I'm working on removing the power steering gear box, and my factory service manual is vague about removing the lower U-joint from the steering gear. I'm trying to find out it that lower joint will move off of the gear shaft far enough to remove the steering gear (??) In other words, does the intermediate shaft collapse enough to free the lower U-joint ??
I don't want to move the column just the get that gear box free to come out.

Reason for removal is way too much "play" in the steering, which turns out to be only in the gear box & not in the linkage.....

 

Come on Bill!! You're in saginaw, the town the gear box is named for!!

Yes, you can slide the shaft back enough.

But, before you remove the box why not adjust it?

 

I pulled the gearbox on my 92 justlast week for the same reason,id reccomend dropping the unit onto hoses if you are replacing it, first disconnect the pitman arm, get a pitman arm puller this one broke my three claw puller. I had to remove the sway bar to get the gearbx down, but play that by ear. There is a bolt that connects the steering column to the gearbox. Remove it. keep it safe you'll need to remove the drivers side fender in order to easily get to the screws, 3 under the hood two in the blinker, two in the door and two on the bottom, there will be three bolts in a triangular shape connecting the gearbox to the frame, pull em and then push the gearbox off its little support bracket. itll hang by the steering column. then take a set of line wrenches and use on to get the hoses out, a normal wrench might strip it, and a new hose is pain to install. harbor frieght has line wrench sets for about $10, the lines are sae. Make sure to have an oil pan to catch the psf when you do this. wear goggles it hurts when it gets in your eyes. Itll come down from the hoses pretty quick and weighs about 40 lbs. Catch it or get a hole in your driveway. your choice. Id recommend replacing the gearbox cause the play in it can be temporarily fixed by tightenng the bolt and allen at the top of the box next to the rad, but that also tightens pressure on the steering wheel and eventually wont do much, pepboys has one for 137 and change, got it last night. bring the old one back for a core charge. parts #51-7525. heres a link.
https://www.pepboys.com/product/deta...%2520%25204.0L

be careful its a pain to get back in and will take a few days, I tried rebuilding it myself and the kit I bought was full of oversized washers that prevented reassembly and the old ones wher worn from 200,000+ miles. they snapped off rather then slid off. Good luck, and make sure its the gearbox. get everything up on jacks and if its long and tubular under your hood, give it a shake if it moves it prob shouldn't. Find out if its part of steering and replace it. should solve the problem

 

My plan is to adjust it to what the service manual shows, which appears to be easy enough.

So it sounds like I can push that lower U-joint up enough to get the box out. I have the bolt out of it, and have the stabilizer bar out of the way.
I removed the drag link end from the pitman arm. I don't have a big enough socket to get the pitman nut off ! I do have a pitman arm puller though.
I broke the fluid line nuts loose, and I'm gonna just drain the system & do the box adjustments on the bench.

Thanks for the info

Oh yeah Criuser..Saginaw Steering is now owned by the Chinese ! It's called Nexteer now. GM sells us out all the time !

The rumor is that they will move it, and haul it all to China....

 

Are you serious?????? Not only is your advice unsound and your procedures wrong, you've got the adjustment procedure wrong!!

I can remove and replace a steering box in under an hour and a half.

Remove electric fan. Removing the air cleaner makes it a bit easier also.
Remove both hoses and let everything drain into a pan.
Remove the through bolt from the u-joint at the box.
Disconnect the tie rod end from the pitman arm.
Remove the 3 bolts holding the box to the frame.

If you're lucky after this little bit of work the box will be out without falling on you.

 

Hey Bill, you don't need to remove it to adjust it!!!!

 

Well this is the procedure I did on my 92, because of how rusted and stripped everything was, ans I said play it by ear, but for me the car is held together by rust and bondo. Not a good combo. Also the adjustment nuts on the old one did not withstand the test of time for me. but hey maybe your cherokee is a bit less rusty. and the u joint on mine was easy to loosen, but getting it off required me to yank the gearbox out of the car with my body weight cause other peoples cars dont handle snow well and they need salt.
also for me the less I touch the less I brake, simply bleeding the brakes lead to replacing the wheel cylinders because both bleeder screws became part of their respective wheel cylinders, wd40 couldnt break them apart, and that was after 3 days. Gotta love rust... hehe

 

I guess I could get it halfway out to adjust it as long as could get at the end of it. Too bad there isn't an opening in the front of the frame !! I don't mind taking it all the way out. I may even paint it !
As long as the wife is happy I'm OK..it's her ride !

 

Leave it where it is and adjust it. Not the way the other guy suggested either.

PM me.

 

Bill;

Here's the adjustment instructions for the Saginaw box.
Don't worry too much about adjusting the input shaft thrust bearing unless you see in/out movement of the input shaft while it's being turned through center. It doesn't really wear, it's set once when the box is built and should remain in-spec as long as the bearing is OK.
You can make the sector shaft adjustment with the box in the car, some have done it with a pull-string fishing scale attached to the steering wheel. Gotta disconnect the pitman arm first. Not the best way, but better than adjusting the screw *****-nilly and destroying the box.
If the over-center torque reading is correct and the box is still sloppy, it's reached the end of it's life. Further adjustments won't help.

 

I just got done adjusting mine using a friend's recommendation. Came out great and you need no special tools.

 

pull the fan and adjust it while its in there

 

Nice! What's the secret formula?

 

I have one stubborn bolt to get out yet, and of course it's the front one that's hard to get to...
The other two needed my 650 ft lb impact the get them loose. I guess there was no danger of them falling out

Thanks for the page Radi. That's about the same as the FSM I have...



Bill

 

I did get the steering gear out today. I had to remove the facia around the driver headlight, and across the front, the get a long extension through there for my impact wrench.
That didn't get the bolt out.
I had to use my 24 inch breaker bar, which snapped the bolt off. Amazing thing was, the bolt was corroded into the aluminum adapter, and not the steering box. I'll have to use some heat to get the remainder of the bolt out of the adapter...strange....

Had a hard time getting the stub shaft out of the U-joint in the intermediated shaft. Not sure how I'm gonna get it back in there, maybe a new shaft would be easier...