re-doing the steering on a 40 ford pickup with MII. going to replace the steering components below with proper parts from Borgeson. wondering what peoples opinions are of the vibration reducers. don't need to spend $116.00 on one if the difference is minimal. ...yes, those are impact u-joints used in the steering. yes the "support" was booger welded to the extreme.
Did you hunt down and beat the guy who built that until he was very near dead ? If not then you should.
I am guessing that their vibration reducer takes the place of not having a rag joint. I'd use an oem rag joint if it does not show too much.
""wondering what peoples opinions are of the vibration reducers. don't need to spend $116.00 on one if the difference is minimal"" I got one when they first came out..exchanged it cause it ran out so bad it looked stupid...The relacement got sloppy real quick so took it out, noise increase [like when manuvering for parking] was minimal and noticed no difference going down the road...IMO would leave it out....
I would start over with no vibration reducer.At rack u joint then to around steering box location ,support bearing,then to colume. I have a 39 ford that what i did.Borgeson parts work well.
this will have a support bearing in the middle. Borgenson says use the vibration reducer after any support bearing, so a rag at the rack may not work as intended ??
I'm not an engineer. The rag was never meant to be used to change an angle, it's job was to take out vibrations from road feel. So, I don't know anything about those aftermarket parts....I have only used oem parts.
Seems to me if you've got vibration in the steering, solve the problem don't just mask it. FWIW I have side steer in my current coupe, solid shaft, one U joint, Mustang box, no vibration no bump steer.
I ran a stock type rag joint after I wiped out one of the steering u-joints, cause of the shock of hittin the bumps on the lovely north east roads, took like 40,000 miles to do it. Then a few years ago I put the stock rams horns back on and the stock rag wouldn't fit. I used the Borgeson one then, mine is at the bottom of the column, no road vibrations at all, and the thing has around 20,000 miles since I put it in there and its still tight.
We recommend at Flaming River if you are going to run a vibration joint to put it on the column end for the most effective results. Most of the time in a 3 joint system you wont need them.
can't put one on the column, it is 1" x 48 spline, I did not see one in the catalog to fit. I was thinking of maybe putting it after the support bearing, but it sounds like they don't do much.
I had a '49 chevy with a Pacer crossmember and power rack without any kind of damping, just borgeson u-joints.I always thought I could feel the vibration of the hydraulic fluid of the rack. I had the truck blown apart to rebuild the engine and decided to raise the crossmember to lower the truck a little more. When I put it back together, I added a Borgeson vibration reducer. When I got it back on the road, I couldn't tell any difference. Blue
Use the one from the original 40 P/U. Is it a Mercedes or a hotrod P/U? I can find a lot of better places to use 116 bucks on a hotrod. c'mon man! JMHO
I ran one initially (mounted to the end of my column) ... ended up changing my exhaust and steering column angle (and length) and didn't have the space to reinstall it. Replaced the Borgeson vibration reducer with a regular Borgeson steering joint ... never noticed any change at all (and I drive my car a lot).
those impact universals would scare the **** out of me in a steering system. I have seen those come apart many times. dont trust your life or the life of others on the road to that little pin in the universal. use components designed for steering. and to answer your first question I have used the Borgeson piece and it works well.
My 62 wagon has GM 605 PS with a combination universal/vibration damper. Works great, well worth the $116.
I have three U-joints with a support bearing in my 38 Chevy to fit the steering around the 454, with Must II suspension and power rack. No vibration dampener, just the good quality U-joints. Never noticed any vibration problems.
I know many people who say there is no difference, but for myself with nerve damage in both my wrists and hands (carpel tunnel) I can tell there is a difference. That is one part I would list in the "Makes you comfortable" listing. It's kinda like the difference between AM/FM/single disc CD or AM/FM/Multi-disc CD.
I found that the vibrations were minimal with a manual RP. But after driving for a couple hours my hands would go to sleep. Trying one in my 40 coupe and pickup project now.
when I first looked at the steering I thought it was put together from parts from whatever the donor car was that gave up the motor and steering column. I was quite suprised to see "snap-on" on one of the u-joints. sounds to me like any difference would be minimal at best. think I'll just put it together without one. the owner is just going to putt around town in it anyways. said he wants to go to the cruise night a few miles from his house in the summer and not much more.
Sound like mj40's has a case of carpel tunnel coming on ! The other thing I found that works is on long trips, take turns which hand you use driving as it reduces the "vibration time" thru your hands and eventually into the neck muscles.
1st off, hope ya threw away all that junk that was on it. Next use Borgenson joints and shaft to the MII and be done with it, no dampner needed. If the f/e is set up correctly Just my 2 cents
This is what I did on my 39Ford,Support Bearing near, old box,Borenson ujoint,I used old steering colume and welded spined shaft to old and used exhaust pipe and stuck a Harley bearing in it.Then ran down to rack with another u joint.Works good.
put it together without it as I didn't see a need for it. I only drove it around town. drove and steered nice. the guy is still putting around town in it, though he is a British car guy with MG's and things of that nature. the 40 looks odd in his driveway with the others, it belonged to his father in law who built it in the 80's
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