good choice , i run that same box, easily pushes my 35's around w/ no hydro. even w/ 10 lbs in them. expensive ? yes , worth it ? yes. its only money , i can make some more.
When you replace your box, look at the steering shaft near the firewall. There is a rubber coupler and on two of my jeeps that had worn and created a large amount of slop in my steering similar to what you are describing.
It is made of rubber with 4 metal inserts through which the bolts that attaches the upper link to the lower link passes. It is used in place of a 'U' (universal) joint. The various pieces of shafts are not in alignment. The rubber compensates much like a U joint. The early XJ's had rubber. My 1996 have two U joints.
It is made of rubber with 4 metal inserts through which the bolts that attaches the upper link to the lower link passes. It is used in place of a 'U' (universal) joint. The various pieces of shafts are not in alignment. The rubber compensates much like a U joint. The early XJ's had rubber. My 1996 have two U joints.
You keep mentioning the effort is not an issue,. I see no need to replace the box with a more expensive unit.
Are you absolutely certain the slop isn't in the couplings in the steering system? There's two universal joints, and a half dozen or more other joints involved in the system.
First thing you need to do is spend some time on your back, or with a video camera rigged under the vehicle while driving (this is where those $40 knockoff GoPros absolutely are worth their weight in gold). Attach it, then aim it at each of the joints and go for a drive. See if anything is moving that shouldn't.
Possible suspects:
all the TREs
trackbar
pitman splines
output shaft nut torque
output shaft bearing
rack adjustment inside the box.
If it were mine and a DD, I'd get another box out of the junkyard and send it off for a professional rebuild, if I didn't have the proper tools (I do). Get it back, swap it out, and worry no more.
When you replace your box, look at the steering shaft near the firewall. There is a rubber coupler and on two of my jeeps that had worn and created a large amount of slop in my steering similar to what you are describing.
Pretty sure this should be a steel ujoint at each end. I know when I upgraded the steering on my S10 (to get rid of said coupler), I used an XJ shaft and it worked a treat.
EDIT: didn't realize the very early XJs had a rag joint. This is most definitely a distinct possibilty for the slop! Gonna suck if this guy just spent $800 on a steering box to replace the perfectly good $50 junkyard pull and still didn't get rid of the slop for want of a $40 later-model XJ shaft.
No, I have utterly no idea what the "engineer" that came up with that was smoking. Must have been some good stuff, and I'm NOT into that sort of thing.
One of the stupidest bits of "engineering" I've ever seen.
It is pretty easy to tell if it is problematic. With the jeep not running, have someone turn the steering wheel about 2-3" back and forth. You'll either see the steering shaft at the steering box move with the input, or there will be a delayed input with less rotation because the coupler is worn and absorbing some of the rotation. Hope this helps.
It is pretty easy to tell if it is problematic. With the jeep not running, have someone turn the steering wheel about 2-3" back and forth. You'll either see the steering shaft at the steering box move with the input, or there will be a delayed input with less rotation because the coupler is worn and absorbing some of the rotation. Hope this helps.
Toyotas tend to have a rag joint. My 93 and 94 Cherokees have the steering shaft I linked and there is a rubber coupler housed inside the ID of the metallic piece below the upper u-joint in the pic. Its closest to the firewall.
Toyotas tend to have a rag joint. My 93 and 94 Cherokees have the steering shaft I linked and there is a rubber coupler housed inside the ID of the metallic piece below the upper u-joint in the pic. Its closest to the firewall.
OK, that's a vibration damper, but *not* a rag joint.
It's a hard bushing, intended to abate NVH. But the off-axis rotation is handled by the ujoint.
A rag joint, does both jobs- abates NVH transfer, AND transfers torque off-axis.
Might seem a pedantic point, but it's a very important one. Kind of like swaybar vs trackbar. The words are often used interchangeably, though they are not interchangeable by any means, and doing so confuses the issue.
Be careful doing that, too tight can cause the box to bind and/or wear more rapidly.
Adjusting the two sets of bearing is best done on a bench, using the FSM's proceedure.
It's a delicate adjustment.
They do- IF you don't swap out the regulator valve assembly to one from an XJ.
This is why the WJ pump upgrade is so hit-or-miss among folks. They don't research PS pumps enough to know how they operate, and try to just swap over the unmodified WJ pump.
