Steering Box Installation Question.

Got my Durango steering box bolted into the jeep.

Anyways, i'm going to put the shaft that comes from the steering wheel back onto the steering box input side. I noticed the splines on the steering box have a sort of flat spot with no splines and i noticed the linkage coming from the steering box also have a section with no splines.

I figured it would make sense that no splines part slips together and away you go, but i can't for the life of me push them together like that. Should the two flat spots line up when i try to push them together or no?

Picture shows the flat spots.

Yes. Expand your coupling a little.

I just put in a new box and I had the same problem. Try to open up the coupling more and put anything on the splines to lubricate them. Anti-seize would probably be the best since it will aid in it coming back off in the future. I did this and it helped a lot! Still had to put the pry bar on it and smack the pry bar with a mini sledge to get it to go on but only took a few semi-lite taps.

Thanks for that! Did as both of you stated and she's back on. Got everything put back together and took it for a test drive.

Honestly, the steering still feels a little bit off. Feels better, but not great. I noticed that when my steering wheel is straight the wheels are slightly turned. Going to go adjust that now and see if that fixes anything.

If that doesn't do it i'm totally lost.

I also noticed this noise that started yesterday. The scraping noise. The jeep is in full time 4wd (as i think the noise is inside the front axle, but i could be wrong). Towards the end of the video i push it out of 4wd and back into 2wd and it takes some time to get back into 2wd. (Notice my wheels hopping because the wheels can't slip) Is that normal? Should it shift to 4 part time and stay there for a minute or so?

The scraping noise is this video is pretty evident. Any ideas? I don't see anything abnormal just crawling around under the jeep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yym3dWTyzKs

scraping sounds like dirt or a rust chunk caught in the backing plate of the front brakes...

Caliper drag?
Debris between rotor and pads?
Debris between dust shield and rotor?
Bent dust shield dragging on rotor?