k, good to hear, should I just leave it or should I further adjust till steering slop is gone.

 

I do not have direct experience with the internal mechanics of box, so cannot provide a definitive answer.

Edit; that means I don't know. lol

 

I think these are GM/Saginaw recirculating-ball power steering boxes, a holdover from AMC which used Saginaw steering gear in all their vehicles from the mid-1960s on.

There's a spec, or at least a rule of thumb, for how much freeplay these are supposed to have. I'm most familiar with the 1960s-1970s vintage steering boxes, I think on those a total of 1" (1/2" in either direction from center) maximum freeplay was permitted. Probably tighter on the newer steering boxes. Still, these are not like what you get in modern cars with rack-and-peanut steering where there's zero lash.

The adjustment procedure on these in brief was to remove the pitman arm, then set the preload on the thrust bearing. The adjustment for this is on the front of the box (inline with the steering column) and you use a pull scale to set the initial amount of steering effort to spec. Then you adjust the sector shaft to get the final steering effort into spec. At that point if nothing is worn, freeplay should also be within specification.

The newest Saginaw box I have service information for readily at hand is from my old AMC Eagle's factory service manual. It's probably close to what's in the XJ. Aside from the worm gear and pitman shaft preload specs it contains the following warnings:

"Caution: Gears must be adjusted exactly as outlined in Steering Gear Adjustment. Failure to adhere to the recommended procedures may result in gear damage or improper steering response. ... Because of the complexity involved in adjusting worm bearing preload and pitman shaft overcenter drag torque plus the friction effect produced by hydraulic fluid, the power steering gear must be adjusted off the automobile only."

Of course it's best to check the procedure specified in the service manual for your year XJ.

 

^Thank You for posting that info. Complicated and involved with possibility of dangerous consequences, that is why I always advise against it.

 

I will admit that in the past I and others I knew would tweak the pitman shaft adjuster at the top of these boxes to get some of the slop out. Bad idea, but invariably this was done on an old $50 junker (yes, you could get a running car for that much!) on its last legs to get a little more time out of it on its way to the junkyard. But really the adjustments on these steering boxes are finicky and shouldn't be messed on a vehicle you want to keep and use on a regular basis unless you're going to do the factory-specified procedure.

 

Rambler65, perhaps you could offer some advise.

 

About all I can think of is if it's known how much the adjustment was moved, put it back as close to the way it was originally as possible. If it's a new or rebuilt box it should have been set up properly at the factory.

 

Doesn't sound like it was properly rebuilt, IMHO

 

First time post, didn't have no luck with the searches, I have a rusty 2000 xj 4 door, 6cly. a/t, 231 transfer case, with a hack & tap. mild lift, 8.25 rear axle. I picked up a 94 xj 2 dr. no rust, 6 cyl. a/t 231 transfer case, dana 35 axle. I want to swap transfer case, drive shaft, axles, springs. I see no problems swapping axles. my question is will the transfer cases bolt up to the transmissions? will the speed o meters plug and play? I'd like to do a complete swap truck to truck so I can sell the 2000. Thanks Bruiser

 

That's quite possible, rebuilt parts run the gamut from "like new" to "junk."

Back in the day with the older steering boxes the rule of thumb we used is that if the box was turning free with no binding the adjustment at least wasn't going to trash anything internally. I don't know if that's really the case or not. But if the OP is satisfied with the way it's set up now and there's no obvious issues maybe it would be best just to leave it the way it is. The only way to really be sure would be to pull the steering box off the vehicle and go through the entire adjustment procedure.

 

Has anyone used the copied Lund sun visors or the copied Bush Wacker's wheel molding made in Poland. The pictures on E-bay aren't very clear.

 

Tomorrow I start the process to replace my Freeze Plugs. 2 on the side are leaking.

Question. Do I need to drain the radiator?


If not, how much antifreeze can I expect to drain when I pull the drain plugs.

RSWiser

 

..... yes. Almost all will come out when you Pull the plugs

 

BRASS!

 

3.73s were only on the metric tonne packages right?

Check your intermediate shaft. There's a rubber vibration damper that is vulcanized into the collar towards the firewall. Get someone to help you turn the wheel while you watch the shaft. If it's anything like what mine was doing, you'll see the part of the shaft before that collar move more than the rest of it.