Hey guys,

I am going to be replacing the freeze plugs on my 97 Blazer (4X4) and I need to disconnect and remove the steering shaft.

How do I do this?

Thanks in advance,

Joe

 

Ok, I have not done this so, it's probably easier said than done.

Anyway, the process goes:
[ol][*]Remove the airbox [*]Remove the intermediate shaft sheild[*]Remove the bolt from the lower intermediate shaft connection[*]Mark the shaft on both the steering gear side and the intermediate shaft side with an alignment mark. Try not to rotate the steering wheel side.[*]Disconnect the intermediate shaft from the steering gear.
[/ol]

At this point, you could probably bungy cord it out of the way and be fine. You'll need to unbolt everything that bolts down to the top of the inner fender as well prior to removing it. There's a bunch of stuff up there, too...

Good luck.

 

Wow! You are an absolute life saver!! I can't thank you enough! I'll let you know how the process goes!

Joe

 

Posted up in the other thread.
I have pulled the steering shaft out of my '87.
4 bolts to remove. One next to the firewall on the shaft (might have to clean all the dirt of the shaft to find it, I did), and the other three hold the steering box in place. Once you have the steering box bolts out, slide it towards the front of the truck. The shaft should slide out of the steering column, tip it out of the way.


Put the shaft back in the way it came out, otherwise your steering wheel may be facing the wrong direction. You can use white out to draw a line across the shaft and where it attaches to the steering column. Or use a punch and mark it with divots, or use a screwdriver and scratch a line in. Just make sure you get it back togehter correct, actually I think the piece your taking out is D shaped so there is only one way to put it back together, and if your don't turn your wheels everything will be fine.

 

How did it go?

 

Hanr3,

I haven't had a chance to get to it. The holidays have kept me out of town. Hopefully I will get to it sometime soon, possibly saturday.

The process that swartlkk stated looks like it might be easier. Will either of these processes be sufficient in allowing room to work on the freeze plugs??

Is the steering the same on the 87 and the 97?

Thanks buddy,

Joe

 

The steering hasn't really changed since '87. The connection types have changed, but the basic geometry and components has not.

Keep us informed!