PS question

Will Honea did pass the time by typing:

Usually it's a hose and most often the return line. A leak in the pressure line will spray fluid all over the place. Leaks can happen in the O ring between the fluid reservoir and the pump.

Your going to have to get in there and wipe everything down and clean it up, top off the fluid and idle it for a bit. Then go back and find your leak.

I got same problem today. I wiped everything down and now I know I have a leak where the steering arm enters the gear box. I am turning 36" tires on dana 44 front axle with the original 24 year old gear box. I need advice on what gear box to replace with to get a better turning radius with my full width axles.

Will H> Thanks, Doug. At least things are a little more accessible with the

HomeBrewer did pass the time by typing:

Haven't done one of those, just the pump and hoses.

Good for pics:

Toys.

:)

Your existing gearbox is likely the best one out there!

All the newer ones are made cheap and fail fast, like the TJ one. It pukes out all the time and the the oldest ones are only from 97!

Putting a kit into your gearbox is pretty easy to do and is best done on the bench. You can change the adjuster plug seal by leaving everything connected to the box and just lowering it a bit for room.

The turning radius is usually controlled by the steering stop adjustable bolts or by the tire size limit when it hits fenders or springs. The bolts are in the fronts of the steering knuckles and hit the axle tube when turned all the way. Or they should hit before the tires do anyway....

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

HomeBrewer wrote:

OK, radius wasn't what I was searching for it just sounded right. What I meant to improve was the travel? I now turn my steering wheel 3 turns to make wheels move a full lock - I would like to turn my steering wheel

1.5 times to full lock - is this possible with a different gear box?

Different question. You can probably find just about any ratio you want, but that may involve fitting a completely new gear box with all the problems that entails. One thing to consider: if you have power steering (and I assume you do - or have arms like a gorilla) you are going to be putting a whole lot more stress on the gear box and PS pump/hoses. You don't cut the mechanical advantage in half without penalty. I know some Jeeps that already have problems with steering gear mounts and have to beef them up even with the stock gear. You could also gain the same advantage with a longer arm on your present box, but I would pretty much bet that doing so would kill the box in short order. Just moving 36's is a huge increase in stress over "stock" all by itself.

Well as they sit stock, you need to beef up the frame to steering box connections for 36" tires or the box will tear loose.

You then want to more than 'double' this stress on the frame?

Then you also have the steering column u-joint. It will wear out fast with the large tires and a stock box with the impact of the tires on rocks. I don't know what physics says about the stress multiplication of having the same rock hit on the tire forcing the steering wheel to bounce twice as far or if you are holding it, well....

I wouldn't do it.

That said, there are different ratio boxes available. I would check out Saganaw themselves if possible for different applications.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's