Steering fix help

Hi,

I'm doing the steering fix, the one where you take the whoke assembly out and weld the joint to keep wobble down. I just pulled it out and notice there is a lot of play in the steering column piece that's still in the truck, the one the comes up from the floor board. Is it supposed to be play in it ?

 

Mine had play in it, seemed to be a bit handy when it came time to reinstall

 

Thanks man. I'm attempting to get it welded now. My dad said he could do it, I have no welder. I think I'd do better performing open heart surgery blind folded drunk..I think he just gave up.

 

I wouldn't weld it, under the theory of the fact that a broken tack would not allow it to collapse even if the tack brakes. Youd be very lucky if the tack separates from the parent metal as a whole. Not just a crack in the weld. This is why i went with a roll pin. Your call. Im not trying to discourage you. Either way you'll piss your pants in joy when you're done!

 

Collapse if I wreck right? We welded it, it's 100% better. I probably should have done something safer since I'm hoping to hand this thing down to my son. If we still have it I may do something different. Thanks.

 

Correct, collapse if you wreck it. Its basically a slip joint for the column to be able to collapse.

 

if you want to fix it securely yet still keep the safety factor then drill it and drive a brass pin through the shaft and sleeve to secure it. in case of an accident the brass pin will sheer off easily and allow the steering to collapse but under normal conditions it will be just as solid as if welded.

you want to use brass because its soft enough to sheer quickly and brittle enough to sheer off cleanly every time instead of bending, other metals may not sheer off completely or sheer off at all.

 

10 4, I'll have to redo it one day soon. It wasn't that hard at all. The hardest part was getting the tilt springs off and on and getting the splines to line back up when putting it back together. I've had this truck for a month and a half. I've had to replace the cv axles, ball joints, belt and water pump, transmission flush, replace broken passenger side door handle and replace the passenger side axle seal. I found this out after draining the front differential fluid and it was only half full. It was about an inch of metal on the magnet. The guy that had this truck was a complete idiot. I guess I'm just as bad for paying 14k for it. It had 90k miles, crew cab. Truck is clean as a whistle but he modified it, and he succeeded. I text him and asked that he please not do this stuff to another truck, he is lucky he didn't kill himself. The only thing I'd like to do now is replace the tie rod ends since the boots are tore but I did a re grease and patch job on them. This steering wheel feedback I was getting made me almost want to get rid of it, hopefully it's all good now!

 

Fwiw, even though your done, the splines ONLY go on one way. My steering wheel was so off because ive NEVER aligned the front end i thought i splined it wrong. So i looked real close and sure as shit it was a one way deal. One goove is fatter then all the others. Now my wheel is a bit off. Maybe ill get an alignment next time!!!

 

Haha, nice to know that! I almost threw thw whole assembly across the yard a few times. I let stuff like that get to me. Luckily my wife remains calm and helped me align it back up. I'm not a finesse type of guy. If it wasn't for her everything I touch on it would be tore up and broke...I had a Dodge truck that did something similar to this, I had to dump it with less than 25k miles on it because it drove me mad. Now I own a Tacoma and a Tundra. The only thing I really want to do next is wire brush the frame and repaint it. It's in really good shape but I want to keep it that way.

 

Make sure you make a write up on that! I need to do the same thing. Fortunately im a west coast guy, so my frame only has minor surface rust. Ive been contemplating how to go about doing it.. Take everything of and do it correctly, or do it in sections over and over and over...

 

I'll do that! Right now we are in the middle of moving into our new house and selling our current one. It will be nice because I'll have a nice big garage so I can take this thing apart and do it the way it should be done...right now I have to rush everything because I'm doing it outside in the driveway.