Longer steering shaft - Cut/Weld/Sleeve??? whats the go

[mrRocky]

creating a bit of a frankenstein zook at the moment, but have an issue with the steering shaft being about 3 inches to short.
My initial thought is to cut it, chamfer the two ends weld together, grind off excess weld the slide some tube over it and weld that.
will this work or will i weaken it to buggery and have it snap on me.
oh and I cant use a spacer due to my other frankenstien mods.
any ideas appreciated

[greg]

are you building it for a certed car, or a not certed car?

reason i ask - my steering shaft needed modifying due length but my engineer was massively against having any welds on it.

i think we ended up with a piece of spined shaft (cut from a spare sierra steering box) which allowed us to connect another shaft onto it with just back to back unis.

the engineer was also very keen to keep any slip in the shaft in place - i.e. for front end collision "crush zone" function.

[zookimal]

are you building it for a certed car, or a not certed car?

reason i ask - my steering shaft needed modifying due length but my engineer was massively against having any welds on it.

i think we ended up with a piece of spined shaft (cut from a spare sierra steering box) which allowed us to connect another shaft onto it with just back to back unis.

the engineer was also very keen to keep any slip in the shaft in place - i.e. for front end collision "crush zone" function.

I have gone the same way as this. Works

What about using toy intermediate shaft parts and/or a toy column?

[mrRocky]

cheers guys the car is so illegal its not funny. Mods are done safely just not gonna spend 50k to engineer a 5k suzuki, maybe if i lived over east but W.A. sucks for that kind of stuff.
My colum and steering box are toyota items, theres not many options other than cut/weld , bring firewall out to compensate, or have one made up. Dont know what they cost but its kind of holding me up a bit at the moment.might have a fiddle with it this arvo

[RockHopper]

Not sure why, but I hear alarm bells ringing whenever I hear the words weld and steering in the same sentance. I would explore the other options you mentioned. More than likely, both options will cost you more, but at the end of the day, you can't put a price on your and other road users safety.

[greg]

before we were knocked back by the engineer, we had a cut, sleeved and puddle welded shaft in place. I think it was made up from 2 narrow track shafts (which are solid) and then some appropriately sized pipe for the sleeve.

i'm not sure if that it the best design though - i'm certainly not claiming to be an engineer myself.

[zookimal]

Check all of the toy options as there are quite a few different lengths amongst the different models, in particular, 40/55/60/70 landcruisers.

[mrRocky]

aahhh i c

[ajsr]

I cant see any real problems with welding it providing you can weld properly,If not ask someone who is qualified to weld it.
If it were me and i can weld i'd weld in solid and then sleave it and plug weld the sides of the tube through the sleave into the solid.
lots of rag joints are welded to shaft ends so it can be done but I doubt it would be legal unless factory or engineered.
cheers andrew

[Tojo]

[quote="mrRocky"]
My colum and steering box are toyota items, theres not many options other than cut/weld , bring firewall out to compensate, or have one made up. /quote]

if it's toyota you have lots of options. Grab a tape measure, go to the wreckers and start measuring. You will find all sorts of different length toyota splined steering shaft bits and pieces.

[sierrajim]

There should not be any issues with modifying the steering shaft with any engineer. All that should be required is that the shaft be tested in accordance with specs.

It's easier, cheaper and way more sensible to do it Greg/Steve's way.

[mrRocky]

yeah ive been welding like a cut snake of late so ill have a crack over the next couple of days and show some pics when im done.
cheers