Durango steering box, tapped for hydro assist, messed up, patching holes question

So I am in the middle of rebuilding/installing a durango steering box and decided that while I had it apart I might as well drill/tap the box for hydro assist in case I want to add hydro assist later on down the road.

So lets just say it didn't quite work out as planned. I drilled and tapped the hose and to be honest I'm really not sure what happened. All I know is that in the end the threads on one of the holes got mangled somehow and I've decided to just give up on the hydro assist idea for the time being; the durango box with WJ pump should be enough for the driving/wheeling that I will be doing for now.

My question: Will patching the hole by welding a piece of scrap steel on the outside of the box cause any adverse fluid/flow issues for me? I realize that instead of having smooth channels for the fluid to flow there will be a hole/patch in one area which might cause some turbulence and not-so-ideal fluid flow, though I'm guessing if it's not moving TOO much fluid too fast that might that might not be an issue... but I figured I'd check with you guys first to be safe.

I doubt it would make much of a difference, the box works based on pressure more than flow. It's cast steel so make sure whomever welds it up knows how to work with the material and you should be fine.

Rather then weld up the hole, could you just re-drill/tap one size larger, and install a threaded plug? Probably be cheaper. also, when you do get around to the ram assist, a reducer fitting would be cheaper and easier then replacing the box(again).

that's what I was thinking. I'd drill and tap it for a 1/2 pipe plug and then later on you could just remove the plug and go from there.

I've been in contact BC with him. What happened is that he wasn't able to tap the shallow hole all the way and the tap was still on the taper. The plug couldn't fit in the not fully tapped hole. He is going to try bottom tapping, then trying a steel plug with a notch in the bottom to allow fluid flow across the hole from passage way to passage way. If that does not work, he will weld the plug.

Is it a pipe tap? If so what I've done where I work with a hole that's to shallow is to tap the hole and after you've tapped it as deep as you can, take an old tap and grind the last 3/8 of it off. Just make sure to deburr the end well. Then continue tapping with the shortened tap. If I remember right the plugs we use are only about 1/2 thick and they seat and seal about even with the top of the hole. Good luck man. I hope you get it staightened out.

vegeta said:

Is it a pipe tap? If so what I've done where I work with a hole that's to shallow is to tap the hole and after you've tapped it as deep as you can, take an old tap and grind the last 3/8 of it off. Just make sure to deburr the end well. Then continue tapping with the shortened tap. If I remember right the plugs we use are only about 1/2 thick and they seat and seal about even with the top of the hole. Good luck man. I hope you get it staightened out.

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Yes it is a pipe tap and that's exactly what we discussed (grinding a bit off the end of the tap).

The plugs I got are definitely thicker than 1/2" so maybe I'll have to go check out a few hardware stores for shallower plugs or I will just grind the plug down to make it a bit shallower.

Going to try chasing the threads tonight and if that doesn't work I will re-drill up to 1/2 pipe plug and give that a shot. Hopefully I can get to the hardware store tonight but with my hours this week I'm not sure I will be able to get to the store at all. We will see..

if you've got a 3/8 pipe tap already I'd try the grinding bit before I'd drill it bigger. The plugs we use the most have a internal hex that you drive with a allen wrench. They're a bit shorter than the typical square head type plugs.