Borgeson? Why!

[BChamberlin]

As always I am looking for a way to upgrade my '93 W350 and save money by doing it myself. I recently replaced the steering box after 220k miles and felt all the free play in the stock steering shaft joint, so checking around, the Borgeson replacement was about $260. 00! After doing some home work I found that buying the yokes and joint thru Spicer and cutting the end of the stock shaft then putting in a 3/16 key did the trick. I spent a total of $56. 00. The Spicer part numbers are 10-4-431SX and 10-4-13 for the yokes and 5-170X or 5-103X for the joint. I hope this save others a little money as it did me.

 

[ARhine]

got any pics of the finish product? So I take it you need one each of those yokes and the ujoint.



My dads is about ready to fall appart again and need to do something.

 

[1stgen4evr]

spicer joints

Is that 10-4-431SX splined correctly for the steering box shaft? Sounds like good news for those who can do a bit of fab.



James

 

[ARhine]

dana expert brings them up as steering joints, but no drawing available.



http://www2.dana.com/Expert/

 

[Greenleaf]

I luv stuff like that... ... .....



However, At the time I had more money than time and patience, so I bought the Borgeson. Had looked real close at the steering couplers on my school buses and was thinking I'd like to persue that, but it never came into frutation.



Scott

 

[cerberusiam]

but it never came into frutation

LOL!!! That was close Scott, sounds like that could've hurt!

 

[KeithTaylor]

BChamberlin,

I would be interested in photos of the finished product also - my steering is a little sloppy and needs some attention but I didn't want to belly up to the bar for the Borgenson shaft!

Keith

 

[Greenleaf]

OY!



I dun did it again... ...



You know what they say... . "I used to have a handle on life... ... ... . but it broke off".



-S

 

[ARhine]

When you say you used the key. Did you have to cut a keyway in the steering shaft or does the key go in some other way.

 

[BChamberlin]

Yes it is splined correctly and I will try to get some pic's in the next day or two. You will have to cut a 3/16 key way into your steering shaft.

 

[ARhine]

Don't wanna get hopes to high, still need to do some checking.



But in the salvage yard today while looking for some cherokee parts I looked at one witht he engine out and happened to notice the steering shaft. Has a splined u-joint on each end and is an adjustable length shaft with plenty of travel.



The XJs use a saginaw gear that is the same one gm RWD cars from the early 70s to the mid 90s use, some pickups, and such use.



Anyway fingers crossed. Hope to take a look at the one from my parts jeep tomorrow and see if it can work.

 

[BChamberlin]

Steering Joint Pic's

I posted a couple of pic's for you to see in my gallery. Hope it helps.

 

[JLEONARD]

I can't tell from the pics if you welded it to the shaft or if you're relying only on the key. If so it should also be welded... at least tacked in 2 places.

The repair looks good.



I would think welding only would also be ok provided you first ground a "flat" on the shaft end and secured with the setcrew as a "failsafe". Better yet would be a thru hole and a bolt.



Some advice off the record..... you want redundant methods of retention... ..... Steering is safety critical and you don't want sudden catastrophic failure... ... . if one method fails you want to feel "looseness" before failure to act as a warning before you lose steering completely... ... while welding near the ujoint wrap a wet rag around the ujoint to act as a heat sink to protect the grease and seals in the bearings.

adjustable length shaft with plenty of travel.

What you are describing is what is called a "working slider" ... this allows for ease of installation, differences in vehicle build tolerances, and to accomodate vehicle flex.



Be advised that MOST of the more recent model vehicles have a "flat" on both the steering gear and mating yoke while ours (the 1st gens)

are a full spline (known in the industry as a 3/4 -36 spline). The flat is another of those redundancies I mentioned above. It's intention is to handle a high torque load and protect the spines from failure.



Enough... sorry for the long windedness.

Jay

 

[BChamberlin]

I have done this on a lot of vehicles and do not recomend welding at the joint. Welding aroung the curcomfrance of the shaft can cause stress cracks unless you can heat the shaft before welding. As long as your shaft is not sloppy in the yoke and you have a tight key and set screw it at 180 degrees to the key you should'nt have any problems. Drlling into the shaft for the set screw to seat in is a good idea, however the deeper the seat theless shaft in that area due to the key being machined into it so becareful on how deep you go.

 

[1stgen4evr]

set screw it at 180 degrees to the key



Standard machine shop practice is to install a set screw over the key and 90 degrees to the key. The reason for this is to lock the key in place and to pull all the slack out. If the set screw is opposite the key, the key can move. No cross pin or other lock will be required. You can have a blind key installed that won't move but still I would install the set screw at 90 degrees.



However you elect to secure the yoke to the shaft, remember that you are betting your life on it.



Is there a binding bolt in the splined yoke? If not, this would be a good fail safe for that end of the ujoint.





James

 

[JLEONARD]

 Welding aroung the curcomfrance of the shaft can cause stress cracks unless you can heat the shaft before welding

That's simply not true. We weld these every day as prototypes and in production. So does every other major steering shaft manufacturer. All the shafts are made from low carbon steel and are weld friendly.

Jay

 

[Greenleaf]

The Borgeson is welded.



-S

 

[1stgen4evr]

Spicer joints

The NAPA here doesn't carry spicer. Where is this set available?



James

 

[Greenleaf]

An OTR truck dealer will have any and all spicer products available. Because you have the part numbers this "should" be easy as pie.



-S

 

[rwmcarlyle]

I'll go you one further. I found a PTO shaft with new Spicer components, sliced the hub off of my stock joint and the Spicer replacement yoke and welded them together. Now bear in mind I'm a certified welder, however a well prepared weldement with some Lo-Hydrogen (3/32" 7018) rod is bullit proof. Probably stout enough to use as a tow hitch (although, why would you want to do that). Steering linkage and box takes most of the torque, thus, the ease of steering. I would break my wheel before I broke the weld or joint.

RW