,, just check it onlevel ground ,, the crown of the road or highway will effect its position.

 

[dpuckett]

If you have the OEM box, get it rebuilt by PSC- I had mine done for the 91, and absolutely loved it. Took all the slack out of the box, but I never got around to replacing the coupler. Dont mess with parts store remans- they are no better than OEM if you get lucky- Mom and I both wore out a box in under 3 years, and we have 2wds. I'd hate to have one in a 4x4 that did any off-roading.



As for the Borgeson shaft- I'm on the fence. I've never had one, but the OEM replacement is only $40, and easy to do. if I had a 4x4, maybe, but not on my 4x2. I flipped the internals around in Mom's and it went anothe r3 years before developing enough slack to warrant replacement. That was 2 years ago, and her coupler is still pretty tight, as is mine (I put one on from a low mile 84 1/2ton).



DP

 

[rumblefish]

The Borgeson is a must have on a 4x4.



I've had one on both my crew and my Ramcharger. IIRC the shaft replacement took me less than 2 hours, but I didn't remove the box either. I've left off my 2wd's stock, guess I've been lucky enough to not get a bad one.

 

[JGrefenstette]

Tippin, you mentioned a set srew near the hydraulic lines? do i tighten or loosen? and how much? should i rotate the shaft in any direction while i do it? and yes the mounting plate under the gearbox is cracked. truck origionally came from PA so its rusted very well



Daniel, PSC?? where it located? how much did they charge? how many miles have you put on it? I have 35" tire that dont make that gear boxs job easy. and i do occasionaly use 4x4, so do you think a rebuild will hold up to that?

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

The units you buy from parts stores are most likely rebuilds. And most of the time they're garbage. This is why I know so much about this subject. I'm on my 3rd steering gear since replacing the OEM 2 years ago, and this one is going haywire. The very first one I put in leaked fluid all over the side of my truck and was out within a week. The next was when I stripped the splines on the end. Now this one loses power steering at low engine speeds (think, backing into a parking spot... its obnoxious). You may get a better rebuild out of a shop that does them, as long as you can stand being out of a truck while they're workin on it. Look in the phone book, theres places all over that do it. Odds are you're best suited to pull it off yourself and take it in. It may cut down on lead time, and most likely will cut down on cost.



If you pull it off yourself and you think your tires will be in the way, put the drivers side on a jack stand and pull the tire off.



The screw is right on the top slightly forward of the lines. I've never used it, I just know its there and I know for fact its an adjustment on how tight those gears are to each other. I would imagine that righty tighty should take slop out. Move it a little at a time and test.



If you do pull the steering gear, I'd replace or weld the plate. Like I said, I got one for $20 from the dealer, no mess, no fuss. The other problem you encounter is the holes on the plate can oval out, causing play, so you might be better suited with a new part. The crack itself may be where your play comes from. If its cracked, the gearbox will flex back and forth as torque is applied either from your steering wheel or from the ground... which also means that crack is only going to get bigger over time.



Be ready to fight the pitman arm to get it off... its a pain. Try a puller, but I bent mine and the stupid thing still didnt come off. I was in the middle of replacing most steering components to fix play in the steering (sound familiar?) so I just bought a new pitman arm ($80), a new draglink ($60), and went right down to the tie rod ends ($60 each). When all was said and done, the coupler was the biggest impact, even though it seems like its your steering gear, most times its the coupler if its OEM. Start with boregson shaft and work your way down... you may be surprised.

 

[JGrefenstette]

yea well i think ill look for a rebuild shop then. i will replace that plate to, if i get to removing the gearbox, because its soo rusted i doubt that i could even get a good weld on it anyhow, and even if i did it would probly crack beyond the weld cause its so rusted. i dont believe the crack is causeing much play if any. because i can feel almost all of the play when the motors off and i just grab the shaft with my hand.



i hate pitman harms with a passion. having messed with them on jeeps, ford superdutys and other crap, i hate them. broken many pullers too. torch and a sledge make for a good time. i hope i dont have to go that far though. hopefuly this shaft will do enough to satisfy me.

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

If you can feel the play with the motor off, its most likely your coupler.

 

[JGrefenstette]

yea, cause i can watch it slop around in the coupler, but if i grap the coupler i can twist almost as much slop in the gear box.

 

[JGrefenstette]

yea. i still can feel and see bout 50% slop in the coupler and just or close to just as much in the gear box.

 

[ChrisWilliams]

I changed the shaft in my 91. 5 with the single joint shaft. I could have used the double joint shaft, but I didn't won't to take the time to pull the end with the rag joint off the steering column. If you can rig a puller to remove the upper "yoke" from the steering column, I would use the double joint shaft, like the second gens. I didn't pull the steering wheel, just got everything straight and marked, then had some help keeping the steering wheel straight when putting it back together. It took a little time to get it right because I put it together and marked the set screw position, then disassembled and drilled a big dimple in the steering gear shaft for the set screw. It went back together tight and removed almost all the slack from my steering, after I tightened the pitman arm a little. Not bad for a truck with 176k on it at the time.