Intermediate steering shaft assembly and method

An intermediate steering shaft assembly in a motor vehicle including a steering gear input shaft having a straight-ahead center position and a steering shaft having a straight-ahead center position comprising:

• means defining a plug-in end on said steering gear input shaft having a unique angular position in said straight-ahead center position of said steering gear input shaft,
• means defining a plug-in end on said steering shaft having a unique angular position in said straight-ahead center position of said steering shaft,
• an intermediate steering shaft,
• a "phased" first Cardan joint having an inner yoke mounted on a first end of said intermediate steering shaft in the true joint plane of said first Cardan joint and an outer yoke connected to said inner yoke through a bearing spider,
• a "phased" second Cardan joint having an inner yoke mounted on a second end of said intermediate steering shaft in the true joint plane of said second Cardan joint and an outer yoke including a yoke portion connected to said inner yoke of said second Cardan joint through a bearing spider,
• means defining a socket in said outer yoke of said first Cardan joint for reception of said plug-in end on one of said steering gear input shaft and said steering shaft whereby a unique center position of said intermediate steering shaft is defined corresponding to said straight-ahead center position of said one of said steering gear input shaft and said steering shaft and the unique angular position of said plug-in end thereon,
• a yoke shaft portion having a socket in a first end thereof for reception of said plug-in end on the other of said steering gear input shaft and said steering shaft when said socket has an angular orientation matching the angular orientation of said plug-in end on said other of said steering gear input shaft and said steering shaft, and
• means on said yoke portion and on said yoke shaft portion at a second end thereof operative to effect a driving connection between said yoke portion and said yoke shaft portion in any of a plurality of relative angular positions therebetween including a relative angular position in which the angular orientation of said socket in said yoke shaft portion matches said angular orientation of said plug-in end on said other of said steering gear input shaft and said steering shaft when said intermediate steering shaft is in said unique center position and said other of said steering gear input shaft and said steering shaft is in said straight-ahead center position.