anthrax323
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- San Antonio, TX
(Background: 2001 XJ Sport. Running 265/75R16s (~31.5") on ~5" of lift. Stock inverted Y-link steering, except for a drop pitman arm (YJ I believe) and V8 ZJ tie rod.)
I've replaced my steering gear and pump at least 3 times each over the last 6 years due to leaks from aftermarket parts that simply suck. I've tried all the major parts houses, with the last parts being an A1-Cardone pump from Napa and whatever the house brand was at the time for Autozone on the gear, both purchased and installed ~3 years ago. They've both leaked slightly since day 1, but I was willing to deal with it... Until now.
When I installed the last pair, I went through 2 pumps back-to-back from Advance due to leaking shaft seals, along with another steering gear due to leaking sector shaft seals.
I have a filter installed on the return line, along with a second circuit in my transmission cooler set up as a power steering cooler.
What pisses me off about all this is that the only reason I even had to replace my factory steering gear (at around 180,000 miles) was because I sheared one of the mounting bolts off while installing a beefier steering gear spacer, as corrosion had fused the crappy factory aluminum spacer and the gear housing together (and I did the drop pitman arm since the OEM arm was also fused to the original gear shaft - broke 3 pullers trying to remove it).
So, I'm at a crossroads:
I've replaced my steering gear and pump at least 3 times each over the last 6 years due to leaks from aftermarket parts that simply suck. I've tried all the major parts houses, with the last parts being an A1-Cardone pump from Napa and whatever the house brand was at the time for Autozone on the gear, both purchased and installed ~3 years ago. They've both leaked slightly since day 1, but I was willing to deal with it... Until now.
When I installed the last pair, I went through 2 pumps back-to-back from Advance due to leaking shaft seals, along with another steering gear due to leaking sector shaft seals.
I have a filter installed on the return line, along with a second circuit in my transmission cooler set up as a power steering cooler.
What pisses me off about all this is that the only reason I even had to replace my factory steering gear (at around 180,000 miles) was because I sheared one of the mounting bolts off while installing a beefier steering gear spacer, as corrosion had fused the crappy factory aluminum spacer and the gear housing together (and I did the drop pitman arm since the OEM arm was also fused to the original gear shaft - broke 3 pullers trying to remove it).
So, I'm at a crossroads:
- Go down this stupid effing path of warranty replacements (yet again) on the parts I have.
- Order an OEM Mopar pump and gear (~$500 total with wholesale discount at my local dealership).
- Consider some aftermarket upgrades/options that don't suck and leak. All I can really imagine would be the PSC stock-replacement pump setup (which is described as being "built and blueprinted to OEM specs"), which would only save me about $20 over OEM.