steering shaft

[fj157]

has anyone made thier own or know someone who made their own steering shaft for the saginaw power steering conversion if so care to share your secret, i am trying to avoid spending the coin for a borgeson shaft.

[hammerhead]

Saginaw boxes come with two different sized input shafts that I know of. The smaller of the two comes on my favorite steering box for Cruisers. The one I use comes on a J-20 pick-up. It also has a 3 1/2" piston instead of the usual 3 1/8" piston giving 18% more steering power at the same hydraulic pressure. Anyway if you have the smaller splined shaft you can use the steering shaft from an Astro-van. It is splined to fit the saginaw at one end. The other end fits over a standard piece of GM Double-D steering column. It is way too short as it is. Pull the Double-D slip-joint apart and notice it is exacly the same as the Double-D from a chevy pick-up or many other GM vehicles. By using the joints from the astro and the shaft material from the donor GM it is simple to add the necessary length. I like to use a piece of tubing with 3/4" ID and a few welds to make the extension. On the end of the stock FJ40 shaft after mounting the carrier bearing grind 2 flats to allow a piece of the outer GM double-d to fit on. Now a simple weld will retain this part.

Piece of cake. :cool:

[cruiseroutfit]

We use Dana/Spicer 3/4" keyed shaft, with a 4" DS slipyoke... DS, joints at the steering column and at the box... all PTO parts.... so tough... More expensive that wrecking yard, but clean and reliable (plus, no welding, easy to carry spare parts)