Rag joint: rebuild or buy new?

[Mark H.]

I'm pulling the steering column (telescopic) on our '66 coupe. It has the original rag joint. Thought while I have the column out I might address this; although the rag joint hasn't caused me any problems. Anyway, what's the best approach? Rebuild my original rag joint with the kits available, or buy new? Thanks for your thoughts and advice.

[Gary R.]

New rag joints are not like the originals. 65-66 Tele rags are very hard to find and the last one I saw was 10 years ago for $700. If yours is flat, not dry rotted, or has play in the holes of the material I would reuse it. The copper ground strap may be broken. The rebuild kit do not have the same material and some use plain bolts, not shoulder bolts.

[Patrick H.]

I soldered the copper strap on the original one I just reinstalled. As Gary notes, there really aren't any correct ones to buy, and most of the rebuild kits are junk.

[Keith M.]

There were some alleged NOS (dunno if any left) on fleabay for C3 that appeared to be as correct as any I have seen. My original seems ok to keep using but I grabbed one of these to have on the shelf...price was right and if mine craps out this looks to be closest I have seen. I know does not help for a C2.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323799609252

[Gary R.]

There were some alleged NOS (dunno if any left) on fleabay for C3 that appeared to be as correct as any I have seen. My original seems ok to keep using but I grabbed one of these to have on the shelf...price was right and if mine craps out this looks to be closest I have seen. I know does not help for a C2.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323799609252

Keith,
That looks like a NOS service rag, it appears to have the wire mesh. It is a L69-82 with D-Flat. Worth the price I see as most would be 3x that.

[Gary J.]

The ‘65-66 tele column rag joint is quite different from the regular standard production rag joints. This is the reason they command big bucks. There is a good description on EBay between of the differences.

[Gary R.]

There were some alleged NOS (dunno if any left) on fleabay for C3 that appeared to be as correct as any I have seen. My original seems ok to keep using but I grabbed one of these to have on the shelf...price was right and if mine craps out this looks to be closest I have seen. I know does not help for a C2.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323799609252

I bought one of these for a customer, it is not the same as used on the corvette. It should fit, there is no grounding screen in them, and the material is not the same, a smaller number of layers. I may have to return it.

[Keith M.]

I bought one of these for a customer, it is not the same as used on the corvette. It should fit, there is no grounding screen in them, and the material is not the same, a smaller number of layers. I may have to return it.

Sorry that one did not work out. I don't see them come around much...as you well know...and this is the closest I have seen but may not be good enough.

[Gary R.]

Sorry that one did not work out. I don't see them come around much...as you well know...and this is the closest I have seen but may not be good enough.

Not a problem. It will function but it is not the same. The original Saginaw's were grounded. The service rags from Saginaw were grounded, the rags that were only offered after Saginaw sold out were not grounded. The material was correct back then as well. The rags were discontinued a short time later.

[Gary B.]

The coupler repair kits from the major catalog companies do contain a ground strap. So at least the horn will sound and the driver won’t get a surprising electrical shock when pressing the horn button, as Rich Mozzetta has described. The kit from Zip is shown in the attached photo.

Gary

[Gary R.]

The coupler repair kits from the major catalog companies do contain a ground strap. So at least the horn will sound and the driver won’t get a surprising electrical shock when pressing the horn button, as Rich Mozzetta has described. The kit from Zip is shown in the attached photo.

Gary

I believe, but may be wrong, the copper ground strap was revised to the impregnated screen in 1972. The material was otherwise the same. That rag I bought off ebay I am returning if anyone one wants one of them.

[Patrick H.]

I believe, but may be wrong, the copper ground strap was revised to the impregnated screen in 1972. The material was otherwise the same. That rag I bought off ebay I am returning if anyone one wants one of them.

Do you think you can add the ground strap to it, or is it not worth it?
I know that the pins being peened on the originals makes it essentially impossible to replace unless you attempt to replicate the process. I wasn't sure how one like this replacement came apart.

[Gary R.]

Do you think you can add the ground strap to it, or is it not worth it?
I know that the pins being peened on the originals makes it essentially impossible to replace unless you attempt to replicate the process. I wasn't sure how one like this replacement came apart.

This rag would work but I can't use it for a customer's box and I don't want it sitting on my shelf for years. I also don't know how long the material will last compared to the original material, that lasted decades. It just wasn't what I wanted. I expected to get a service rag as we used to get over the counter up til about 15 years ago. Nexteer didn't follow Saginaw in the same level of part.

The price was good, if it was a real deal Saginaw rag.

[Donald H.]

I have been rebuilding rag joints for a while now. The kits that ZIP sells are what Long Island Corvette had manufactured and where in the LIC inventories that ZIP purchased. They are much closer to originals than any other repair kits I have researched. They have three kits, 63-66 standard, 65-66 telescoping, and 67-E69. I talked to David Walker before he sold ZIP and there were no plans to have any more of the kits manufactured. So, as far as I know when their inventory runs out, that's it.

The 67-E69 kits do not include the fine thread shoulder bolts as the originals did. Instead, they have one coarse thread 3/8" bolt and one 5/16" coarse thread bolt. The interesting thing is that one of the shoulder bolts is 3/8 thread with a head that is 1/2" across the face and a nut that is 9/16" across the face. the other bolt is 5/16" thread with 1/2" head and the nut is 9/16" across the face.

My understanding that this somewhat unique bolt head/nut configuration was done to make assembly faster. What I don't know is why one bolt is 3/8" and the other 5/16".

I have done a few 63-66 and 67-E69 over the past year or so, and I am getting ready to do a telescoping steering rag joint. More difficult as both halve are riveted. Of course, the hardest thing to do on these rebuilds is setting the steel rivets.

For reference, I attached a couple of pictures of a 67-E69 that I just finished.

DSC_0268.jpg DSC_0267.jpg DSC_0266.jpg


Don