preith Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 I emailed Woodward's tech department about producing a steering joint for mating the Nissan rack. I told them it's a 28 spline at about .620" diameter. Their response was quite promising: Sure, we can make pretty much anything with a splined hole. We just need a good representative sample (or better yet, several) of the male spline. The original factory spline data is helpful but not always absolutely necessary, especially if we can establish the known variation by examining parts from different production years. I unfortunately do not have a decent example to send them, could anybody "take the ball" and send them a worm gear from a worn rack, possibly a few different people? Another possibility would be me collecting and sending them all at once. Does anybody have a good idea what models came with the same spline dimensions? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Man, this would be a good thing for the Z community. Those steering rack fittings have been NLA for years. Seems like you could get MSA or Black Dragon interested in a group buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buZy Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Man, this would be a good thing for the Z community. Those steering rack fittings have been NLA for years. Seems like you could get MSA or Black Dragon interested in a group buy. Great idea, But it would be cool if someone found an alternative path for the upper as well on the 71' which is a different joint layout compared to 78'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbhsbZ Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 I've got an old rack out of 240. Give me the address and I'll tear it apart tonight and send the piece off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted February 18, 2007 Author Share Posted February 18, 2007 I've got an old rack out of 240. Give me the address and I'll tear it apart tonight and send the piece off. Sorry for the tardiness, I've been trying to get MSA to bite on this with no luck. Would you mind sending it to me? I would like to gather as many as possible and ship them together. I managed to dig up a 280 rack, it's a bit rusted, but perhaps will do. I'll PM you with address. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted February 20, 2007 Author Share Posted February 20, 2007 Hey guys, here to provide an update, it looks like this WILL happen, just a matter of time. I've been in touch with Mr. Woodward himself, and he's inquiring about how we would like to mate the steering shaft to the joint. He suggested welding an adapter, as shown in the link, page 100: http://www.woodwardsteering.com/Cat05/Cat05%20PDF%20100-105.pdf Personally I'd feel much more comfortable with this method rather than welding the shaft directly to the joint, which is always a bit risky, but wanted to get some feedback. The adapter could be butt welded and then a sleeve also welded over it... lbhsbZ has volunteered to send me a sample, but I need MORE! If anyone has a scrap rack lying around all you need to do it cut it off, no need to disassemble. I would like to act as the liason and collect as many as possible before sending them out. PM me for my address, don't worry, I won't flake out on this. As for the upper joint, I've thought about this, it will be a little trickier, but I feel the same joint can be used there as well. I beleive the rack-to-column shaft also has the same splines as the rack itself, although it may have to be lengthened a bit. The column shaft slides right out of the column, the same adapter can be used there too. We can totally do without that spacer/adapter then as well. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbhsbZ Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 I ended up taking the rack apart...cuz I wanted to figure out how. I have a pinion shaft, wire wheeled, cleaned, and ready to ship. It'll go out tomorrow. Do me a favor and email me your shipping address again. pat@stopitbrakes.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted February 21, 2007 Author Share Posted February 21, 2007 Per my IM, I'm terribly sorry, but please hold off on shipping; it looks like we may have hit a roadblock. I think Mr. Woodward got a little intimidated once I told him the Z only has a .560" solid steering shaft from the column. He has liability concerns and is opposed to any type of welding a joint with that diameter. He suggested going with something larger also replaceing the upper joint, but I told him the column shaft is also at the same diameter and at some point welding would be necessary. He went on to suggest retrofitting the steering column with a larger diameter shaft as well, but I told him that would be out of the question. I'm hoping he'll produce the joint along with a disclaimer, but don't hold your breath. l'll keep you posted otherwise. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbhsbZ Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 So tell him to make the "weld on" end 3/4"....he should be more comfortable with that. I can turn up .75"OD/.56"ID bushings on the lathe to make up the difference. We'll weld the bushing to the shaft and the joint to the bushing. I really don't see why he has a problem with welding something to the .560 shaft. His only liability is if his joint breaks, not if our welding fails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted February 21, 2007 Author Share Posted February 21, 2007 Agreed, I'll keep plugging away, I'd like to see if he would still be willing to make the joint with his typical .750-20 spline end and let us worry about mating the adapter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 WAIT A MINUTE!!!!!! Aftermarket companies have produced a replacement joint for the Toyota Land Cruisers for quite some time now.... The Land Cruiser has the EXACT SAME SHAFT SIZE as the Zs... but it has 29 splines instead of 28 like the Z cars...!!! The Land Cruisers most certainly put more abuse through their steering parts than the lightweight early Z cars..!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted February 21, 2007 Author Share Posted February 21, 2007 WAIT A MINUTE!!!!!! Aftermarket companies have produced a replacement joint for the Toyota Land Cruisers for quite some time now.... The Land Cruiser has the EXACT SAME SHAFT SIZE as the Zs... but it has 29 splines instead of 28 like the Z cars...!!! The Land Cruisers most certainly put more abuse through their steering parts than the lightweight early Z cars..!!!!!! He treated manual steering much differently than power steering as the forces exerted are greater. With that said, it appears he may still go ahead with it, again, I'll update you asap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted February 21, 2007 Author Share Posted February 21, 2007 Heh, I don't beleive I've ever posted this many times to my own thread..that's a no-no right? Anyways, good news, he has agreed to produce the joint, both with a .560 weldable end, and his .750-20 spline end. I think he was under the initial impression this request was for race cars only, but I told him the majority would be for street. So the hunt is back on for anyone willing to send me a "sample" from a scrap rack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HizAndHerz Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 Phil, I've access to the spare parts in question from '70 and '71 240z's and from a '75 2+2. The soonest I can get to them is this weekend, though. It would be nice to get them back eventually, but okay if I don't. If you need them, let me know by PM. This is a great project that I would love to contribute to, if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speed42 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 New to Z cars and just building my first, a '71 240. My u joint at the rack is way too worn out to use. After trying Courtesy Nissan in Texas who referred me to MSA, who then referred me back to Courtesy. Since Nissan no longer makes this part what have you guys done? Am I to understand that their is no replacement part here? Having built plenty of stock cars I searched through those catalogs and came up empty handed. Mr. Woodward might be right in the sense that taking off the shelf stuff might be more cost effective. So I figured two paths, either find the u joint trunion bearing itself or adapt over to full on race car stuff. But I still need the 0.56" 28 spline female at the rack. Worst case I'm searching for used stuff if anyone has anything... Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 ^^^ You may have to find look for a car that's being parted out. Look through the HZ classified ads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4everDATSUN Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 www.flamingriver.com www.borgenson.com both of wich i can get for you, or can order straight thru the website Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 www.flamingriver.com www.borgenson.com both of wich i can get for you, or can order straight thru the website So these guys already sell the u-joint we need? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4everDATSUN Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 flamingriver sells a 9/16 (0.5625) 28 spline joint but d-shaped joints are made in all different sizes and a shaft can be easily modified to accept such a joint. IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted March 15, 2007 Author Share Posted March 15, 2007 flamingriver sells a 9/16 (0.5625) 28 spline joint but d-shaped joints are made in all different sizes and a shaft can be easily modified to accept such a joint. IMO Flaming River sells a 26 spline joint. Nobody to the best of my knowledge sells a 28 spline. I'm still trying to aquire more rack examples to send in. If anyone can be of assistance, please PM me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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