My Rag Joint Failed

[John Brown]

Originally Posted by Billohio

can these be rebuilt? I would guess nos thats 50 years old might be suspect too

There are kits to repair them in many auto parts stores, but have heard some brands don't have the exact same hole pattern. No idea on the quality either.

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

I have all the parts the rebuild one and an extra to rebuild.

I thought the steering shaft and rag joint had overlap so if the rag ripped the pins would still turn the steering box? (Hard to explain)

Ryan W31

[scuncio]

Wow. Glad you’re ok!

[SuperNovaSS]

I’m glad you and the car are OK. I thought the same thing Ryan.


Jason

[70post]

There are notches in the belled-out end of the intermediate shaft that should "catch" the two big rivets that are part of the rag joint. Still.....you don't want to have to rely on that if you have a questionable old rag joint.

Quite frankly, I would get rid of that poly disc.....it has no fiber or steel reinforcement in it from what I've seen...just a piece of polyurethane.

Also - at some point, GM added a stamped metal "cross brace" piece to the assembly (my '70 cars have the brace). It goes on under the two bolts. Better than no brace but it's still stressing both bolt locations of the rag joint material. Can't tell exactly from your pic but I swear I see the steel brace that I mention and it looks torn in two.

I deal with alot of these and have noticed slight stress cracks starting in the steel braces in a specific location. I can post pics if need be.

[mssl72]

I had that happen too once. Luckily I was driving on my way home. It seemed like more and more play was in the steering after making a turn. I pulled into the garage, shut it off and popped the hood. I saw basically the same thing you had pictured. I promptly replaced it. Lucky for you, you were home when you noticed. I couldn't imagine losing steering while driving.

[sixt9rsx33]

Originally Posted by 70post

There are notches in the belled-out end of the intermediate shaft that should "catch" the two big rivets that are part of the rag joint. Still.....you don't want to have to rely on that if you have a questionable old rag joint.

Quite frankly, I would get rid of that poly disc.....it has no fiber or steel reinforcement in it from what I've seen...just a piece of polyurethane.

Also - at some point, GM added a stamped metal "cross brace" piece to the assembly (my '70 cars have the brace). It goes on under the two bolts. Better than no brace but it's still stressing both bolt locations of the rag joint material. Can't tell exactly from your pic but I swear I see the steel brace that I mention and it looks torn in two.

I deal with alot of these and have noticed slight stress cracks starting in the steel braces in a specific location. I can post pics if need be.

I noticed on the rag joint for the fast ratio steering (my car is standard steering) the stamped steel cross brace was present but not on the standard? The rag joint that came out of the car did not have the brace.

Yea the rivets should had caught but I suppose since I was turning the wheels from lock to center I had a lot of stress on the joint and the rivets just "popped" out of the flange? I do have 245 60's on the front of the car which is not easy to turn when parked.

After putting on the new rag joint the steering does feel less "loose" but it did not seem like it was so loose that it would fail.

Thanks for the well wishes too!

[EZ Nova]

Of my 3 older cars, only my 69 Nova has a rag joint. Both my 66 and 67 do not have rag joints with rack and pinion streering.

Why is a rag joint used from the factory instead of a u joint like my 2 cars have??

[CamaroNOS]

Wow....was that a wake up call. Damn glad you were not injured.

I will be honest, I never gave those rag joints any respect other than dampening the vibrations coming up through the steering column. That has changed now!

Maybe we all should inspect our rag joints and replace them if needed. It would be sad to loose somebody over something as simple as that.

Paul

[Mr70]

They weren't always dotted..I count 7 layers on your broken rag shown,which is correct for your manual steering.
4 layers came on power steering.