JimmieD I found this in the archives. The last paragraph you mentioned either a roll pin or bolt to make the connection to the worm shaft end. Is this how you ended up doing it and are you happy with it?



Steering column mods....no squad
Name: JimmieD
Date Posted: Aug 12, 06 - 5:25 AM
IP Address: 66.81.179.128
Message: So a continual irritation with the Town Wagon: Seat adjusted correctly for steering wheel and knees near the ears from swing pedals! Idea: lengthen steering shaft 3". There's a wee bit of extra column sticking out of floor on firewally side, plus have another tube I can weld on if need be. Problem: Mopar used all different kinds of couplers on shafts with various diameters of steering shafts, Saginaw box input worm shaft, and steering wheel splines. Answer: Borgeson.

Most Mopars are supposed to be .750 - 36 spline on the Saginaw steering box. This actually varies from .720 to .729 in the real world, but .750 seems to be the closest Borgeson has. These are available in splined by splined, splined by smooth, and smooth by smooth, or splined or smooth with a D-circle [one side of shaft flatted to form a 'D' shape, or D by D.

I ordered a .750 splined by smooth for several reasons. Smooth end can be drilled & tapped for a hex head button pin into depression drilled into shaft, or thru roll-pinned, or Grade 8 thru-bolted, or welded. Comes with sealed needle bearings so gotta run cold water on it if MIGing it to steering shaft.

Steering shaft removes from bottom of column. May have to install your top bearings before welding on the extender/coupling sleeve or else use thru bolt extender sleeve also. I'll use a piece of shaft off of a spare column with the sleeve if possible, but all three are different O.D.'s, naturally.....

Seems like the hot ticket would be to weld one end of extension sleeve and thru bolt the other, with a choice of bolt holes in box end of extender shaft? Thinking about thumbing thru NAPA's bearing catalog and see if I can come up with one that fits I.D. of column tube and O.D. of steering shaft for a lower bearing.

After shaft is extended the Borgeson joint goes on the very end and hopefully mates up to Saginaw splined/grooved wormshaft end. Probably roll pin that connection or a small Grade 8 bolt.

So, that's the plan anyway. If you read about the wreck it didn't work.....