Serenity is ready for her steering repair and upgrade. How do I know this? She puked out what little power steering fluid remained a few days ago while sitting still in the driveway (engine had been off for about a day).

Got the new (rebuilt) Durango Steering Gearbox.

Got a Pitman Arm puller.

Got brand new high and low pressure hoses.

Got an inline filter to put on the low pressure hose.

Got a new (rebuilt) Power Steering Pump with reservoir. This arrived without a pulley already installed. More on this in a moment.

Got a C-Rok Gearbox Spacer plate.

Got a shiny new Torque Wrench (50-200 ft. lbs.)

AND...

Got NO IDEAhow to remove the pulley from the old pump and install it on the new one!

Page 145 of the 2000 Cherokee Service Manual shows two tools being used in this process. The first looks like a simply pulley removal tool being used to remove the pulley from the shaft.

The other one I haven't seen before. It is simply identified as SPECIAL TOOL C-4063-B and is used to seat and secure the pulley on the new shaft.

How did y'all accomplish removing/installing the pulley? This spontaneous upgrade has tapped us out $ wise. Calling the Jeep dealer and asking about special tool c-4063-b resulted in a bunch of "I don't know what that is" responses, and yes- I told them specifically what it is used for.

So how did you install the pulley on the replacement pump?

What size is the stock nut securing the pitman arm to the gearbox? All of my wrenches and sockets are either too small or way too big. Granted, I don't have all sizes in the range (seems to be slightly larger than 1 inch).

Will that nut work on the Durango gearbox or do I need to buy another one from a Dodge dealer?

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and that 2017 will be exponentially better for all of us than 2016 was.

 

there is a special tool for removing & installing the pulley, you can rent it or just take the pumps to a shop & have them do it , wouldnt cost much i would think.

 

Pitman arm nut is 1 5/16.

The pully is a pain in the butt. Call around your local mechanics and see if someone has the tool and would just swap it over for you.

 

Much to my chagrin, nobody... nobody in this area carries a 1 5/16 socket. Thankfully, a friend who is a master mechanic loaned me (and he never loans tools) a 3/4 inch drive set with appropriate sockets. He also had the set for removing and installing pulleys and loaned that to me as well.
Now I just need someone to take photos - LOL

 

33mm will also work, but those are harder to find that 1 5/16

You can find them pretty cheap on amazon so next time you have to pull the pitman arm you won't have to borrow sockets.

 

Got everything off. Had to take the old and rebuilt pumps to a garage for the pulley swap. I could NOT budge that damned pulley off that shaft. Getting ready to put all the new stuff in tonight. Temps in the high 20's.
Brrr.

 

How'd it go?

 

It's been COLD here and I just finished everything last night. Took her out into the driveway (we live in the country and have a HUGE driveway) for some tight turns, 3 point turns, etc., and then down to the pond and back.

I can't really tell if I have lost any turning radius but some weirdness did happen- it's a Jeep, right?

The durango box bolted right in with the C-Rok plate without issues and the pitman arm slid right on the durango box.

Although the paperwork that came with the gearbox states that the shafts should not be rotated prior to installation because the gearbox arrives from the factory already centered, I had to turn the steering input shaft 180 degrees because the flat spot on the gearbox input shaft was on the bottom, but on the steering shaft it was on the top. The steering wheel was tied off so I had to rotate the gearbox shaft. This caused the pitman arm to move slightly towards the passenger side.

Once I installed the rebuilt power steering pump I tried to burp the system before attaching the drag link.

Steering from lock to lock with the Jeep off and the drag link not attached, there is a "tight" spot just as one passes through "straight ahead". It takes noticeably more effort even after re-attaching the drag link and with the engine on.

Once the fluid would not settle any more, I started the Jeep and followed the next steps in the service manual. After a few moments, there was a huge bubble, followed by all the fluid being sucked out of the reservoir and heavy foaming. This only happened twice. I would definitely recommend having someone turning the wheel for you as you hover over the reservoir adding fluid.

Re-attached everything easily and then repeated the burp with the engine running and the whole system connected (from the tires back to the steering wheel).

Steering while giving the Jeep throttle is fine, but steering at very low throttle or no throttle is like steering an old manual steering vehicle. There is little or no assist from the power steering system.

There is no whining or screeching so I think I was able to get all of the air out of the system.

It snowed here last night, but still going to try to road test it today by going into town and back.

I took photos, and will do a more detailed write up of the process at some point, but those two issues are causing me concern:

1. The tighter area within the steering range that falls dead center.

2. The apparent loss of power assist at little or no throttle, such as would be encountered in parking lots.

 

Power loss is worse.

Now I have ZERO power steering assist at trail speed, and have to rev up to about 2,000 RPMs to start feeling any assist.

 

Took the new (rebuilt) pump out, swapped the pulley back onto the original, 16 year old, worn out pump and installed.

Bled the system which went differently this time as there was no big burp. No foaming.

When I started her up to finish bleeding the air out, I had one finger steering on concrete.

Drove around the driveway and still had one finger steering.

Drove on the road and had NO power steering under 1,700 rpms after about 1 mile. Still don't have any power steering under about 1,700 rpms.

Tried re-bleeding, but no burps, no foam... no power either.

Not sure what the problem could be. The gearbox turns very easily when the drag link is disconnected.

I have not been able to find out how much of a pressure difference there is between the OEM gearbox requirement and the durango gearbox requirement for operation.

Debating if I should just return everything (gearbox and pump) and just order a rebuilt xj gearbox, or see if the $230 PSC pump is strong enough.

Ideas?

 

May have a bad rebuilt box, which is not too uncommon. You've ruled out the pump, but not the box.

 

Sending the gearbox back.

Sending the pump back.

Just bought a PSC pump and am waiting on it to arrive.

Have to box up the gearbox and wait for the replacement to arrive.

 

That's one downside to buying reman components.

 

Bummer, sad to hear your issue hasn't been resolved yet. My third gearbox from rockauto finally worked for me. A-1 Cardone. Almost no resistance at center. Although - my engine still isn't in so I guess I can't say 100% it's fixed.

 

Honestly, tired of screwing with it. Bought the PSC pump because it's 100% brand new.

Still have 4 new shocks to put on, and a new stabilizer, AND a new steering gearbox stabilizer.

Then on to a tune up with new plugs, maybe a new coil bar, new hoses, and already have a new belt waiting to go on.

REALLY looking forward to being done with this for a while!