Steering shaft length

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aacwilliams

aacwilliams

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I am trying to convert my 70 Duster that had a slant six to a 318 with power steering. I took the k member and steering box out of my 68 Barracuda because I was not using them and installed them in the Duster. Everything went in fine but the steering shaft is too short. I took the steering shaft out of the Barracuda steering column and put it in the Duster column, it does not fit. Does anyone know what I need to get to make it work? The power steering box, shaft, coupler and k member all came out of the same car.
 
The shaft is a telescoping tube meant to collapse during a frontal impact.
It is possible to accidentally collapse this shaft handling it if not carefull.
Just pull it back out to the correct length. Some are tighter than others.
Don't pay no mind to the safety nuts on this thread that say their is a nylon
pin that needs replaced. There is no pin. What they think is a pin is a drilled access hole
used to inject the nylon into a cavity between the two shafts. This nylon solidifies as it cools
and becomes a interference fit bushing or glide and will keep the shafts from rusting together.
If the shafts werent able to slide it would defeat the safety feature of the collapsable design.
 
I thought it looked ok when I swapped it, but it can't hurt to pull it out and check. Do you know what the length is supposed to be so I can measure it.
 
.......................u say u already have a p/s column/shaft so u have the right 1 anyways, don't worry, be happy.................kim.........
 
I don't recall the exact length. If I remember the manual steering is about 43".
Power a few inches shorter. Power use a different coupler with smaller spline size.
If you have the power steering shaft and coupler in your column it will fit.
I have had some shafts that would slide or telescope very easy and others that were more difficult.
Either way slide it till it fits over the spline till the roll pin notch lines up and tap roll pin into place to set the shaft at the correct length. The column should be bolted in to the dash
first then the spline and last the floor plate seal. This has always worked for me working
by myself. Take note of the missing tooth on the spline and coupler. It is made to clock in
one position.
 
The column is the manual column that came out of the Duster, I just swapped the shaft itself. Are the columns different or just the shaft? I took the shaft out, one of the four nylon plugs is missing, it doesn't seem to want to move and I can't tell if it is collapsed. Does the hole go all the way through? Thanks for your time and help.
 
The columns are the same. The shafts are different lengths.
Don't worry about the missing nylon pin. It is just spru left behind from
the nylon being injected between the shafts. It does nothing. The working part of the
nylon is filled into a groove cut into the inner shaft. The holes are just a place for the nylon
to enter these grooves and the air to escape as the space is filled with the hot liquid nylon.
Once the nylon cools it becomes a solid bushing or glide for the inner solid shaft to slide inside
the outer hollow tube. This creates a two piece steering shaft that is collapsible and will not rust
together. Rusting together would prevent it from functioning properly in a collision.
It will slide. Some just have more resistance than others.
It sounds like yours is a stubborn one. In this case you will likely have to remove
the shaft from the column and slide it by prying while in a vise. I did have one that
was stuck like this once. Most are easier.
I found on the particular shaft that was stubborn I was working with was a clearance problem between the inner shaft and outer tube. It was overly tight before the nylon was even put
into it. I was able to get it to slide using prybars and a vise.
 
The shaft was collapsed, it was easy to get it moving again, a little wd40 and a pry bar did the trick. After wrestling with the steering coupler for a while I got the column in the car. Thanks so much for your help ssba.
 
We had a similar problem. The shaft on my 73 Duster with manual steering had been collapsed and the nylon/plastic shear pins broke. But i was switching to power steering anyway. We shortened the shaft by pushing it in further (to 35 7/8 inch length). Then drilled 1/8 inch holes all the way through and re-pinned it using plastic screws and nuts. As SSBA states there is probably no need for the pins but I chose to use them. And also had to use a different coupler.
 
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