Steering Gear and rag joint/coupler C2 vs C3

[Donald H.]

Will a Late 69 to 82 steering gear box fit/work on a C2?

I had a C2 rag joint that I restored and sold to a 67 owner. He called me and said that he could not get the rag joint I sent him to tighten up on the gear box input shaft.

Before we did the deal, he sent me a picture and I could easily see that his was for the Late 69 and later C3. I told him at the time that I was not sure how someone got the C3 rag joint onto a C2 steering box, but I assumed they ground out the flat spot on the rag or something.

I happen to have some pieces for C3 rag joints and when I compare them to a C2 rag joint, the lower side, the side that fits to the steering box input shaft, looks to be smaller in diameter than the C2 rag joint. However, I found this in another thread from Jim Shea. early steering boxes have a 3/4-36 spline, and later boxes have a 3/4-30 spline with a flat machined on one side

So my assumption is that it is not possible to get a C2 rag joint to fit to a C3 steering box input shaft. Is it possible the 67 owner has a C3 steering box on his C2?

Thanks,

Don

[Gary R.]

Re: Steering Gear and rag joint/coupler C2 vs C3

Hi Don,
Any 63-82 Saginaw Corvette box will bolt into any 63-82 vette. The bolt pattern is the same, the pitman arms fit all of them. The input spline count is as you listed from Jim Shea. 63-69 is 36 spline, late 69-82 is 30 spline with the D-flat. Both are 3/4" diameter.

It is very possible the 67 in question has a C3 box, not uncommon. It would have aluminum not iron cover. A 36 spline coupler would not fit on the 30 spline input unless someone modified it - which I have seen. There should be no issue sliding a rag joint on the input. Some used couplers are crimped tighter and may need to be opened but the spline counts have to match.

[Donald H.]

Re: Steering Gear and rag joint/coupler C2 vs C3

Thanks Gary.