Steering U joints

I have a customer that wants me to figure out his steering issues.  Its an old ford he converted to power steering and a aftermarket column.

He is having binding issues.  And my initial guess that the Universals need to be at matching angles.  One is at approximately 10* the other around 25*.  

They are in phase and the shaft between the joints is supported.

Any tips...this is not my normal wheelhouse.

Shouldn't need to worry about phase and the angles are not too acute so my guess is that the welded support is not in the correct spot and is forcing the steering shaft out of position as it turns. 

The joints really should be in phase relative to the angles they are at.  Because the steering column to shaft angle and the shaft to box angle are not remotely along the same plane, the U joints will not be in the same plane either.  (If that makes any sense)

There also will need to be a slip joint in the steering shaft, I can't tell if there is one or not.  If there is not, that is in all likelihood the source of all binding issues.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

 

There also will need to be a slip joint in the steering shaft, I can't tell if there is one or not.  If there is not, that is in all likelihood the source of all binding issues.

Came here to say this.  The length of the intermediate shaft need to change as the joint goes through its travel.

Also, if that's a support bearing, does it really need one?  The box is a fixed point, the steering column is a fixed point. The shaft probably needs to wobble a bit from the sharp angle on the bottom end.

Thanks guys.  I will try undoing the support to see if it gets better.  

I do not know of any slip joint I will check.  Its currently back at his house.

I made the driver side header and exhaust but it wasnt running when I had it

Ideally you'd follow all the rules for equal and opposite angles for u-joints in a steering column so that the inputs are linear but in the real world It's not that big a deal.  As others have indicated the lack of a slip joint is likely the issue in this application.  As Streetwiseguy said, if the bottom of the column is properly mounted then the support bearing is unneeded. In fact, it could be contributing to the binding.

If the U joints were in phase, the shaft would probably not want to change length quite so much.  It is hard to tell from one photo but it looks like they are about 80 degrees out of phase.

I'll bet the bottom of the column isn't held well and they are using the center support would keep things from moving. Lock down the column and lose the center support, you shouldn't need it with only 2 u-joints between things that don't move.