Appears to be a copy of the more common Borgeson steering shaft for about 1/2 the money. Also appears that amazon sells even cheaper clones so maybe an option. Interesting that the 3 or 4 brands I just looked at all use some form of the borgeson p/n (940). The upside to this design seems to be ditching the coupler in favor a u-joint but me myself I've never had a coupler fail.
The factory parts book shows different PNs 78 vs 79-81 for the column, shaft and gear. The difference on the column is mostly that the column side of the rag joint is removable (splined connection) in 78 vs welded to the shaft 79 / up. 79 also seems to be first year for the column shaft lock plate but that's not really relevant. The 78 also has a longer steering shaft and shift tube vs 79 / up which results in a shorter rag joint to gear shaft. Oddly, it doesn't list a different shift rod for column to bell crank.
The factory book also shows a different style coupler at the gear. 78 having a clamp to attach to the gear, 79 / up using the more familiar roll pin. That likely explains the different PNs for the gear but I've also been seeing two different specs for the [gear] input shaft - 13/16 and 3/4. Oddly enough the various aftermarket steering shafts list application as 79-93. As the column and coupler in my 77 are clearly 79 parts I should have the 79 gear and be good with the aftermarket bit.
Well, I could be after I track down the 78 bracket for attaching the column to the dash. 79 / up has tabs welded to the jacket, 78 uses a strap not entirely unlike a conduit clamp. The answer here is clearly yank the installed 79 shaft and see if I can get the 78 shaft on the gear. Been working on other things.
