steering upgrades

[pissed and broke]

HI
I have been hearing about an upgrade to the steering using the coloum from
a jeep wrangler, has anyone done this ? is it an easy mod ? what about the steering box can any one recomend a better box than the standard one
thanks in advance

 

[tRustyK5]

I think the upgrade you're thinking of is the Jeep Cherokee (otherwise known as an XJ...)steering shaft which uses U-joints at both ends rather than the rag joint found on our trucks.

Steering boxes are usually quite good, although like anything they do wear out. Most often scary steering/handling is caused by things other than the box itself.

In no particular order:

Frame cracked at steering box...box 'moves' with steering input
Loose steering box bolts...box 'moves', often leads to frame cracking
Worn drag link ends...drag link is sloppy and doesn't transfer steering input correctly.
Worn Tie rod ends...sloppy/weird handling issues
Backlash on box may need adjusting...this should be the very last step. This is an area where it's easy to do more harm than good, and it's pretty rare for the box to be out of adjustmant.

It's best to get a helper to cycle the steering left to right and back repeatedly while you closely watch each component. It will not take long to find where the problem is...and most problems are easy to fix.

Rene

 

[sweetk30]

try one of these . http://www.offroaddesign.com/catalog/steeringkit.htm

then the xj shaft works good to. there is a write up in hear. but you not being a member might not be able to read it. its a full install write up. step by step.