Hey everyone. First post.

My brother's steering is really loose. Put on new steering arms and ends, helped a little.
The rag joint seems shot, but I don't want to put another one in. Can I replace the rag joint with a bolt-on u-joint? Where can I find one?
I don't want to drop tons into this car and do a custom steering setup. My brothers going to study abroad for a year and sell his bronco next month.
The current rag joint has metal (safety?) catch plates and the steering shaft turns until they almost hit before turning the steering box Input shaft. The new rag joints I'm seeing don't have the metal plates.
Not many places seem to carry the rag joints. Where can I find a good one (with safety plates) if I can't use a bolt-on u-joint replacement? Can I transfer the safety plates? I found one on Amazon, same part as Kragen/O'reilly lists. Dorman 31008 @ http://www.amazon.com/Dorman-31008-S...0&sr=8-1-fkmr1

**EDIT** I found a few u-joints that will bolt on. Looks like they're splined on both ends. Is the steering column end splined, or just the input shaft side? An example part is the Dorman 425356.

Happy Wrenching

 

Ok, so I went out with a rag and cleaned up the area a little more.

Looks like the bottom of the steering column side is not splined, but is flared and has flat spots on opposite sides. No way I could get a splined u-joint onto the stock arm unless I had a lathe and a way to spline it.

So... Where the heck do I get a rag joint? And once I get it, how do I get the old one off? Drill out the rivet heads? I don't have air tools. I have a Harbor Freight wannabe dremel, but that would seriously suck.

EDIT:
It just occurred to me... if I don't absolutely need this stupid rag joint, can I just replace it with a solid steel disc that has been machined to be the same size, bolt holes, etc as the rag joint's rubber disc? I could even put rubber or poly bushings into the bolt-holes. I might have access to a place that can machine them too...