Gotcha. I didn't see a bolt-through on the site, except the one for the steering box end. The only pics I saw showed that and a weld-on for the shaft.
Should be pretty straightforward (famous last words, as they say!) I would think. Is the box mounted up yet, or do you have to pull the shaft up a bit to get the box in?
You may just have to do your own "measure-thrice, cut-once" routine. But I would say that the box has to be mounted in it's final spot before you can tell where to cut.
Remove the cross-pins, sleeves and anything else at the tip of the shaft, pull the shaft or column back if you must to get it to line up with the new box and joint, note how far you had to pull it back, then cut that same amount off the end of the shaft.
Leave enough extra to grind or file down if it turns out to be too long still and you have to fine-tune it. Get it trial fitted first, mark the spot clearly where you want the end of the joint, then take the entire column out to have it welded at the local shop.
Someone here may know if the shaft can be re-inserted through the column from the bottom (with the assembly out of the truck) or not. If not, you must have the joint welded with the shaft still in the column because it's never going to come down from the top again.
But if it can come in from the bottom (which I think it can) then you can take just the shaft itself to the shop. Then assemble the column again and put it in the truck from the cab.
If you really preferred, you could still drill a through-hole in both the joint and shaft, then use either a regular bolt, or that special type of tapered bolt they use in aircraft in just this type of application. Be easier with a drill press I would think.
The welding itself should not cause anything irreversible down the road. If the joint ever wears out, you can buy just the u-joint center cross by itself and replace it.
If you ever change the box to a design that does not use the same shaft size/spline count, you can either get another joint if there is still shaft length after you cut the old joint off, or just finally replace the whole lower part of the shaft with a collapsible type with two joints. Do that and never look back or worry about future-proof issues.
Depending on what it costs to get the bits over to the shop, have them weld it, get it back and installed and the headache of not being able to do it yourself, you might just have almost justified the extra for the whole shaft!;D
Paul
