They all get sloppy with age internally, then the rag joint adds even more to the slop. A new steering box and rag or u-joint will restore the vehicle to like new or better. Good time to replace the pitman arm while it's out, since the box has to be removed to change that anyway on these trucks.

 

Thanks. This confirms what I suspected would be the case. I think I'll put replacing the steering gear, pitman arm and rag-joint on the list for the spring when I can drive my other, non-snow season, car. For now I can live with it.

 

Booo! I don't like to listen to all these stories about saggy front ends! I have the free play in the steering wheel, but i know why, everythings shot! Pitman and idler playing free! Have to replace it soon... Anyway, i know the feeling when it won't return, try a jeep xj or wj with broken steering damper and you'll see! 🙃

 

Been there, done that, many times. I replaced the inner and outer tie rod ends, adjusting sleeves, pitman arm, idler arm, rag joint, and power steering gear box my '77 T-Bird, my '78 T-Bird, and my son's '78 T-Bird. I also replaced the inner and outer tie rod ends, adjusting sleeves, pitman arm, and idler arm on my son's first '85 4x4 S10 Blazer. Most recently I replaced the inner and outer tie rod ends, adjusting sleeves, pitman arm, and idler arm on my son's '84 GMC pickup only to find out the upper and lower ball joints were also shot. That tightened it up for the most part but it's still got a little play and I'm betting it's that rag joint. It's on my list. (the never ending list that is)

In other news we picked up another '85 S10 Blazer not too long back since his first one got totaled. It's a 2wd which runs and drives fine but didn't have a title. I located the original owner and I'm trying to get him to work with me on filing for a duplicate title. Hopefully he'll 'get around to it' and help me out. Meanwhile, even more recently we picked up another '85 4x4 S10 Blazer. It had been parked for seven years. The body is in great shape and I figured if we couldn't get it running we'd swap in the 3.1 out of the wrecked 4x4. We towed it home and let it sit for a while until Hell wasn't frozen over and then pulled the gas tank to find it was filled with rust chunks which wasn't too surprising. We then pulled the tank out of the wrecked Blazer, cleaned it out, and put it in the newest one. Since it would then run on starting fluid but not on it's on I pulled the filter at the back of the carb. It was bone dry so I figured the fuel pump was out. I pulled the fuel line at the pump and tank and blew it out to make sure I didn't have a clogged line. Still couldn't get gas from the fuel pump so I changed it next. After that we tried again but no luck. It'd start, rev, and then die. It would run on starting fluid though so I know the problem is in the carb. We pulled the carb today and found the numbers stamped on it. I've got a carb kit and float on order.

While we had it running on starting fluid my son noticed the water pump was leaking so if I can find time we'll pull it while we wait for the carb kit and float. If not, it'll be done after the carb gets put back on.

Neither of them are anything fancy but I'll post a picture or two after we get them cleaned up a bit.

There is no question at this point. I'm definitely Project Poor!
(this was the short list)

 

I hear ya, Brian - that's pretty much regular maintenance every 30-50k miles these days (entire front-end rebuild) it seems.

 

Confirmed that the rag joint is bad. I can live with it for now until the snow-season is over. I felt clever rigging up a long string tied at both ends to opposite sides of the steering wheel so that I could move the steering wheel remotely while watching the rag joint.

 

Does your rag joint still have it's cover? Mine broke while taking it off to inspect the joint. I managed to find a brand new one online at a dealership on Arizona.

 

Yes, it does. The seam where the two halves were joined underneath was broken but the clip things on the top still worked.

 

Sometimes it feels like Everything on my cars are 'regular maintenance'. Someone once asked me if I was a pretty good mechanic and if I could fix her car. I laughed and said, "I don't know about being a good mechanic or whether or not I could fix your car but I'm getting pretty good at fixing the stuff that I keep having to fix on My cars."

Today my son and I pulled the starter off of 'Old Blue' - now the totaled 'Blue Beast' - so we can put it on the new '85 4x4 S10 - 'The Green Machine' and I hadn't been under one of them in a while so I'd told my son to 'pull the two bolts, drop the starter down, and then pull the two nuts to pull of the wires'. He pulled the two bolts and then said, "Uh, there's No Way I can just 'drop it down' like you're saying." Sure enough, we had to pull that blasted cross member, then pull the bolts on the bottom half of the transmission bellhousing. I was going to have him pull the lines on the oil filter relocation kit so I could drop that torque converter cover out but he managed to shift it enough to finagle the starter nose out enough to get the wires from the wheel well. After that I broke for lunch and then replaced some of the deteriorated vacuum lines on The Green Machine.

Hopefully tomorrow or the next day we'll get the carb rebuilt with a little help from my neighbor. (since I'm not experienced with them)

 

Bolted the side pieces back onto my brush guard that cover the headlights after the headlight projector retrofit. Doesn't seem to effect the beam pattern much at all luckily Even though the beam pattern is already not as flat as it should be lol