I'm another newbie here and Ive got to make this short and sweet. It's time to goto work. I'm driving an 87 pickup with a 22r and would like to fix it up a little; but first things first I have got to make it safe to drive.
When I bought this truck the rag joint was deteriated to the point of almost non existence, the studs through it were wore to about half the original thickess, and the slots that they rode in on the intermediate shaft were wore to about twice their original width. As it would seem to turn out, no one seems to make either the rag joint or the intermediate shaft. It looks like I am going to have to either find used parts or make my own. Does anyone have any suggestion to help me stay on the road?

 

haha i guess i am more of a newb than you. Whats a rag joint?

 

Junkyard for a used steering shaft would be one option. Other option some folks use is just to bolt the two parts together and eliminate the rag joint all together.

Steering rag joint:

 

How would that effect the steering. I am afraid that it would cause a lot of vibration. MO highways are about as smooth as some Colorado rock trails. I am going to check some more salvage yards this weekend in KC and if I have no luck then maybe I'll make my own parts. I am not certain what material to use for the rag joint itself.

 

I think the rag joint has two functions, 1 is to handle small length changes due to the body and frame flexing, especially off-road. The earlier ('83 and older) trucks actually had a splined slip yoke in the shaft that let it extend and compress as needed. You can also loosen up the telescoping section of the shaft to let it slide easier (mine will compress/extend easily by hand).

The second function is likely to help isolate road vibration from working back through the steering box to the steering wheel. I would imagine with power steering, this is not quite as big a factor as with manual steering. I've never run w/o a rag joint, so no idea on how much the vibration would increase.

Rag joint is made of layers of rubber/fabric (like a tire carcass) and has some metal rivets holding it together and the bolt go through the rivets. Pretty much the same rag joint design is used by Toyota from '84 up to pretty much the current model year, so should not be hard to find one. Here is one off a 3rd gen 4Runner for example (washers are not part of it):