Saginaw tech?

[Oil can]

I have a couple questions.....

I purchased a rebuilt 97 Durango steering box for the jeep as an upgrade. The thing I noticed after installing it is the lower sector shaft has a substantial amount of play. The box is better than the old one but the rig still darts all over the road. After doing some reading I found some people stepped up to a heavy duty sector shaft needle bearing and had great results... Question is, where can you get such a thing and what have other people done to remedy a similar problem? Hell or high water this rig will drive nice some day.

 

[JayH]

Have you tried Red Head in Seattle?

 

[Oil can]

No. never heard of it.

 

[Glenn]

http://www.redheadsteeringgears.com/

 

[Oil can]

Thanks for the heads up Glenn. I will give them a call.:awesomework:

 

[TreeClimber]

I have a couple questions.....

I purchased a rebuilt 97 Durango steering box for the jeep as an upgrade. The thing I noticed after installing it is the lower sector shaft has a substantial amount of play. The box is better than the old one but the rig still darts all over the road. After doing some reading I found some people stepped up to a heavy duty sector shaft needle bearing and had great results... Question is, where can you get such a thing and what have other people done to remedy a similar problem? Hell or high water this rig will drive nice some day.

The rig darting all over the road doesn't sound like a bad sector shaft.
I'd look at alignment issues, loose tie rod ends/worn heim joints, or bad tires.

I also have an extra 97 Durango steering box, and it didn't have any free play.

Also, a steering stabilizer will help, as will ram assist.

 

[Oil can]

steering is all new knuckle over one ton setup with an anti rock bushing to take out most of the y link dead spot. i have tried many alignment combos with no change to the dartyness.

the one place i am seeing movement is the lower sector shaft. its walking back and forth... i want that play gone! once i carve that off the list i will move on to steering stabilizers. imo the stabilizer at this point only makes the task of finding the problem more dificult. once the issues have been remedied i will ad one.

 

[WHITE TRASH1]

The sector shaft physically moves side to side or the sector shaft twists side to side making the steering sloppy? If the latter is the issue adjust the backlash in the box by loosening the jam nut on top of the box and turning the adjustment screw in a bit at a time until the slop is gone.

 

[Oil can]

It actually walks back and forth at the base.

 

[zukkev]

I still think it needs more toe-in, and the ball joints should snug things up abit as well......but yeah, yer motor's blown so...:fawkdancesmiley:
:redneck:

 

[jimpaget]

Tess is letting you deal with these kind of issues right now? Shouldn't you be trying on tuxes or such?

 

[junkyard jim]

steering is all new knuckle over one ton setup with an anti rock bushing to take out most of the y link dead spot. i have tried many alignment combos with no change to the dartyness.

the one place i am seeing movement is the lower sector shaft. its walking back and forth... i want that play gone! once i carve that off the list i will move on to steering stabilizers. imo the stabilizer at this point only makes the task of finding the problem more dificult. once the issues have been remedied i will ad one.

Do you have any kind of anti-swaybar?

 

[thehippie]

I still think it needs more toe-in, and the ball joints should snug things up abit as well......but yeah, yer motor's blown so...:fawkdancesmiley:
:redneck:

yeah, blown motor...so just go full hydro. Not like it's a DD anyway.

Or just let me know if you're going to go the Redhead route...All of our replacements come from them.

 

[zukkev]

He's got it figured out...Ended up being a combination of the aformentioned stuff, coupled by not enough Caster. It's on the list of things to fix after last week! :redneck: