Here are a couple of lingering questions that have may have been discussed, but I haven’t found the answers by searching the forums.
First – Why is it that everyone uses the Jeep steering shaft and not the F-150 shaft as recommended by JTR? People have been using the Jeep units over on the Impala SS Forum for quite a while now, so it’s not like they are an unknown. But I wouldn’t use one on an S-truck for the same reasons I wouldn’t on a B-body – the Jeep shaft was never designed for axial movement, but only to shear the molded nylon coupling in the event of impact – as DaveP stated in his Astro steering shaft thread.
To see what the mod was all about back when it was first offered as the solution for the Impalas, I collected a few Jeep shafts to work with. After separating a couple only to see that corrosion had significantly damaged them in collaspable area, I got one good enough to rework for use. But only after continued work cleaning, lubricating and fine tuning the upper & lower shaft slip did I get a smooth action with minimal backlash that I’d consider usable, but still kinda kludged. I ended up giving it away to a friend that needed it to repair his original shaft with a worn upper coupling. So both my B-cars and the Ty still have their factory units.
Yes, the Ford shaft has the lower rag joint, and the Jeep has the preferred lower U-joint, but that doesn’t seem reason enough not to use it, especially if the elastomer is replaced with a heavy duty piece (at one point the better material could be found in the Help packs).
Have I missed some reason why the F-150 shaft isn’t used more often that has been covered in past posts?
Second – having constructed, or been part of setting up, a couple custom caliper & rotor setups for the B-cars, I have a pretty good idea of what is involved, have access to machine tools to modify the S-truck knuckles and fabricate adapter plates to affix alternate calipers to the existing knuckles. I already plan to skip over the LS1 or Corvette units and go right to a set of fixed 4-piston calipers on the front when the time comes.
Since I have to build my own brackets anyway, I’m not limited to the conventional method of cutting the caliper ways off the factory SyTy knuckles and using the hub bolts to locate the new caliper mounts. Knowing that the ’97-up trucks moved to the dual-piston calipers with through-bolt mounting, it would be less involved to use those instead of having to rework the earlier parts.
Searching the parts catalogs, it _appears_ that the ’97 trucks used the new spindle & rotor, the earlier SyTy design hub, and a different CV shaft. The dual-piston caliper looks to be specific to 1997 - one year only - to make it all work. When the hub was changed to add the integral ABS sensor in ’98, the calipers changed again, and continue to be used in newer model years.
So it would seem that there is some basis to matching up the early hub in the later knuckle, and thereby utilize the bosses that were intended to mount the dual-piston calipers to fit the new adapter plates. Making the new setup a more factory-like conversion.
Again, is my parts searching in error and the early hubs cannot be used with the later design knuckles? Have I missed why this isn’t talked about more often?
I have most of the parts collected to start these modifications, but would like to know more about why they aren’t seen more often before tearing things apart.
Appreciate your input,
- J
First – Why is it that everyone uses the Jeep steering shaft and not the F-150 shaft as recommended by JTR? People have been using the Jeep units over on the Impala SS Forum for quite a while now, so it’s not like they are an unknown. But I wouldn’t use one on an S-truck for the same reasons I wouldn’t on a B-body – the Jeep shaft was never designed for axial movement, but only to shear the molded nylon coupling in the event of impact – as DaveP stated in his Astro steering shaft thread.
To see what the mod was all about back when it was first offered as the solution for the Impalas, I collected a few Jeep shafts to work with. After separating a couple only to see that corrosion had significantly damaged them in collaspable area, I got one good enough to rework for use. But only after continued work cleaning, lubricating and fine tuning the upper & lower shaft slip did I get a smooth action with minimal backlash that I’d consider usable, but still kinda kludged. I ended up giving it away to a friend that needed it to repair his original shaft with a worn upper coupling. So both my B-cars and the Ty still have their factory units.
Yes, the Ford shaft has the lower rag joint, and the Jeep has the preferred lower U-joint, but that doesn’t seem reason enough not to use it, especially if the elastomer is replaced with a heavy duty piece (at one point the better material could be found in the Help packs).
Have I missed some reason why the F-150 shaft isn’t used more often that has been covered in past posts?
Second – having constructed, or been part of setting up, a couple custom caliper & rotor setups for the B-cars, I have a pretty good idea of what is involved, have access to machine tools to modify the S-truck knuckles and fabricate adapter plates to affix alternate calipers to the existing knuckles. I already plan to skip over the LS1 or Corvette units and go right to a set of fixed 4-piston calipers on the front when the time comes.
Since I have to build my own brackets anyway, I’m not limited to the conventional method of cutting the caliper ways off the factory SyTy knuckles and using the hub bolts to locate the new caliper mounts. Knowing that the ’97-up trucks moved to the dual-piston calipers with through-bolt mounting, it would be less involved to use those instead of having to rework the earlier parts.
Searching the parts catalogs, it _appears_ that the ’97 trucks used the new spindle & rotor, the earlier SyTy design hub, and a different CV shaft. The dual-piston caliper looks to be specific to 1997 - one year only - to make it all work. When the hub was changed to add the integral ABS sensor in ’98, the calipers changed again, and continue to be used in newer model years.
So it would seem that there is some basis to matching up the early hub in the later knuckle, and thereby utilize the bosses that were intended to mount the dual-piston calipers to fit the new adapter plates. Making the new setup a more factory-like conversion.
Again, is my parts searching in error and the early hubs cannot be used with the later design knuckles? Have I missed why this isn’t talked about more often?
I have most of the parts collected to start these modifications, but would like to know more about why they aren’t seen more often before tearing things apart.
Appreciate your input,
- J
