extending steering shaft for BL in Vit

[SiKiD_01]

has anyone lengthened, or spaced their steering shaft due to BL'ing? i have to get mine done, other wise i might not pass engineering.

does anyone know how much the shaft comes out after a 3" BL? on a sierra, you can just put a spacer in where the rag joint is. there is no where to put a spacer in the vit shaft.

what can i do? what should i do? i was thinking about getting another shaft from another vit, and cutting and extending it. done with some tube over the top, and welded all round.

i have had no troubles since i've had a 3" BL in my vit, but apparently, steering is one major thing engineers will look at. ok, its fair, and i'm not trying to get away with it. if i want it to be legal, then i gotta engineer it, and so i'll have to get something done about it.

thanks for any help.

[WHITVIT]

Never heard of anyone lengthening the steering for a BL. Couldn't require much. An extra spacer should be all that is required. But why change it if it works well and looks stock, You know they'll look closer if they see that you have been modifying it especially if they notice your welding. When it comes to getting your car checked the secret is to appear as if not much has been modified. If done well an inspector may not notice a strut flip or longer springs, but you cant hide a BL or tyres (well you can hide your tyres behind the shed and install smaller ones )

[tube suzi]

welding to steering components is not legal and will not pass engineering

[SiKiD_01]

i know welding on steering components are not legal.

this is not what i want to do, its what the engineer wants me to do.

like say, if originally 4" of a splined section is used, and after the body, only 2" is used cos its been stretched out, then i have to make it so that the 4" is back to standard.

passing a BL is no worries, but if i cant do the steering, i wont be able to pass. the vits dont really have a rag joint of suck to fit a spacer in, so its gonna be a bit harder.

but roughly, i think the shaft has come out about 10mm or something.

i'll just take my vit in, and see what the engineer dude says about it.

[mtzook]

If you don't have power steering currently, you can take a steering shaft out of a model with power steering (i may have this backwards), then have it shortened by an inch or 2 and it will fit right in without modifying the spline length, or using spacers.

I'm pretty sure this is what i did with my old 2 door before i had power steering in it. When i did the 3" b/lift, the shaft became so loose that it almost fell out because it was overextended and the bolts loosened up. I had thought about making it longer, but then found that another shaft (i'm sure it was a model with powersteering), was originally longer anyway, so i had a guy chop it and weld it in there nice and neat. It's strong, and doesn't look modified at all.