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Blew a hole in my power steering gear box cap

jwtrapper

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Wetmore, CO
Well I just got the jeep back on the road about 2 weeks ago and I broke it again. I blew a hole in the cap of the power steering box. I run a durango box with a grand cherokee pump. I am running a modified stock (xj) pressure valve in the grand box. I was in a parking lot and turned and blew a hole in the front cap.

Is there a better cap that I can run? Anyone else have this problem? I did it on my way to work so right now its in a parking lot and I have not had a chance to mess with it. I'm guessing it was from to much pressure.
 
The problem is that the cap on the Grand Cherokee reservoir is not vented. Pressure differences in the system through out the range can cause problems, especially if you run an assist ram. I blew the reservoir itself. The key is to vent the cap with a small hole or better yet, run an external vented reservoir.
 
your talking the resivor cap right? is the stock xj res cap vented? im running a wj pump, xj res cap (for some reason the pump didnt come with one so i used my old one) durrango steering box. no issues yet. i did notice some fluid on the top of the res and im not sure if it is from a worn cap or from a vent in the cap.

long story short- see if you can find a vented cap if im understanding everything correctly
 
No not the cap on the power steering pump but the end cap on the power steering gear box.

P-18505.jpg
The nice rounded cap on the end of this thing. Mine now has a nice hole in it.
 
In my 50 years of wrenching, I have never seen this happen.

Did you shim the pump for more pressure? The WJ pump normally has a higher flow/pressure, but not that much.
 
I did modify an older XJ pressure regulator and put in the WJ pump. I didn't get crazy with it though. No more that what I have done in the past that work well. I think what I am going to go with is one of these.
steering_004.jpg


I will just plug the hole and run it. This one from DIY4X is only $30 and should be a lot stronger than the stock one that busted. I might put in a stock xj regulator also and see how it works that way I don't blow anything else apart. I have been fighting power steering issues for 2 years now and want to be done with it.
 
I did the same thing on my brothers blazer. When it spit the cap, it also cracked the housing down near the cap. He had modded the pump and apparently the pressure was just too much. Bad part was, it happened while we were in the middle of the Dusy Ershim trail wheeling alone. Locked one ton axles, 39's and a 6k truck don't like to turn without power, but we managed to get it out.
 
I did modify an older XJ pressure regulator and put in the WJ pump. I didn't get crazy with it though.

The evidence points to the contrary. These things just don't crap out without a reason. A new cap will most likely not solve the problem.
 
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