Is the stock steering pump and box enough?

Well the 2nd Lares box is almost perfect. I does have the tiniest spot in the middle but no large play or clunk.. if it was any tighter I might be bouncing back and forth in my lane making tiny adjustments on the highway. It moves nice and easy, smoothly and quietly!


Thanks for the input and a place to store this for future reference !

OutkastBoss said:

Well the 2nd Lares box is almost perfect. I does have the tiniest spot in the middle but no large play or clunk.. if it was any tighter I might be bouncing back and forth in my lane making tiny adjustments on the highway. It moves nice and easy, smoothly and quietly!


Thanks for the input and a place to store this for future reference !

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Awesome you got it fixed. I went full retard and replaced all steering components and the first thing was the steering shaft from the wheel to the box. The joints and the rubber on it from 93 where pretty toast at about 210,000 miles.

Just thought I'd mention that if you have overlooked it eace:

Thanks Mauler, mine seems nice and tight but I did consider replacing it. The trip went well and the steering has been working great. It does groan a bit sometimes when turning sharp left but not all the time. Not sure why it makes that noise but it sure works better!

Mine kinda makes that "groaning" noise turning left as well; also feel a vibration through the steering wheel, like a cell phone on vibrate. It's very intermittent, but occurs under almost the same conditions each time. I've ignored it for the most part bc it's so rare and the steering is a breeze.

By chance from a stop turning left soon as you increase throttle from idle, and also in the middle of a turn if you accelerate??

CarbonXJ said:

Mine kinda makes that "groaning" noise turning left as well; also feel a vibration through the steering wheel, like a cell phone on vibrate. It's very intermittent, but occurs under almost the same conditions each time. I've ignored it for the most part bc it's so rare and the steering is a breeze.

By chance from a stop turning left soon as you increase throttle from idle, and also in the middle of a turn if you accelerate??

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Sounds just like what mine does but I haven't had the Vibe happen with it yet.

I have a Lares box reman from RockAuto (from a Durango) and get that same groan and vibration that CarbonXJ was mentioning.

I'm in the process of sourcing an OEM replacement. I don't particularly care for the manners of that box.

I'm debating looking at another box, but honestly the Lares box drives really well. Steering is so light and easy! The groan happens rarely, so I'm not in a rush to swap; that and I'm poor lol. I'll try contacting the company and see if I can get some info for us, since several instances of the same event could mean some manufacturing aspect out of spec.

Cottontail said:

I have a Lares box reman from RockAuto (from a Durango) and get that same groan and vibration that CarbonXJ was mentioning.

I'm in the process of sourcing an OEM replacement. I don't particularly care for the manners of that box.

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With the current Lares "stock style" box it works great and has the stock "feel" to it. If it lasts I will probably just leave it. If it ever gets sloppy or anything I would probably Find a good oem one or shell out for the PSC one. Very happy with the PSC pump, I can turn the front end with the lockers engaged better than I ever could before.

My original one was fine but leaked at the sector shaft, Iron man has a new brace with a sector chaft brace add- on that might have prevented that. I want to add it to my rig later to promote longevity.

CarbonXJ said:

I'm debating looking at another box, but honestly the Lares box drives really well. Steering is so light and easy! The groan happens rarely, so I'm not in a rush to swap; that and I'm poor lol. I'll try contacting the company and see if I can get some info for us, since several instances of the same event could mean some manufacturing aspect out of spec.

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Sounds like we are in the same boat, lmk what they say!

CarbonXJ said:

Mine kinda makes that "groaning" noise turning left as well; also feel a vibration through the steering wheel, like a cell phone on vibrate

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Mine does this exactly. I find it strange that it only does it to the left. I've been planning to replace/upgrade but I'm not sure what direction to go. I was planning to do the Durango gear but then I read somewhere that I would lose some turning radius.

If you keep having issues with boxes, I hear you can send them out to PSC to be rebuilt for relatively cheap, as in far cheaper than buying a box from them

Okay! Sorry about the delay in getting back to the thread. Had a crazy month, but finally got in touch with a rep from Lares. I described the problem I'm having and this is where we stand in the diagnosis.

Lares Rep:
Ashley,

I appreciate the heads up on the issue!

The problem your describing is a sign that there is still air trapped in the system. We run these units hydraulically just as it would be on the vehicle. The left hand turn would send the ballnut to the top of the case (input side). Air gets trapped in the upper end of the gear, and is a real pain to get out. It’s a matter of how the gear mounts in the vehicle. The angle of it makes it really difficult to get all of the air out, even when bleeding it correctly.

Can you tell me what bleeding procedure you’re using? We have to bleed the system a specific way to get all the air out, but once we do there is no noise or vibration.

Me:
Hello Dan! Thank you for the quick reply! For my bleeding procedure, I lifted the front tires, filled the pump reservoir, let it gravity feed while I had a snack, then turned the steering wheel lock to lock with the engine off a good 30 times while watching the reservoir. I then cranked over the engine while adding fluid to reservoir so not to let it suck down. I don't see any aeration in the fluid but I'll check closely after work today. It drives great! Really made driving the Jeep nicer.

Lares Rep:
That might be part of the issue. Gravity bleeding works great for the larger air pockets, but the smaller ones that get trapped in that gear need pressure to push them through the system. However, you don’t want the vehicle to fire. The fluid exchange is too fast at that RPM once the engine is running, and it will pull any air coming through the return line right back through the system. With the ignition disabled (Coil pulled as you had it) crank the engine over again. This time turn a couple of inches each way, and add a couple of inches to your turn with each turn.

When you give your starter a break get out and check the reservoir. If there is any foaming or bubbling just walk away and let it dissipate. Once it’s back to calm fluid again start the bleeding process as I’ve described over. Once you’re able to go lock to lock while cranking the engine over without seeing any bubbles the system should be completely bled of air.

I’m willing to bet your problem goes away after that. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out.


That was Thursday, but I haven't been able to get the Jeep in the garage thanks to a wedding over the weekend, and now we have Hurricane Matthew giving SC the eye. I'll get out and RE-bleed the system this weekend, as I have to change the oil filter adapter O-rings as well. I'll reply back with the results and continued convo with the rep.

Mine a actually stopped groaning on its own not long after install, the air bubble must've worked itself out of the system.

The reason I am back now Is my Lares box blew its seals and bleeds all of the fluid out in short order. It has been just over a year which is RockAutos warranty. Lares has a warranty that may or may not apply but I don't have a lot of hope there.

I am now deciding on what to do again and I'd like it to be the final answer. We do like to play in the rocks and end up all bound up fighting the steering even only on 33's. There has been some talk about moving up to 35s now so Hydro assist has been brought up again.

We have the PSC (not big bore) Pump that is in great shape so one idea was to put a smaller pulley on it and get the PSC (non big bore) box.
Can you run the Big bore box with my current pump or would you need the big bore pump as well?

The other thought is to get strain off of the box one idea is to get the Iron man Fab brace that braces the box from the sector shaft to both unibody rails. The other is to get a box tapped for hydro assist and have less force being applied up there in the first place.

I have some research and pricing to do to make my decision but since the 1st Lares box had a bunch of Slop and the second blew its seals just out of warranty I wouldn't recomend them if you like to play in rocks.

For the price of a PSC box you can rebuild your stock box and go hydro.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=20532

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=55711

Back again and finally tried to fix my Jeep before Winterfest!

I know some in this thread have said they turn heavy 33s with one finger on the stock setup. I end up bound up in the rocks with both lockers on and the stock power really felt lacking.

Anyways we We ended up replacing the broken Lares box with a Blue top steering gear, we opted to add the Hydro assist ports in case we do go Hydro assist some day. While I was at it I got The Iron man steering brace to support the sector shaft. Hopefully it lasts a LOT longer than the Lares box did. We also swapped a smaller pulley onto the PSC SP1205c pump we got earlier in this thread.

Unfortunately after we got it all back together I am getting a pretty bad whine from the pump and it feels underpowered again. I think maybe we burnt up the pump because it was run dry when the broken Lares box was dumping out all of the fluid. I actually took it to a shop to maybe see if it needed bleeding or something and they said the pump is bad.

I am going to Send PSC an E-mail and see if they rebuild them, it is out of their one year warranty. It's like a $220-ish pump. In the meantime I may order a new one with a new filter and some swepco fluid. I used regular ps fluid because I couldnt find the swepco locally and wanted it all ready for Winterfest!