Took 2 days to work through this thread. Great read and sub'd!

 

Got a few updates so lets get started....

My steering box has been leaking from the input for quite some time, and a little bit ago it developed a popping sound where i could see the sector shaft moving side to side. No good. I had ordered a rebuild kit from West Texas Offroad so i pulled the box to give it a shot.

**** SPOILER: I failed miserably at rebuilding the box ****

3 nights of swearing and sweating to get everything torn apart, cleaned, and put back together with the new seals, bearings, and orings. Put it back in the truck, primed it fine with no leaks. Sweet! Connected the wheels back up and started backing out of the driveway, and shot PS fluid out of the sector shaft like a squirt gun. I think i know exactly what is wrong, and may tear it apart again one day to fix the double lip seal that must be broken...

So out came the box again, and i ran to the parts store and got a reman one. Bolted that up and works perfect.

So this post will be more as an informative "this is what it looks like and how it works post... I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE ATTEMPTING THIS PROJECT. Seriously. It was far too much of a pain to rebuild, and too many things that can go wrong during the rebuild leaving you with a useless steering box. Best leave it to guys who do the job all day long....


Anyways on to some pictures for those interested...

Here's the end cap for the input piston. It needs a special spanner tool to fit in the holes, which i didn't have...


So i made one out of some flat steel and a couple screws


Here is the small power piston and bearing assembly


Then out comes the worm gear and a bunch of ball bearings.


Cap comes off the top and the sector shaft gets lifted out. You can see the teeth it engages in the large power piston


Large power piston gets hammered out the other end. Sector shaft is next to it. Notice the metal tube thing the ball bearings ride in


Here's the rebuild kit from WTOR


Original sector shaft bearing on the right, new one on the left. Way more rollers on the new one


This was one of the failure points. It's the inner spool valve for the input piston. The broken o-ring is almost definitely what was causing my original leak.


The ball bearings are SLIGHTLY different sizes. They need to be alternated when inserted back into the box. There are 12 of each size.



Here's the box all back together



...too bad it didn't work as planned... It was a good learning experience though.

 

After putting the steering box in, I changed out a crispy passenger side ujoint, fixed some wiring issues, finished the last bit of seal sealing on my floors, mounted my fire extinguisher to the trans tunnel, and re-installed my CB with a new external speaker. I tried putting the console back in, but with no carpet it's at least 1/2" off the floor and looks retarded. Half the mounting points broke off anyways, so the plan now is to just make something custom....with cupholders.

Ujoint probably needed to be changed...never seen needle bearings disintegrate like that


Also took an angle grinder and did this...

SO much more room for activities!




DONE!

This past weekend was NAXJA's NAC-Fest at Rausch. I had a blast, and the jeep did awesome.

Didn't get many pictures of my own jeep though...this is the only one i managed to get.

 

Also went and bought a 231 linkage today off Boostwerks since he was having a sale. I'm not having shifting issues, but i can definitely hear it shaking around making noise under the truck.

This is it - $38 shipped. Not bad.




Also SERIOUSLY thinking about buying the DIY Mojave rear bumper from Dirtbound Offroad. I've had my eye on it for a while, and it's $100 off this week - makes it a measly $160 shipped. Pretty much a no brainer.

 

Nice having all that room next the engine isn't it?

Also been looking at DBO's Mojave DIY. Awesome bumper and you really cannot beat that price.

 

oh yea...installed my modified MORE steering brace as well

 

A chrome set of calipers, what's that all about?

 

A chrome set of calipers, what's that all about?

 

Yup... I just did that.... I just double posted.... hahaha

 

PLASTIC chrome. The sign of quality.

I borrowed it from my work...no idea where they bought them lol.

 

Just spent my whole day on and off reading this entire thread. Just wow. Awesome work and fantastic write-ups and information. Grade-A jeep owner and enthusiast. Subbed!

 

your brave tearing the a/c out. lol it gets way to hot for that down here

 

Feel any bit of difference with that brace?

Oh, and why you no regear yet?

 

Edit: Double post via internet fail.

 

Lol... can't be much worse than the one I bought from HF