67 rag joint

[Gary R.]

There was a question a week or so ago on a 67 rag with the black caps or chocks.
Here is a stone stock 67 rag. I'm doing a 67 BB box & diff and this car hasn't been touched in it's life.

[Timothy B.]

Re: 67 rag joint

Gary,

Nice pics, the rag on my car looks identical. The plastic rivet caps also have little thin sleeves that cover the complete rivet.

The flange on my car has what looks like a dimple at center, I did not notice it in your pictures.

[Mike M.]

Re: 67 rag joint

Timothy, are you sure the the "little thin sleeves" cover the entire rivet, that is, the end?
HaND

[Jim S.]

Re: 67 rag joint

Here is a scan of the original 7800470 drawing.

It looks like the .025/.035 sleeve portion of the rivet caps on the flex coupling assembly in Gary's pictures have been worn away.

I'm not sure what is meant by a "dimple" on the flange.

Jim

[Timothy B.]

Re: 67 rag joint

Here are pics of the original rag on my 67, notice the dimple looking projection on the flange.

Also shown are the plastic caps over the rivets, mine are not wore like Gary's but show some wear on the sleeve portion. I guess this is from the flex where the upper flange hits the rivets..

[Scott S.]

Re: 67 rag joint

Here are pics of the original rag on my 67, notice the dimple looking projection on the flange.

Tim,

I was checking a related steering column part in the AIM and there is a notation that may be related to what you're referencing:

AIM section 9, sheet A4, bottom: "Dimple" note removed (Date: 1-9-67, referencing SYM 10, part number 3897415 ("Support").

My car is a January 11th 1967 build date, and still has this raised "dimple" in the same place as your bracket does, if I am understanding correctly - but it looks like the part you are talking about is on the opposite side of the rag-joint, compared to the pictures in the OP.

[Timothy B.]

Re: 67 rag joint

Scott,

I believe you are correct, the little dimple I am refering to is on the riveted side of the rag.

[Kirk M.]

Re: 67 rag joint

Can you purchase those black caps anywhere?

Kirk

[Jim S.]

Re: 67 rag joint

There was an earlier posting (the last couple weeks) that provided the name for a source on the rivet caps.
Jim

[William S.]

Re: 67 rag joint

Kirk,

You can purchase the caps from L.I. corvette. I did a week ago. Also can get them from Corvette Steering.

Bill

[Gary R.]

Re: 67 rag joint

I use new GM rags, still avail for 67-82's. Joe do you know why the color change from red to yellow?

[Jim S.]

Re: 67 rag joint

The different color paint on the coupling disc was to assist Saginaw in selecting the correct disc for the many different flexible couplings that they manufactured and assembled.

There were four ply discs (4 alternate layers of neoprene rubber and cotton cloth) with screening molded into one face of the disc. There were also four ply discs without a screen layer. Flexible couplings with a four ply disc were usually used with power steering gears.

There were seven ply discs (7 alternate layers of neoprene rubber and cotton cloth) with screen on one side. Again there were 7 ply discs without a screen. Flexible couplings with a 7 ply disc were typically used on manual steering vehicles. (Although I believe that Pontiac used a seven ply flexible coupling on some of their muscle cars with power steering.)

All of these discs were 3.4 inch diameter and 0.38 thick. So they looked pretty much alike. Once a disc was assembled to the gear flange with the hot riveting operation, it was a pretty permanent installation. So the paint color helped a lot.

The supplier manufactured the discs in flat sheets. It was easy to just use a paint roller with latex paint and quickly color code one side of the sheet. The supplier then stamped the discs out like a cookie sheet.

Since nearly all Saginaw gears were shipped with the flexible coupling installed on the gear, the color coding really wasn't used at the car assembly plant.

I remember red, green, and yellow paint colors. I don't remember which colors designated which disc.

Jim

[Gary R.]

Re: 67 rag joint

Thanks Jim, pretty interesting. The 67-69 rags from GM for the past several years were red, I noticed the change to yellow about a year ago.