I just put a new steering box on the jeep, and now the steering wheel doesn't come back to center by itself, the old box did, but there was tons of play, prompting me to replace it. My castor measures out to be 7 degrees, I used an angle finder to determine that, and used this method to find it: http://jeep-xj.info/HowtoAlignment.htm

my question is, could it possibly be a defective box? My jeep has a 5"-5.5" lift, adjustable uppers and lowers, and RC cad brackets....please help! Thanks!

 

Is it the same pitman arm and did you fill the the power steering system back up with fluid? If you answer yes to them, I would think it's a bad steering box

 

Yes, same arm, I flushed and bled the whole system...

 

Sounds to me like you got a bad box then. As long as you didn't change anything else in the process.

 

It doesn't come back to center when you're moving right? Or are you static?

 

I'm moving lol...come on now ; ) it will come back for about a 1/4-1/2 turn then stops..it almost feels like camber, but like it said, it didn't do that before I replaced the old box, and I have the camber and toe correct. I didn't mess with it last night, tonight I'll go home and double check my measurements, then start tearing it down...again smh

 

^ castor***

 

yup. bad box. where'd you get it from?

 

Autozone...I work there and got 30% off this past weekend, I couldn't beat the price, and it's a lifetime warranty....I know there are better boxes out there, but I'm only running 31s, and I don't plan on going any bigger than 32s...been there done that already, I want to keep this one a driver/mild weekend wheeler.

And it was a bad box...castor is at 7 degrees on the inner C's, 85 degrees if measured at the flat spot on the diff...drives like a new jeep now lol...

For all those running a 4.5"-5.5" lift with RC CAD brackets, set the lower arms at 16.5" and the uppers at 15"....the RC instructions are way off, they say 15" for the uppers, and 15.75" for the lowers. I've been screwing with this for a year, so I've got a ton of hours and frustration setting this thing up lol...