Borgeson steering shaft installed

I bought a Borgeson model 904 shaft from CJSIXER. He had it for awhile, decided to not use it, it got somewhat rusted, so he sold it at a good price.
I needed the #904 for the length, my installed shaft was 34.75", exactly the collapsed length of the 904. Unfortunately, my '78 column has a bigger splined end than the joint on the 904, so I had to order a 1"x48 spl joint.
So I installed the joint last night, fit up the shaft... as I thought, now it was too long with the bigger joint. Pulled the shaft back out, cut 2" off the big end, drilled another hole for the set screw, and reinstalled the shaft. Since the shaft telescopes 6", I now have a perfect fit!!
I had loosened the column, so I tightened that up. Too tight as it turned out, couldn't get the key cylinder to turn
Loosened that, fired it up, drove out the driveway
At the bottom of the driveway I turned the wheel... noticed some binding
I checked the shaft... angles good, no contact anywhere...

So last week when I removed the old shaft, I loosened the lock nut on my saginaw box, and tightened the set screw a quarter turn as there was some slop. I believe what I did was when I tightened up the locknut after the adjustment, using a socket, the set screw also tightened
Who knows HOW many turns!!
I backed it off 1 1/4 turns last night to get it to where it was driveable. It will still need adjustment. I'll do the complete Saginaw box adjustment procedure when I can get back in the garage in a couple weeks.
But I got it to where it was loose enough to test drive (still has a couple tight spots)

WOW!! What a difference!! The control is positive. No more sawing the wheel back and forth trying to stay between the lines. Previously the steering could move a bit before it was felt in the wheel... conversely I'd have to move the wheel a good bit, maybe 3-4" on the circumference before the tires would react (my Ross had 12" before I scrapped it in 1995). It must have been alot of wear in the rag joint, on that block and pin assembly inside Now, there's hardly any play at all, maybe an inch.
I'll feel alot more comfortable at highway speeds on the next trip... but it will take some getting used to. My hands kept overcorrecting on the 4 mile test drive last night (35-60 mph)

I know... UWOP !!
I'll take pics in a couple weeks, after some business travel.
Just thought I'd lert you know that if you're running a Saginaw set up and using a later CJ stock steering shaft with a rag joint... and you've been noticing some wandering... a good solid ujoint shaft makes a BIG difference!

Bubba has also mentioned using an XJ steering shaft with a bit of lengthening, since the XJs have good solid ujoints at each end (no rag joint). I had planned to go that route until this opportunity popped up; it should work just as well.

While I'm talking about steering...Hopefully MattJ will be posting some info and pics soon of his new set up in his '58. He installed Herm's power steering conversion and Flaming River steering shaft, kind of snaked around his 283 headers with 3 ujoints