Prerun4fun13

Anyone know if there is something that i can put in place of my rag joint to solid mount it? Is there a company that makes such a part or am i gonna have to just use washers and bolts?

My steering is really loose it has alot of play and my truck has a TC Long travel kit with all uniballs and hiem joints and there is no play in any of those...

Anyone have any ideas?

peow130

You could get crafty and convert it to a U joint.

xxxtreme22r

is the play coming from the gearbox itself? Or are you positive it's the rag joint?

Prerun4fun13

not positive that that it isnt in the gear box as well but the rag joint is for sure worn out... But i dont wanna put another rag joint back in it id rather have it solid mounted... I hope the play isnt in the gearbox i dont wanna have to have that thing rebuilt..

peow130

Better off just buying a new one, lol.

Prerun4fun13

steering box or rag joint??
I think if i had it rebuilt id wanna have the steering ratio made a little quicker than it is now...

MudHippy

He means the gearbox. They're notoriously difficult to rebuild. And FYI, they're impossible to modify as far as steering ratio. 86-88 have a slightly slower ratio than 89-95. So you can upgrade if you have the old one, but that's all you get there.

Prerun4fun13

Oh alright. Ya my truck is a 95 so im assuming i have the new one... I guess ill try to eliminate the rag joint first and see how that helps... Its to bad no one makes a better aftermarket steering box.

MudHippy

You can upgrade the steering components all you want, you'll just have to make/mod a few things yourself. Namely the TRE's, idler arm, and center link/relay rod. And you can modify your stock gearbox to hydraulic-assist(requires upgrading pump too). Or get rid of the gearbox altogether and go full hydraulic/ram steering. Many sources have the parts needed for those projects. It's the other weak links in the IFS steering system, like those I mentioned first, you'd need to worry about before doing either of those though(well not the center link/relay rod and idler arm if full hydraulic/ram steer).

blake.nemitz

cant you just pull the steering shaft off a 4runner or truck taht has u joints, seems like they would be close in length

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Actually, all the pickups and 4Runners have u-joints in the shaft, one at the top and one at the bottom. The rag joint is typically at the bottom:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...irculatingBall

The '83 and earlier pickups had a splined coupler in place of the rag joint that you might try. Or you can get replacement rag joint rubber sections and those should have no play unless that rubber is ripped or worn out. The rubber is needed to take up slight length changes as the body/frame flex. You can loosen up the telescoping section of the shaft if you have the 2-piece style to let it handle that function ('84-?). If you have the fixed accordian style shaft, not sure if that one can be modified.

The way to test is have someone sit in the driver's seat and turn the wheel slowly back and forth just to the point the front tires would start to move and then follow the steering linkage down from the firewall. You are looking for all the points where two pieces of the shaft or linkage join together and you have motion upstream and less or no motion downstream. The point at which you go from more to less motion is where there is play in the steering.

Prerun4fun13

I already have all the total chaos steering stuff like heim joints and the total chaos idler arm.. So next step is to elimnate the play in the steering shaft and gear box.