good to hear. i bet my mechanic either didnt feel like telling me or didnt know you can replace just the ragjoint. is the intermediate shaft the one that goes from the rag to the firewall? or the steering box to the rag joint?

you should totally take some pics and make a detailed how-to for us

 

The pics might be difficult because I am having it done professionally and they don't allow people in the garage for insurance reasons.
This is between the steering shaft and the steering box as far as I know. I had to ask around and actually show one shop the part before they agreed to do it "my way" rather than order a new steering shaft and charge me 2.5 hours labor. This shop is doing it today for 1.3-1.5 hours labor and it will possibly be less time than that.

Also, after looking at several articles on this, I bought Grade 8 3/8" x 1.5" bolts, 3/8" nuts, washers and locknuts to make sure they have everything they need to do this properly so they don't end up charging me for hardware that is marked up (probably one bolt from them costs twice as much as the entire bill to buy all the hardware needed at a store). I am also going to tell them to put Loctite on the bolts so this doesn't come off. If they assemble it correctly, it will also make any future rag joint replacements easier should it go bad again since bolts are easier to remove than rivets. However, if it ever does fail again, I will consider other options like a metal disc instead of rubber. I could probably have that custom made somewhere if I give them the rubber ragjoint. I don't want to go the U-Joint route because it is 1. Too expensive (parts and labor) 2. A bit much for this car 3. Harder to service if something goes wrong because it is a custom job. I would like to keep this stock so if anything does go wrong, I can get the parts quickly to fix it.

 

It was not the rag joint. It is play in the steering box. They disassembled the steering shaft and said that they cannot replace it because 1. The bolts won't fit. 2. It's too much of a liability. The rag joint has it's normal flex and is not torn. They said that there is an adjustment for the box, but it might make it so tight that it becomes crazy on the road and other problems might happen. They said the only way to fix that type of play is a new steering gear, which I am not willing to buy right now. They also said the play is not dangerous and is nothing to worry about now. So much for a simple repair. I guess I will have to just drive it with some play in the wheel. I did take their recommendation and I bought Lucas to put in the power steering fluid for preventative maintenance for the rest of the system. I will do it tomorrow if I can pump some of the fluid out somehow.

 

Can anyone shed some more light on this adjustment if it tightens up my steering and prevents me from having to get a new steering gear for a couple years? I know that the box is wearing out. Last year, my power steering fluid was dark and smelled like burning. I had it changed. The fluid is yellow now, but the burning smell is still there. If I put the Lucas in the fluid and have that box tightened up just enough to take up some of the play, is it possible to tighten up the steering?

 

They are not to be messed with I have the same problem as you and I'm a mechanic not no super mechanic or nothing like that but I can ussally fix about anything . I adjusted mine then took it for a test drive and holy crap it was all over the road I was very lucky and managed to get it back to about where it was . So long story short just get the steering box they are simple to change .

 

I'm going to try to upload a few stearing gear exploded pics I have to maybe amuse the interested peps. I rebuilt these years ago when I worked at dealership and they thought rebuilding stuff themselves paid off(35yrs.ago).
I think that the main wear is almost always on the sector gear.
Seems now the only course of action now is replacement of the whole box. So this is just probably only for amusement BUT you can see damage can be caused by adjusting the sector gear clearance adjust too far - BE CAREFUL, I seem to remmeber that 1/4 turn over initial adjust is really the max...enjoy

I realized I might be hijacking this thread - not about rag joint replacement- sorry, started new thread on steering gears

 

So, is it a screw that I can tighten to do the adjustment? I think that I would try to do a tiny bit and test it, and tighten it a bit more if no change is done(?)
NB: I have an 89 S10 Blazer Sport. Is it the same?

 

i remember people trying that without good results, said it screwed up their "return to 12'oclock" ability

 

You could pull a gear box from the junkyard fairly cheap.

 

New rebuilt one is not that expensive either. See Below link for rock auto pricing.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php