| Ok,
this is the start of the first task that I knew had to
be done when I purchased this Jeep. The steering has a
dangerous amount of play in it. You can turn the
steering wheel almost a 1/4 turn before there is any
movement in the tires. With the Jeep idling you can
reach in and turn the steering intermediate shaft and
see that there is no movement in the pitman arm. I
decided that if I was going to do this I would replace
the intermediate steering shaft, power steering gear box
and hoses, all the tie rod ends as I will be running 31
X 10.50 X 15 tires. I
purchased all "Crown" steering components. The Jeep
Forum was a little down on "Crown" quality, so I
relented, and purchased all Moog tie rod ends. I will
compare the quality of the two companies products and
return the weak stuff. So here goes. |
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New parts and lots of PB Blaster. As I will soon learn
there are never enough new parts to finish a task.
Something I should already know from past projects. |
| Man
that is tight, I'm thinking I will have to remove some
stuff to get to the power steering lines. Below are the
before shots. |
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| In
preparation I started to soak up all the lines and bolts
two days before hand, when I say soak I really soaked
these things. |
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| As I
needed to remove the power steering lines and I wanted
to remove the Stainless Steel braid off of the radiator
hoses I decided it would be a good idea to remove the
radiator. This provided great access to the top of the
power steering box. I also found that the side brace on
the radiator was completely separated from the radiator,
and as there is some green corrosion on the bottom tank
I will be purchasing a new radiator. |
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| With
the radiator remove, the lines, tie rods, and gear box
came out with only a little effort. |
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I did break one bolt off.
Interestingly it did not snap off flush with the frame.
I will try soaking it again with the PB Blaster and then
some heat on the frame and a pair of vise grips tomorrow
and see if I cannot twist it out. A little precaution
with the blue tipped wrench got it out.
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I carried all the parts down
stairs for preparation to install them. I am totally
incapable of just bolting parts on, I always have to
play with them first. |
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Parts to be installed, steering gear box,, from Crown,
but made for Crown by AGR (MB Motorsports), Crown tie
rod kit, also purchased Moog Tie rod ends, Crown P/S
Hoses, Heavy Duty intermediary steering colum and a
SPECTRA PREMIUM Part # CU583 15-7/8"
Between Tanks; Heavy Duty Cooling purchased
through RockAuto. |
| I'm
not so sure how heavy duty it is as the upper universal
joint is certainly not as heavy duty as the stock one
is, but they have eliminated the lower "rag" joint. I
will keep an eye on this, but as this will be a daily
driver with little off road use I will install it. |
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I compared the Crown tie rod
ends to the Moog and decided to use the Moog one. I did
keep the steering knuckle to steering knuckle crown kit
to use the link as the one in the Jeep was bent |
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The new steering box looks ok,
they did do a repair on one of the ears, but the welding
that was done was excelent. |
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The Crown hoses were almost an exact match, only a very
small amount of twicking was necessary to get them to
fit just right |
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Off comes the Pitman arm |
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As I said before I just cannot leave any part untouched.
Here we see every part that can be powder coated, powder
coated. What I could not powder coat I painted |
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Steering box and brackets reassembled |
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Heavy Duty intermediary steering colum installed |
| The
Crown Power Steering lines were a pleasent surprise and
fit very well. |
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I'm not sure this radiator fit as
well. There seems to be a large gap at the front and the
fan shroud I purchased did not fit. |
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In the process of this install I remove a lot of hoses
that the previous owner had installed with stainless
steel braiding over. Not all has been removed as yet as
I have to do the heater upgrade. |
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This project is almost done. I need to get it to an
alignment shop now. |
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