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Steering Gear Box

Yup, that's the one. Didn't know it was called a "spanner". I've heard people from other countries refer to a fixed width wrench, e.g. a 17 mm, as a "spanner", so I wasn't sure if I was to call the jam nut wrench a 'spanner' too.

That looks like too much work for my daily driver. Perhaps if after replacing the pitman shaft seals it still leaks I can consider that adventure.

Are these spanner wrenches not typically sold at chain autopart stores? It looks like the same type of system that Rubicon Express uses on their UCA joints, so it would come in handy.
 
lordoeuf the guy from Lares is full of crap. I bought a reman Durango box about 7 years ago. Both with snow plow and without snow plow are the exact same box. The only difference is in the snow plow box has a spacer in the bottom of the valve/input shaft side of the piston bore and the domed end has 4 bosses (on the inside) that restrict the forward and rearward travel causing the 3 revolutions of steering wheel as compared to the Durango box that is non snow plow that has 3.5 turns. The reason for the limiting of the turning radius is so that the tires do not hit the lower struts/braces of the snow plow assembly.

The reason I know this is because I have done a ton of research, then I ordered a non snowplow box (3.5 turns) and they sent me a with snowplow box (3 turns). I disassembled the box, pulled the inner spacer and cut and ground off the 4 bosses on the domed part and reassembled the box.

With that being said, the guy from Lares sent you an XJ/TJ box. And even if you order a Durango box with or without snowplow option, it's a crap shoot which one you'll get. The reman rebuilders just throw which ever in the box, they don't care. I know of 7 people that has done the Durango upgrade and 6 of them were wrong. No pride of a job well done anymore.
 
Warlock, thanks for the information. So the Lares guy is full of it? He told me that if I ordered the "plow" version, that I'd get the bigger bore. The impression I got when I spoke with the guy was that he kept wanting to make excuses. First he asked me how do I know its the wrong part. I told him because the bore is smaller and it requires more force to turn the tyres. He said that I must have bled the system incorrectly and that there is air stuck in the gear box. I then told him that it isn't THAT stiff, it just feels like I have a wimpy gear box in the vehicle, like when I had an original Jeep Cherokee box. He then told me that I ordered the wrong part then. If I wanted the big bore, I needed to order the unit with the "plow" option. He said that Durangos without he snow plow could come with the plow gear box. I told him that this condition makes ordering difficult.

I wasn't quite convinced with him so I called a place in Canada that rebuilds gear boxes. The owner there said that Dodge Durango's always had these larger bore 4.22" boxes (Saginaw 708 with casting stamp size stamp 055), never the 3.82" bores that I received from Lares. He also said that it has become really difficult to find the '98/99 Durango boxes. Because of this, he speculated that these larger reman companies just ship out whatever bolts up.

Now it is also possible that Lares just decided on their own that "plow" = larger bore, and "non-plow" = smaller bore and will in-fact mail out the larger bore version if we select "plow" when ordering? Anyone ordered the plow version from Lares?

I put the pitman shaft seals in the Durango box and will test it out. One thing to watch out for is that you can press in the inner shaft seal in quite a bit further up than the snap ring position, perhaps one whole washer space worth. I didn't pound the seal that hard. Hope its OK. Seems like it would be more ideal to have the inner seal reseting on the snap right, but now there is this 1/16" gap between them. Anyone else run into this?

About the 3 turns vs. 3.5 turns, wouldn't 3 turns be preferred? At 3.5 turns, you will definitely hit the stops on the knuckle before hitting the stops in the gear box. This may put more stress on your chassis as the box tries to turn past the knuckle stop, thus causing chassis flexing and tears.
 
Warlock, thanks for the information. So the Lares guy is full of it? He told me that if I ordered the "plow" version, that I'd get the bigger bore. The impression I got when I spoke with the guy was that he kept wanting to make excuses. First he asked me how do I know its the wrong part. I told him because the bore is smaller and it requires more force to turn the tyres. He said that I must have bled the system incorrectly and that there is air stuck in the gear box. I then told him that it isn't THAT stiff, it just feels like I have a wimpy gear box in the vehicle, like when I had an original Jeep Cherokee box. He then told me that I ordered the wrong part then. If I wanted the big bore, I needed to order the unit with the "plow" option. He said that Durangos without he snow plow could come with the plow gear box. I told him that this condition makes ordering difficult.

I wasn't quite convinced with him so I called a place in Canada that rebuilds gear boxes. The owner there said that Dodge Durango's always had these larger bore 4.22" boxes (Saginaw 708 with casting stamp size stamp 055), never the 3.82" bores that I received from Lares. He also said that it has become really difficult to find the '98/99 Durango boxes. Because of this, he speculated that these larger reman companies just ship out whatever bolts up.

Now it is also possible that Lares just decided on their own that "plow" = larger bore, and "non-plow" = smaller bore and will in-fact mail out the larger bore version if we select "plow" when ordering? Anyone ordered the plow version from Lares?

I put the pitman shaft seals in the Durango box and will test it out. One thing to watch out for is that you can press in the inner shaft seal in quite a bit further up than the snap ring position, perhaps one whole washer space worth. I didn't pound the seal that hard. Hope its OK. Seems like it would be more ideal to have the inner seal reseting on the snap right, but now there is this 1/16" gap between them. Anyone else run into this?

About the 3 turns vs. 3.5 turns, wouldn't 3 turns be preferred? At 3.5 turns, you will definitely hit the stops on the knuckle before hitting the stops in the gear box. This may put more stress on your chassis as the box tries to turn past the knuckle stop, thus causing chassis flexing and tears.

Lares sounds a lot like them clowns at AGR who sold me the smaller gear box, despite me ordering the big one, then telling me that the small one will work fine, yet they charged me for the bigger one, and at time of my order told me I need the larger one. crooks!
 
"About the 3 turns vs. 3.5 turns, wouldn't 3 turns be preferred? At 3.5 turns, you will definitely hit the stops on the knuckle before hitting the stops in the gear box."


You could always adjust the adjusters in (if you even need to) so you can get the full range of the box. More is better! I look at the 3 turn box (snowplow) as a limiting factor, I want as much range as possible, but that is just me, lol. And also, the XJ came with a 3.5 turn box as factory stock, why mess with success? Also, it's one of the best things about the XJ, the turning radius is awesome!
 
Where'd you find the spanner ring wrench to get the gear box apart?

I don't see how 3.5 turns will help much. With my 2 7/8 turn Durango box, one side hits the knuckle stop, while the other side comes within 1/16" of it.
 
I made my spanner wrench from a piece of 1/4" plate kind of shaped like a Y and a couple of old chopped off drill bits, the bottom parts without the spiral. A couple of holes and a couple of small welds at the appropriate spacing and waa laa! Another down and dirty way is with a drift and a screwdriver, put the end of the drift into one of the holes and use the screwdriver against the shafts (drift and steering) to loosen or tighten. Once you loosen the large stamped sheet metal jam nut, the valve body end turns easily.

2 7/8 Durango box? I thought you said that they gave you a TJ/XJ box?

Also, before you get into disassembling it, check out these links...

https://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=915103&highlight=durango+box+rebuild

https://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=71626&highlight=durango+box


https://www.pirate4x4.com/threads/saginaw-box-rebuild-how-to.570869/
 
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Apparently the Durango 2-7/8 (or 2-15/16") turns is the "plow" version, while the 3.5 turns is the "non-plow" version. My existing box is a Durango box from a '98 Durango pull-apart which did not have a plow. It started leaking out the pitman shaft, so I tried to buy a reman unit from Lares. Lares sent an XJ box, that I have since returned to RockAuto. I ended up replacing the pitman shaft seals on my Durango box, which stopped the leaking. However yesturday I am noticing some fluid box's output shaft to the steering column. So I might need to pull the box out again and replace more seals. I was able to make my own ring spanner tool to remove the steering column end of the gear box.
 
Is it possible to replace the outer seal and dust cap on the steering shaft side of the gear box without having to remove the worm gear, bearings, and piston? There is this informative youtube which another user posted, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=661ov4GIXAA , but the guy removes all the guts to replace all the seals. I was hoping to avoid that for now.
I did a small test on my leaking PSC box, and yes it looks like you can replace the steering output shaft seals without taking the worm gear out. The challenge is finding something to hold ring nut without gashing it in a vise. Unless we can also remove the shaft from the box as well, yet leave the worm gear in place so that bearings to fall out. I was reluctant to pull out the steering shaft as well, but if it can safely come out, then the ring nut can be held in place inside the gear box. Can the steering output shaft also be removed without an involved rebuild?
 
In the links above in post 72, there are lots of pictures that cover all the disassembly and reassembly steps. It shows all the parts and how they all go together.
 
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