79 BRONCO BODY LIFT

[walktall99]

WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THE STEERING KNUCKLE BETTWEEN THE STEERING BOX & THE STEERING WHEEL WHEN I INSTALL A 3INCH BODY LIFT ? THANKS FOR HELP...........ANY THING ELSE?

 

[Ziggy]

Your steering shaft is a two pieces, one piece sliding inside of the other. I forget how much extra there is but it should be OK. There are a couple of plastic pins that hold the two pieces together, you will have to either drill these out or just shear them off in order for everything to slide. I would suggest taking the steering column apart, clean it up the two pieces that slide together, install your body lift, reinstall the steering column and see how far the shaft has moved. If you feel that you still have enough interconnectivity between the two shafts (2"-3"), redrill the holes and put some roll pins in the shaft to prevent it from coming apart.

 

[jgvabronco]

You have 3 options. 1) Replace your steering shaft with an aftermarket one designed for lifts, like Borgeson or Flaming River. 2) Extend the end of your shaft so the center of the u-joint is back in line with the center of rotation of the steering box. You'll need a brace on this because the joint will be far away from the bearing in the firewall 3) Put another u-joint at the steering box, but this requires a steady brace on the shaft between the 2 joints.

If you leave it like it is, it will bind and tear up rag joints. A temporary fix around that is to get some locking nuts and leave the rag joint somewhat loose so it doesn't bind. The locknuts are so the bolts don't get any looser than where you want them. Just make sure you keep the stock pins that protrude into the opposite metal ******, and don't have it so loose that the pins disengage from the opposite ******. This is the positive connection that actually drives the box once the flex is taken up. Without these, you will tear the rag joint in two.