Steering shaft upgrade
Thanks! :D
I'm still honestly not convinced that the telescoping section is 100% necessary, there's more than a few folks that run steering u-joints without it. But, after thinking about it for awhile and finding the parts that I used to do it I figured that I could manage it easy enough, so why not. If it saves some wear and tear on the steering box, then awesome. And if it just extends the life of the u-joint, that's good too. Plus, the telescoping section gives me a little adaptability if things change down the road, so hopefully I won't ever have to do anything to modify the steering shaft again even if I change steering joints, steering boxes etc.
I do like this solution far better than the steering u-joints that have a straight round section. Those are intended to be welded on, and putting a pin through them doesn't make me feel good. Then you can get wear at the pin, not to mention there's nothing other than the pin keeping the shaft from spinning in the u joint. This way all of the joints are held together by the DD sections, even the welded part. The only part that can get you is the telescoping section, because it does collapse enough to slide the u-joint off. That's why I countersunk the set screws fairly deep. There shouldn't be any real strong forces acting in that direction, but for peace of mind they're countersunk and loctited.