Steering colmun shaft

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Mbrown326

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I have a 72 Dart auto with column shift.
My question is the plastic dowels seem to be intact, but
The ends are broken. Doesn't slide or flex. Should I worry about it?
As long the shaft can collapse it's not really changing the safety aspect.

Am I missing something?

Thanks

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I have yet to understand why they matter. This exact setup is used as a SLIDING shaft on the late pickups and Dakotas between column and box.
 
If you are concerned you could melt some plastic and pour it in the holes!

I would devise some sort of backer for the holes inside the shaft.

I believe the plastic gets injection molded into the holes while the shafts are in a jig to do 2 things,

  1. Keep the inner and outer 1/2s seperate by a thin layer of plastic to make the slide
  2. Act as a lock so the 1/2s dont move relitive to each other.

i suspect during assy havings the 1/2s locked together made it easier to assemble the cars.

On a Ford column I once had I substituted a deferent lower shaft that was longer, the Ford's were not locked together, the plastic just acted as a slide
 
There may be a couple of reasons. 1st, to keep the column together during installation. 2nd, to determine if a car has been in an accident. Neither one would keep me from using yours the way it is.
 
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