I wasn’t supposed to touch anything steering related. Things changed quickly. The steering column was collapsed (long story) and both the top and bottom bearings were shot. I’d need more tools and space to rebuild it correctly. So instead I bought a 1968 Corvette Ididit steering column ($800).
After I received the column I saw a glaring issue. The rag joint that I just rebuilt did not match the new column. It turns out that the ’68 Corvette had the earlier generation (’63-’68) steering box. So now I had to buy a new rag joint AND a new steering box. Thankfully I found a guy on the Corvette forum selling a rebuilt steering box for only $120, saving myself $400. The new rag joint was another $165.
