Item in question is an Omix ADA heavy duty lower steering shaft for manual steering.

There are two pins in the middle of the shaft holding the 2 pieces of it together. The shaft is supposed to telescope an inch or so. On my friends Jeep it seems to not telescope, it tore up a bunch of the lower connecting parts by the steering box, including the boot.

My question is...do the pins holding the 2 pieces in the middle of the shaft come out so it can telescope? Or does it telescope with the pins in, and his shaft is just too short. It seems like it should not be too short, cause he ordered it specifically for his Jeep.

Thanks for any help.
B

I think I would call the sellor or the manufactorur for the "pin" information..
I never have seen one with pins in it.. All I have ever seen are the stock ones that have more movement in them than you are saying that one has.. I'd be pulling it out and pulling the pins just to see what I ahd..
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

The pins are press fit, almost look like rivets. He did take the shaft and everything out. I was just seeing if anyone had any info on it. I will post back when I get more info on it.

The stock lower steering shaft has two plastic "pins" in it to determine length. They are not meant to remove to allow telescoping. Even drilling them out will not allow you to make the shaft safely longer. They are made of plastic so, in case of a head-on collision, and our chest hits the steering wheel, the column will collapse. That's why the upper column is held in only with clamps. Some aftermarket shafts are made the same way, but with easily shearable rivets instead of plastic pins.

On the other hand, some quality shaft upgrades, like Borgeson, are made to telescope up and down prior to installation, for a fit on vehicles that have a body lift.

SEE!! I'm not too old to learn.. I have never noticed the plastic pins..
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the info Bob! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Well, I drilled them out anyway. I think I may have gotten one for pwr steering. It was an inch too short. I originally installed it by dropping my steering box, installing the shaft, and forcing the box into position. This maxxed out the rag joint and even popped the retainer spring out. So, I ordered a new boot for a new shaft and drilled and extended it. Now it fits perfectly. Too bad I didn't realize it was the wrong shaft before I tore it up. Now my question is, Should I drill a new hole and put a shear bolt in it or just let it be? I don't think it's going anywhere.

I'd be a little concerned about not having enough interfacing material in the shaft now, and it wearing out more quickly. You said you were and inch too short, and you extended the shaft, so I assume you extended it an inch, but how much of the shaft is still inside the "slip/ shear joint". I don't know for sure but I would think it should be "ok" and at worst case just wear out faster than the right part, ie you had 5 inches of one shaft inside the other, and now you have 4, but if you went from having 1.5 inches before your mod, and now you only have .5" I wouldn't drive it because in my mind it wouldn't be safe.

Sean

As far as I remember on it the first pin was about on inch from the bottom half of the shaft, and the other pin was another inch or so above that, so there should still be plenty of overlap.

So like I said, if it was me and I felt like I still had plenty of overlap I would drive it, but I would pay close attention to it to watch for wear. I would hate to be driving down the road and have that strip out.

We had one time on the Late Model we ran at the local oval track where there was a set screw that held the lower steering shaft onto the splined shaft on the steering box, and when he went to pull the steering wheel off to get out of the car, he pulled the whole shaft off the steering box because the set screw had fallen out. That would have been scary running about 90 MPH down the back straight and go into turn 3 and have no steering. Those walls are pretty hard.