Do these steering shaft splines look ok?

[NJBronk]

I removed my steering column to rebuild it (3 on the tree) and I plan to install a WH collapsable lower steering shaft when I put it back together.

Removing the rag joint was a PITA, had to use a cutoff wheel to carefully cut it and then hammer it off. I was very careful not to nick the splines, and I think I was successful, but they still don’t look great to me…. They look worn / gnarled.

Do these look ok / safe enough to put back together?

I know I still need to cut off the “mushroom” end of the shaft, but wanted to make sure this will work before I proceed.

 

[DirtDonk]

I’m certainly no spline engineer, but those are pretty butt ugly at this point.
Looks like a bit of water, perhaps dissimilar metals, and age have all had their way with those splines. Even the mushroom looks more so than normal. I bet that thing was really on there!
No wonder you had to cut the old one off.

I’ll have to say I’ve seen worse, but not by much and still being used. There are still splines, of course, and they are distinct for the most part.
But there’s enough distortion and pitting and wear, that it would give me pause to reuse that shaft.
If buying a new column is out of the question, and perhaps finding a good used one to replace the original with, one potential fix might be to replace the lower bearing with the 76 and 77 style, getting rid of that lower clamp. Using that extra length of exposed shaft to create a double-D style instead.
Then the upper yoke for your collapsible shaft would change from 3/4 X 36 to an 3/4-DD instead.

I don’t know that that would work, but it just popped into my head as a possible workaround
Maybe others have run this issue and have come up with their own solutions.
Or better yet, others, with more spline savvy, will let you know that your spines are still usable!

We can hope…
Good luck!

 

[SevenT]

Is this a rhetorical question? If not, those splines are hammered.

 

[NJBronk]

New shaft it is…. I see one on Tom’s that looks the right length and already has the “valley” for the set pin from the WH collapsable lower:

https://tomsoffroad.com/parts/74-77-ford-bronco-upper-power-steering-shaft

Would I like the set pin up with the hole or just the valley?

 

[DirtDonk]

The valley might be to accommodate a cross-bolt. But as long as there is a divot, or indentation, the set screw should line up with that.
And as always, use the thread locker on the final installation.

 

[DirtDonk]

I can’t see on the small screen, but is the hole all the way through, or just a dimple?

 

[NJBronk]

I can’t see on the small screen, but is the hole all the way through, or just a dimple?

Not sure, I think Tom's is closed today so I sent them an email to check the distance from the bottom of the "valley" to make sure it will work with the collapsible shaft. I was also thinking the hole is probably for a through-bolt, so I'd probably want to avoid that for the set screw to keep some tension on it? And yes, definitely loctite - I think blue vs. red?

 

[DirtDonk]

If you’re ever using a set screw in a groove, I would still create a dimple somewhere for the set screw to land in.
But that’s just my thinking. We have several members here who are great at the correct engineering for steering shaft modifications.
Hopefully, they’ll chime in soon.

 

[73azbronco]

No. No, no. Uhuh.