Which C Bodies have the steering coupler (rag joint) and why (or why not) ?

[MoPar~Man]

I remember a few months ago some discussion about obtaining these rag joints, maybe they were hard to get, maybe some ideas to modify them to work better. At the time my '67 Monaco was in storage and I didn't recollect if it had one of those or not. Today I got the Monaco out and low and behold - no rag joint. Which I guess is a good thing eh?

So I'm wondering if there was a general rule as to what C-body cars had them / didn't have them. Were they used because the desired or designed steering angle (or placement of the steering wheel) in a particular car didn't align with the steering gear, hence the use of this coupler?

 

[Samplingman]

I can’t speak for older years, but my ‘70 300 convertible has a straight shaft column, while my ‘70 coupe has a rag joint. I thought it had to do with the fact that my coupe has the torsion quiet isolated stub frame, and my convertible has the solid mount frame.

Convertible column:

But, I was looking at a friends Canadian made ‘70 convertible and it has the rag joint and the solid mount frame, so that theory went out the window, or perhaps it’s a Canadian thing?

The rag joint coupler is being reproduced and is available from Rock Auto. I had to replace the one in my ‘70 coupe, it is a perfect fit. Here is a pic of what I used:

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Polara 1. 1969 4-door sedan, 318, power steering, column shift: Standard coupler only.
Polara 2. 1964 4-door sedan, hp440 manual steering, column shift: Rag Joint, no standard coupler.
Polara 3. 1969 Convertible, hp440 power steering, tilt wheel, floor shift: Standard coupler only.

I have seen cars with both the standard coupler and a rag joint.

Polara 1

Polara 2

Polara 3

Alan

 

[SGT FURY]

If I recall right the 65/66 C bodies are the ones that go bad.
A bad design

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

They tend to go bad when people remove the heat shield to change the spark plug, and don't put it back on. They're a pain... but serve a purpose in protecting the coupler...

With the heat shield they'll last 50 years... as did all of mine.

Lares 220 from Rock Auto.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

I think the earlier ones acted more like a u-joint as the columns were not in alignment with the steering gear.
The steering column in the 69s is not parallel to the centerline of the car as viewed from the top.


Alan

 

[fury fan]

My belief was that if a car had a Saginaw steering coupler, it would have the thick rubber rag joint.
Also my belief that all power-steering setups will have the sliding metal-body coupler.
But there is likely more to it than that (like shaft alignment) as @MrMoparCHP mentioned.