Redcoat - The reason rag joints are used is vibration. The steering parts usually fail because of fatigue caused by the vibration. That's also the reason welding these parts is not recommended. Any time you make a weld you are creating a whole bunch of minute cracks. In most cases the cracks will never cause problems.
If you mention welding to an engineer that does nothing but fatigue analysis, you will get a new definition of the word NO.
