Intermediate Steering Shaft - swap u joints? Yes...but

[wtdash]

I have an '04 WRX rack and pinion that I was planning on putting in my '98 Forester, as mine's leaking and the WRX's has a quicker steering ratio. The steering shaft's knurled end in the Forester has a more coarse spline (?) than the input pinion shaft on the WRX so the '98 Intermediate Steering Shaft won't work and vice versa.

 

Can a machine shop swap the Intermediate Steering Shaft u joints? So one end matches the WRX and the other the Forester's?

 

Also, I'm guessing I can't just swap the pinion gear 'box' as that's probably part of the WRX's quicker steering ratio?

 

Thanks,

Td

 

Edit: Found THIS and THIS after more searching:

 

 

My apologies if this is old news and I just missed it.

 

I'm in the middle of swapping an 05 WRX driveline into my Legacy and ran into the problem that the splines on the 04 STi steering rack I'm using are different from the original Legacy rack, so the steering linkage wouldn't work.

 

As far as I knew the only solutions were to use the WRX column (not a viable option for me) or modify the linkage to adapt the STi rack to the Legacy column. I had heard in the past of people cutting the ends off both linkages and welding them together but I figured there had to be a better way.

 

I looked a bit closer at the linkage and noted that the ends are just a piece of folded steel. So it is quite simple to open them up and swap the rack end from the STi/WRX linkage onto the original, thus creating a linkage that will connect the original column to the new rack, and looks completely oem.

 

 

Basically I just used progressively larger round rod (sockets) hammered between the 'ears' of the end to open it up enough that it came off the u-joint, being careful not to lose the rollers out of the bearings. Once I had them both off I swapped the ends over and closed them up again.

 

More detailed instructions here: http://aussiedan.com/blog/2008/07/02...-linkage-swap/

 

And then I read this POST by DOHC_Holiday:

 

 

I attempted to swap out the steering rack today, using the directions I listed above for the linkage. I just wanted to warn anyone else thinking about doing it this way: DON'T. These directions will screw you up big-time. Just cut and weld the linkage, it's a thousand times easier.

 

 

EDIT: I ended up swapping the pinion gears from the old '98 into the newer WRX rack:

We'll see how it works out!

Edited May 22, 2010 by wtdash

[Gloyale]

Cut. Sleeve. Weld. Done.

 

use a tight fitting piece of pipe for sleeve so it will keep the joint true to a centerline. Use the Forrester joint as guide for length.

 

We do this stuff all the time for lifted rigs.

 

 

That crazy fold open the joint idea is MADNESS and SUICIDE all *rolled* up into one.

[wtdash]

Thanks...I was hoping one of you smart 'lifted' guys would know something.

 

1. cut where the arrows point

2. swap the pieces

3. weld them back together w/a sleeve over the cut ends

 

Any concern that the welding heat messes w/the needle bearings?

 

'98 Forester on the left; '08 Impreza (ends have same spline count as '04 WRX rack) on the right

 

Edited May 11, 2010 by wtdash