A temporary connecting device for connecting a steering shaft of a vehicle to a universal joint of a steering mechanism. The device comprises a yoke of a universal joint, a shaft to be connected to the yoke, a bolt and a nut for fixing the shaft to the yoke and a clip for temporarily retaining the shaft in the yoke. The clip is composed of a thin plate member having a support portion fixed to one of the tabs of the yoke and a latching portion positioned in the U-shaped groove in a normal state, the latching portion comprising a cam slant portion which is brought into contact with the shaft when the shaft is inserted into a U-shaped groove from an open side thereof in order to connect the shaft to the yoke so as to retract the latching portion from the U-shaped groove by the elastic deformation thereof to allow the shaft to move into the U-shaped groove, and a latching surface portion to be returned into the U-shaped groove after the shaft is inserted into the U-shaped groove so as to temporarily retain the shaft at a predetermined position.