... Just Wondering If Anyone Has/knows Of An Aluminum Steering Shaft (for A 87' Buick Regal With A Buick 455 With Headers)? Thanks.
I know nothing about aluminum steering shafts - but you can use a newer jeep cherokee's steering shaft and it will save you alot of space, it utilizes a small u-joint as opposed to the hideous and huge rag joint, maybe this will help???
No mods need to be made, direct bolt in. The shafts come from 84 to 96 cherokees ( not real new i guess ). Also do not take a hammer to it to free up the slip joint, just heat it up with a propane torch at the joint until the plastic bubbles out and the shafts will slide apart. If you hammer it you will mess up the u-joints.
do you mean the jeep shaft Im refering to?? If so just look on ebay, do a search for g body. there are several sources on there selling these shafts, but if you know what your looking for the junkyards will be MUCH cheaper. as far as a pic I do not have it installed at the moment since my car has been completely dismantled for the frame off resto and new motor :beers2:
I have one on my 82 Regal, got it from a guy over on the montecarloss.com website. $50 shipped Took my Regal down to Pigeon Forge TN , in Sept to the RUN THRU THE HILLS event put on by the guys over at the www.Pro-Touring.com website, and did the Tail of the Dragon, 11 miles 318 turns.... no slop, nice n tight with my 12:1 YA GN steering box.(looks a lot cleaner ,less cluttered and even better fit since I have Buick 455 with headers!!) Here's the discussion link http://www.montecarloss.com/community/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=610119#Post610119 the name of the guy getting those and refurbishing them, on that website, fivetodrive
Here's the two in comparison, they say to get the bolts off the jeep because the g-body ones wont work. Supposed be a direct swap. Hell, if nothing else, it looks better.
That's one of several advantages I've found from GM and Chrysler both sourcing their steering components from Saginaw.
OK.. maybe I'm just not thinking clearly... Its 94* in my garage and my fan broke today... But I went and got one of these steering stafts out of a 94 Jeep Cherokee... took my steering shaft out, the one from the Jeep is heavier by 1/2 pound... I sure don't want to add weight to the car!!! Next thing is the top coupler the Buick has a through bolt... the one from the Jeep has a side bolt... it will side on but I'm not cutting a grove in my lower column.. or drilling a hole through the upper coupler in the Jeep one.. THIS SUCKS!! I'm sure not going through all this crap to make my car heavier... I'm going to bring this to Reynolds next week if any of you guys want it give me $37.28 thats what I paid for it I'll bring a copy of the receipt..
Don, I'm wondering if maybe you got the wrong one. I haven't read any weight discussion on the other boards, it's all about the extra clearance for headers and the solid u-joint vs. the rag joint. I'll jump on the other board real quick and see what I can dig up.
Post #7 says " must be standard Cherokee"...Post 18 says " it's absolutely needs to be Grand Cherokee like 87-93." The grand Cherokee's I looked at the shaft had no upper U-joint , the shaft when right through the fire wall.. The one I got came out of a 1996 standard Cherokee even had crank windows.. The joint says "NACAM" on it. The length is not a issue because once you heat up the center of the shaft and melt the plastic the shaft will slide in and out to correct the lenght.. Well since I don't have any header clearance problems and my car only goes in a straight line I'm not pursuing this any further..
