The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Rag Joint Clamp Bolt

What kind and size of socket do I need to remove the rag joint clamp bolt on the steering wheel shaft? 1965 C10

Thanks

Kevin,

According to a search of GMPartsWiki, your rag joint coupler clamp bolt with the slightly odd looking head (see pics below) uses the same sized head in both truck and car applications through the mid '60's.

Only difference was the length of the bolt depending on the end vehicle application.

I checked the bolt head on my wife's '66 Chevelle this morning (1st pic) and confirmed a 12 point 7/16" standard socket slips right over and grips the bolt head just fine. On a double check, I found that a 12 point 11mm socket also fit, but was "very snug", which may lessen the chance of damaging the bolt head during removal/reinstallation. NOTE: 6 point sockets do not work because of the bolt head design.

Second pic is a brand new replacement bolt pic grabbed from a web vendor to show a clean view of the bolt in question.

Hope this helps???

Dan

Dan - the 7/16 12-point worked just fine. It was pretty rusted and I wire brushed the bolt and soaked with PB Blaster and eased it out very slowly but the 12-point was snug.

Thanks very much for the help. I really appreciate it. I was able to remove the steering column this afternoon.

Glad to be of help.

I wrote up a 4 part DIY for the steering column. I’ve rebuilt a 63 and a 65 column so far and this DIY documents the 63 column but they are almost identical. Steering column DIY - 4 parts.