Question about telescoping shaft and steering column???

[blackknight]

I have a 78 firebird. I am changing out the old steering box this spring. I am going to put in a quick ratio and rebuild the rag joint with a polyurethane pad from NPD. My question is the other end of the steering system by the column. I have supplied a picture of what it looks like in my car. I have not taken it apart I just want to get all the parts I need before I disassemble.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

I am going to buy a new telescoping shaft. How does the dd shaft connect to the steering column??? Is it just a old, large u joint. Should I just buy a new needle bearing joint from flaming river to replace the old one. Does anyone know the size. The rag joint is 30spline x 3/4, i know the telescoping shaft I am buying is a 3/4 (rag end) 1"dd (column end), what is the spline count on the column. is it 36?

I am also going to buy the quick ratio box from agr...have people had good experiences with this one???


and input towards this job is appreciated...thanks

[exwestracer]

The piece that attaches to the column is called a trunnion joint. And yes it is just basically a u-joint but it allows some change in length as the shaft rotates. If you order the new u-joints by application, the spline count shouldn't be an issue (GM box, GM column, etc.)