How many balls in a Saginaw box?

vetteboy · Oct 30, 2006

I had a slight...accident while drilling/tapping my steering box for hydro assist. Didn't realize that the spiral drive gear would fall out that easily and this led to all those stupid little recirculating balls going all over.

How many of these are there supposed to be in a box from an XJ? I recovered 22, which is the right amount for an older Scout II box. I saw one place on the internet that says a YJ one had 24, but I can't confirm this anywhere else.

Always a bummer when a one-hour project gets turned into a two-day ordeal... :smsoap:

xjwheeler · Oct 30, 2006

I just did mine a few weeks back and I had 24 ball bearings. The box is out of an 86 xj

vetteboy · Oct 30, 2006

xjwheeler said:
I just did mine a few weeks back and I had 24 ball bearings. The box is out of an 86 xj

Bummer. Not what I wanted to hear. Hopefully they're still stuck in the recirculating passage somewhere...

BrettM · Oct 30, 2006

i hate those damn balls.

22 sounded right until you said 24... i don't remember at all.

be sure to alternate shiny/dark when you put them back in.

xjj33p3r · Oct 30, 2006

Does the order in which you put them back in matter? As in, shiny/dark, or dark/shiny?

vetteboy · Oct 30, 2006

xjj33p3r said:
Does the order in which you put them back in matter? As in, shiny/dark, or dark/shiny?

No, because they make a continuous loop.

xjj33p3r · Oct 30, 2006

Nice diagram. Thanks

vetteboy · Oct 30, 2006

The difference in size between the two balls is 0.0005".

Does that half a thousandth really do something? What are the effects if you get two switched?

xjj33p3r · Oct 30, 2006

One guy on Pirate noted that he screwed an entire box by getting the sizes wrong when reinstalling them.

nhrocker · Oct 31, 2006

vetteboy said:
The difference in size between the two balls is 0.0005".

Does that half a thousandth really do something? What are the effects if you get two switched?

The effects are BAD.

I've got a YJ box sitting torn apart on my bench that's now shot because the balls weren't in the correct order. The guy I got if off of thought it was reassembled correctly after he tapped it, but during the first test there was a bang from the box and the steering wheel spun free. I grabbed it off of him with hopes of rebuilding it to use myself, but as soon as I opened it up I knew it wasn't going to work. Some of the balls were actually shattered and the shaft that they spiraled around is chewed up and has chunks missing. I'm not saying this is the guaranteed result, but I wouldn't risk it.

vetteboy · Oct 31, 2006

Doesn't really matter at this point...only recovered 23 out of 24. The other one is MIA.

Steering box v2.0 tomorrow I guess. Of course now that we're down an hour of daylight I will probably end up pulling it in the dark.

rocklandxjer · Oct 31, 2006

vetteboy said:
The difference in size between the two balls is 0.0005".

Does that half a thousandth really do something? What are the effects if you get two switched?

If it didnt do you think they would have manufactured two different types of balls?? just a thought:wierd:

xj4life · Oct 31, 2006

rocklandxjer said:
If it didnt do you think they would have manufactured two different types of balls?? just a thought:wierd:

i have no idea how the design works, but two different balls, any engineer knows that is a horrible design.

vetteboy · Oct 31, 2006

rocklandxjer said:
If it didnt do you think they would have manufactured two different types of balls?? just a thought:wierd:

Nah I know it does. Mostly just me being an asshole about it. I'd guess it's to give space for the oil/lube film to get built up again in between the load-bearing balls.

lilredwagn · Oct 31, 2006

vetteboy said:
Nah I know it does. Mostly just me being an asshole about it. I'd guess it's to give space for the oil/lube film to get built up again in between the load-bearing balls.

I do not think I have seen a sentence begging to be reinterpreted this much in quite some time.

How many balls in a Saginaw box?

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