J20 Steering Box

Is there anyone here that has successfully mounted up and running a true J20 steering box?

I am in the middle of the install right now and was wondering if anyone else has done it. I am trying to figure out what others have done to get the steering shaft to fit the larger 13/16" input shaft on the box.

I hope to have this finished by tomorrow so I can get my jeep back on the road once again.

The box is the same size as the Durango box that I pulled off but its a 4 turn lock to lock rather than the 3 turn of the Durango.

Are you certain the input shaft is larger? The box in my J10 was swapped with an S10 box and everything was the same and I know J10 and J20 boxes are direct swaps.

The j20's have a larger input shaft. They are different than the J10 boxes. I wish it was the same size I would have had it in and running yesterday.

Well it is now on and running and I must say it is AWESOME!!!!!!

It's the best of both worlds; you get the 4 turn lock to lock like the YJ box and the big piston of the durango box. It took a little bit of work to get it all in but it was worth it.

I'll have some pictures that I will post up after I get off of work.

The break down.

J20 Box: $120 (reman)
flare nut fitting: $2 (junk yard high pressure side)
flare nut Fitting: $4 (napa low pressure side)
J20 rag joint steering shaft: $5 (junk yard)
jeep steering shaft: $5 (Junk yard)

So for $136 I now have what I want for steering. Better than the $180 that I spent on the Durango box that I didn't like.

I was thinking about this mod for a while. Is it the same 4 bolt mount as the YJ?? I wanted to use JCR's YJ mounting bracket.

Where did you get the J20 box from?

It is the same 4 bolt mount as the YJ. I got the box from a local automotive chain store, it was $99 and $16 shipping. They cut me a deal on it but I think it lists for around $130.

The box on the left is the J20 box the one on the right is my busted Durango box



This is what happens when you boost your power steering pressure too much.


The shaft on the bottom is my stock steering shaft with the original coupler removed. The one on the top is a shaft that I picked up at the salvage yard. I kept the yoke and cut off the shaft. I later removed the u-joint and coupler from it.



This is an original coupler off of a J20. This bolts to the rag joint on the stock steering shaft of the J20. I didn't want to run a rag joint.


Bolted up. It is 13/16" 36 spline



I made a piece that bolts to the coupler and welded it to the yoke that I cut off of the salvage yard xj shaft.



It's all bolted together and works like a charm.



I had to use flare fittings instead of the o-ring fittings. On the low pressure side it is a 3/8" flare fitting with a hose barb. On the high pressure side I cut the o-ring piece off of the line. I then removed the fitting and tossed it. I then slid a 7/8 flare fitting over the 3/8" line. (You can pull these off of any pre 80's saginaw box.) Then I used a double flare tool to make the flared end and bolted it up for a test fit. Works great.

wow man great write up! Definitely gonna do this soon, really hate the variable ratio stock box. Really appreciate the pictures.

do you have the part number for the J20 box that you used?

Cardone 27-6529 When you get it check and make sure that it's a 4 turn box and it has the larger input shaft to be sure that it is a true J20 box.

So you reused the U-joints from the xj shaft? Also, for anyone planning on doing this the 80+ J20s had the metric fittings so you won't have to cut your lines to flare them.

$196 for a 1980+ box
$116 for the pre 80's box and $6 for fittings

Thats why I went with the pre 80's

Yes I reused the U-joint from the XJ shaft