steering locking up

the jeep sat for a couple hours and when i tried to drive it away the steering locked up, nearly impossible to turn the wheel. after about 10 freaky minutes it went back to completely normal.

a quick check underneath, everything is tight, certainly nothing obvious....the ps fluid is good, hoses are good...for the record the jeep has never done this before, i installed an RE 4.5" 2 weeks ago with no previous issues

any suggestions? thanks...

edit: after reading a lot of old threads from a search, i was wondering what could make the power steering belt slip for a moment (i had just driven through a large puddle in the road before the steering stiffened up...could water make the belt slip for a sec?)

ferday said:

...could water make the belt slip for a sec?)

Click to expand...

Yep.

Sounds like the spool valve in the steering box is getting worn. Could possibly be belt slippage, but then I'd expect a lot of racket from the belt.