Weird steering mod... kind of

[Axle]

Years ago I got a dorman rag joint to repair the broken joint in my Nova, did not look very well engineered at all. I junked the dorman metal bits 'n bolts and put the dorman rag in my original hardware. That worked out and is still in service.

Trying to remember, but I think the dorman rag joint assembly did not provide a fail-safe that if the rag broke it would interlock the metal components when you turned the wheel.

As for why its there: noise and vibration isolation, and it can tolerate a bit of misallignment since it is flexible.

Alex.