1988 V8 S10 Blazer Steering Shaft Swap/Mods (Jeep Cherokee Shaft) (Ep.18) 

this might sound weird but I enjoy seeing your struggles. Too many times youtubers work on cars and it seems like a dream. Especially when a simple job can sometimes turn into a 3 day ordeal. I like to see how you get around problems. I learn a lot. Keep up the great work!

I just swapped mine in my 90' s10 from about a 96' cheerokee. Heated the shaft to soften inside plastic, cut off about an inch of the lower solid steering shaft. I removed the steering column to grind a notch for the upper steering sleeve pinch bolt. Everything took about an hour and ten minutes but have watched about all of yalls videos a dozen times and went over it in my head about 100 times. Thank you for posting!

You're one of the very few builder youtubers who shows the good and the bad, even down to the details and I can't thank you enough! I've followed all of your builds so far and you do great work. Thank you!

When a factory Jeep part is considered an upgrade you know you are in dire straights....

i did this exact swap on my k5 blazer. it was a direct bolt in except for grinding a slight grove in the upper shaft for the pinch bolt. the jeep shaft is hard to move because it is made with injection molded nylon inside as a bushing. you need to heat the shaft to loosen up the nylon. it made a big difference in the road manners and feel of my k5. it was one of the best and cheapest upgrades i have ever done. as a bonus, it also works on third generation firebirds. i don’t know if it works for the years with the air bag systems

Great. Now fix the front end damage...literally driving me nuts.

Steering bits are always fun. Especially rubber steering parts. Especially ones that perish after you replace another part. So you have to dissassemble everything again. Also i really need to read/pay attention more. Spent the first part of the vid looking around in my audio setup thinking there was something wrong with it. Like i was told before, being stupid doesnt hurt you, it just makes life more difficult.

You can get a Astro van steering shaft for the Firebird. Makes a big difference too

On my 00 s10 I cut the u-joint end off a jeep shaft then cut the chevy rag joint off and welded the jeep end to the chevy shaft. It works great and is more out of the way to get the center spark plug out on the 4.3 v6. Another cheap option is to drill out the rag joint rivets and put bolts in tightly squeezing the joint together.

Love the Fox hoodie on the 2019 bright eyed, bushy tailed you 🤙🤣

I'm glad I didn't know about this swap when my 1st gen S10 needed a replacement steering shaft. I just got a much better condition used on, bolted it right in, and no more problems.

I did the Jeep XJ shaft mod for my '94 Suburban, and got the first one you showed. What I ended up doing was grinding out the column end to fit. Took a little bit of time, but it fits like a glove.

Great video this is very helpful, rag joint on my 88 S10 pickup is bad and my truck likes to follow the grooves in the road, a annoying issue i will now address, thank you for making an posting this video.

OUTSTANDING!!! Dictionary "Lazy". EXCELLENT production. Really nice job.

88-94 Cherokee you need(Not Grand) but for S10 i prefer the Astro Van Shaft(Does require a simple mod to make it Fit but its a great piece) plenty of info on 3rd gen F-Body Forum.(Also fit 78+ G-Body and S10) also Full Size Van like 96-01 for you B-Body guys and Big car.

The only thing that I would do differently would be using a cotter pin on the top bolt instead of hammering the nut. Thanks for the video, it's well done.

Hello again, this is David not Joan, my wife, Yeah I still have the same login Problem as before. This was a great Show! The last few were...ahh..lesser than expected lets say. You keep up the good work Kiddo! I watch every every week. I do love your work! Thanks

Best way to finish off my week!!

Yup.... wish you would have posted this last week... I just got a grand cherokee shaft from ebay... LOL it has the small upper side that will not work... uggg... I am not doing it for the slop, I need to get rid of that huge CV joint at the top that interferes with my header. Now that I know what to look for, I will try again!! Thank you for the video!

I LOVE this channel!

On my dime, I blended the top of an S10, and the bottom of a Fiero steering shaft. I'm sure there's more like that, but it's what I had. Oh yeah, there's a plastic bearing at the bottom of the shaft where it comes through the firewall. And one more place... is in the tilt steering mechanism. Same column (essentially) as used in the Fiero, G-Bodies, etc.

Love your videos bro I’m currently taking indirect fire from mortars (training) but this is more important

I think I've seen guys use that Astro steering shaft in the 3rd gen Firebird & Camaros to get rid of that rag joint as well I believe. 🤔

I have a 84 s10 I just bought the coupling and in the process of replacing thanks for the audio and video sound lots of help.

Not even gonna lie I was watching porn, notification popped and now I'm here

You should do car videos full time. Definitely one of my favorite channels

I had a Land Rover D1 that had a steering shaft that was really close to the header, they had a heat shield that would keep the lock nuts from failing.

Thanks! My third gen firebird is the same way. I plan on doing this next week.

I love these videos.. good place for inspiration

I love this channel. Keep it up!

every GM steering box has an adjustment bolt, 270k miles same steering box, i did adjust it every 40k miles tho, ragjoint never changed, im installing rubber joint from b-m-who

Made this swap on my '85 Grand Prix back in the day when the inspection guys didn't like the old rag joint anymore. I think I use'd a variant of one of the grand cherokee steering shafts. It bolted right up after getting it to slide freely and a liberal coat of anti seize.

My Uncle had one of these blazers and the slop in the steering wheel was awful. Super common from what I've seen.

I upgraded the steering shaft from Hooker Headers using the LS S10 shaft. I don't like using used parts that are crucial. But still a good video for this swap.

I bought the kit from O'Reilly for my 95 and just replaced the rag joint. Was well worth the 15 bucks and no modifications. In my case, that was my slop.

Helpful and interesting. Thanks!

Been waiting for this video for almost a year.

Also I actually used this shaft and just cut my end and welded to the new and it was super easy. Couple hr job with pulling the parts and modding. I got faith in my fabricators

Once again, I urge you to go nuts with the caster. You can’t really go too far and it’s a quick and easy job. Once you get it set, the slop really won’t matter because the wheels will WANT to track straight. You can tell how much caster you have by how strongly the steering wheel recenters itself coming out of a turn.

I do not have that Edition of Hyperlinked dictionary, Good Find!

MORE FIREBIRD CONTENT!!!!

Early 90s 2 ton truck, Chevy HD trimmer bit to fit and end up with a straight steering wheel. Drives like a new truck.

Get this man to 200k

Most of the reman steering boxes you get that aren't from somewhere like Turn One, AGR, PSC, etc. are usually a crap shoot from what I've read and what I've experienced. All they really do is replace the bearings and seals and you can easily end up with a box that's more clapped out than what you started with. Which is fine if you don't care and just want to fix a leak. I've gotten a steering rack from them that still had dirt clods on it that they just painted over. But hey, it didn't leak anymore. Hopefully going through the adjustment and preload procedures will tighten it up enough so it's not so ridiculous, but there's no adjustment for the recirculating ball/screw doobly doos being worn or the sector shaft not fitting like new where the bearing rides. It really doesn't take much slack anywhere in the steering system to translate into a lot of steering wheel movement. I went through this with a Jeep I used to have and ended up going through 3 boxes from a local parts store until I found one that was good enough, and because I was over removing and replacing the box. After I picked up my 3rd gen Firebird, I decided to just rebuild that one myself and it's probably one of the tighter original Saginaw boxes I've experienced so far, but that may just be luck. I tried a cheap "performance" box for my 2nd gen Firebird (same price as a normal reman), and it was pretty awful on center. And I could not tighten it up any more after redoing the preload and over-center adjustments. Ended up shelling out for a new, not reman, Borgeson box for it and it's amazing. It's one of those things that seem crazy to pay so much more for until you do and realize it's totally worth it. Like really, really good shocks.

I've done the same with my '94 S10 Blazer. I used a Ford F-150 steering shaft. It's a bit more slender, however, much more solid. The only modification is cutting the nipple off the steering box. Besides that, it's a direct bolt on.

If I would have been able to give you advice I would have said go find a 90s Ford and take the universal joint off of the steering column for they are actually pretty easy to takeoff just one bolt in a little bit of hammering and you could’ve slept it off the end of the test and steering shaft where the rack giant was after cutting it off and then mounted it to the other piece of steel steering shaft that remains that clamps onto the steering box

I did this to my 87 S15. makes the steering way better.

Love your commentary! 😂 “and the problem is that it’s a totally different size and doesn’t fit at all…”

I did the steering shaft modification on my big mileage 1993 C1500. Prior to that I also replaced *everything* in the front end including the upper and lower A arms. After the front end was better than new, the steering was still sloppy. That is, until I put in the Jeep steering shaft. The vehicle is now nice and tight for a full-sized bed and extended cab come up on thirty years old.

Love yer videos man

the punch into the peanut was great

I've really enjoyed these s10 vids I've built my own v8 4×4 s10 recently and you have helped me achieve that dream. Thank you.

22:33 one of my favorite parts of the video.

Note: the rag joint is also called a guibo

Very helpful!!!

I really like your video's. I've had 3 S10's, 1 blazer 4x4 with a lift kit on it. Would like to have another one.

instead of a homemade locknut, you could have used Lock-tite. Blue is great with hand tools, and red is when you never want sh!t to come apart without the heat of a small sun

sees upload... Finally, some good fucking viewing

When did a cab swap on my 96 dakota the steering shaft on that truck looked identical to the keen steering shaft. So that could be another option. The V6 and v8 steering shafts are a different length but they can probably be adjusted like you showed in the video

cherokee XJ 94 and less is the way to go! :o)

As long as it keeps you from bending up the Blazer anymore, you should be fine.... #NoPromisesTho

If you purchase a quality new part with the FORGED end-clamps, no grinding or drilling will be necessary, just length adjustment as needed. Omix-ada has these at around $108-- you get what you pay for...

Really good and interesting video, I don't own a S10 and probably never will but if I did, this is the kind of information I would need, - a reliable source with proof and experience. There is just one thing I would do differently, the hammered nut works but I would have used a normal nut and then a nylock nut on top. If the nylon melts the two nuts will still be locked together and can't move. That's just what I would have done. Not saying that you are wrong in any way.

Automotive bolt yoga--never have there been truer words written. Case in point: try replacing the starter on a first gen Ford Focus--on ramps

The center link is a big ware spot on those blazers too

I used a 1987 jeep Cherokee shaft on my 94 gmt400 and it workes pretty good i did have to drimel what you where talking about though

Most is the play is coming from the steering box. Re-adjust it.

You could have troubles with the upper and lower a arm bushings also

I have adjusted them boxes before it's very easy

1985-1995 Jeep Cherokee is what you want one from..... Jeep Grand Cherokee shaft won't work, You can also use one from a Astro Van too

about the adjustabillity on the steering rack , do test through the whole arc as a steeringrack wears out in the middle the most , tighten it too mush it will bind at max lock

Good video as always! Also voiceover has improved a lot. What mic do you use?

The tall oversize tires can't help. Might make it feel loose even if everything in the steering system is tight. Also, a power steering box has more play when the engine isn't running. I did an S-10 V8 swap a few years ago. I slotted the steering column mounting holes in the firewall to move the column a little to the left and get the upper flex joint away from the exhaust manifold.

That was .......interesting.

Yayyyy!!!

Finally a new video. But. God fix the bumper and the fender!!!!!!!!

Wait, why there's a Fiero steering wheel on the truck?

Well after watching all episodes of the blazer I can honestly say I’m disappointed you’ve rebuilt the engine and screwed the Bollox out of it crashed it and done a piss poor repair and now i just can’t be arsed to watch anymore this restoration had me intrigued “in the beginning” but as time went on it’s quite clear you can’t be arsed to do a decent job right the first time

My first gen dodge has that awful rubber steering coupler on both ends from the factory. Upgraded to a Borgeson shaft and literally have zero play but I also have a new gearbox, and all new moog tie rods, idler arm, pitman arm, and ball joints too

Most sloppy steering on S10 Blazers are due to the idler arm (even if brand new). There's an aftermarket adapter bracket made by Outfitter Design™ which allows you to use a 1-ton idler arm which is supposed to "Create a stronger, stiffer, and more reliable steering system."

Great video sir!! Sir let me ask I bought my son a 2002 Chevy S10 2WD I bought every part under the front end but that rag joint is ALFUL!! What’s the best way to fix it? Thanks

FWIW it might be an issue with a bearing at the base of your steering column that is introducing a little slop, likewise it could be the U joint assembly in the tilt steering column...

I would choose a nylock nut or some loctite for such bolts, not having them come off fast if tension is lost.

Looking forward to see how this plays out, but really want to see more firebird!

Concerning the slop still present, have you measured the centerlink at the pitman and idler arm to make sure it is level?

Jeep intermediate shaft also works to hook a mustang 2 rack to a chevy column

You have probably fixed this by now. The play in the steering is in the valve assembly on the input shaft of the power steering gear. Rebuild the gear and the play will be eliminated.

Also a good mod with a body lift. Easier install by far

shouldve just used muratic acid on that jeep steering shaft and then used baking soda to neutralize it, soaked it on motor oil, dryed it and washed it and then paint it. it would have made it look brand new

i have the same problem with the steering so do i change the lower steering shaft and the intermediate steering shaft or just change one of them when i drive and turn it makes a clunking noise and some times the steering locks up and then turn back to normal what's the cost of that

Clearly you have a much higher tolerance to steering play than me I would be almost scared to even repart a vehicle with that much play in the steering. I´ve replaced components before when the play was barely even visually detectable.

Im not saying it's your only problem with the steering.... but when you lifted the blazer with the shackles and turning up the torsion keys you lost a lot of "steering tightness". I was going to lift my s10 blazer that way(cause it's the cheapest and easiest route) till i felt how bad my steering went. All my steering components have 330,000 miles on them but still hold pretty well. As soon as i lifted my torsion keys i thought i was hoping to wreck with out much play the steering had

How did u hook up the exhaust on the drivers side to manifold thanks

I was slaying heritics in halo 2 pc now Im here....

i know you crashed it sometime ago, but do you ever plan to fix the front? itd be nice if you did. plus i know it would give extra content, even if you decided to replace it, rather than straighten it yourself.

What if the slop comes from the 4 bolts coming lose behind the wheel in the steering shaft? I know that’s a problem with a lot of GM 80s cars. Just need to take the column apart (pain in the ass) and retighten with red thread locker.

Do you remember the length of the Gbody/S10 driveshaft needed to install?????

Did you consider welding the home made lock nut on the upper part so that you wouldn’t have to hold the nut while tightening.

What camera or video recorder do you use for all of these videos?

Need advice on my s10 v8 I'm having issues an need help figuring out what my best option is. Please help