Is the steering coupler really necessary?

I went from power to manual and homemade a steering coupler using a Jeep Cherokee bottom U -joint and simply put a sleeve on the U- joint , welded the U -joint shaft and sleeve on the bottom and slid the top portion over the stock shaft and drilled through both the sleeve and shaft and installed a through bolt so I can remove it easily. The Jeep spline will fit the stock manual shaft but I had to grind a flat spot on the steering gear box shaft to match the Jeep U- joint. Cost? $5.00!