Loose steering joints

[Benchwarmer]

20240324_110231.jpg20240324_110238.jpgNew to me MK3 with 3500 miles on it. I have tightened all the the u-joints but still have slop in these two.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[CraigS]

On the first one I used a grade 8 bolt and nut to super over tighten it and collapse the outer shaft a bit. Then I went back to a standard grade 5 bolt and nut. The 2nd one I would want to take apart to see for sure. But I assume that, 1- the yoke has a large slot that the bolt nut should be collapsing together, and 2- there are splines on shaft and inside of the yoke. Is the bolt rusted to the yoke and can you remove it, slide the shaft out just to look at it, lube everything and reassemble?

[Benchwarmer]

Thanks for confirming the procedure I was going to try for myself.