Steering box issues.

I'm thinking that my steering box is plugged with something, mainly a small piece of plastic. The way I discovered this is after my jeep won't turn at all with weight on the tires. With the tires jacked up in the air, they will turn, but fluid comes out of the pump cap because of the pressure build up. It's not overfilled, so that's not the deal.

At first I thought it was the pump that had gone bad, as I didn't see any fluid flowing when the jeep was on. So, as I was taking it apart, and unbolting the hi-pressure lines, I noticed that a small piece of plastic had gotten stuck in the right most hole of the box. I pulled (what I thought was all) of the plastic out, and it still will not turn when the jeep is on even with my new pump. The box WILL turn when the pitman arm is taken off, and when the jeep is also off.

So, does this make sense to say that there is possibly still a piece of plastic plugging up the steering box somewhere? If anyone has some ideas, fill me in.

It's an interesting problem. My best bet would be to see if you can figure out a way to backflush the steering gear - perhaps put the high pressure line on to the outlet and put a big bucket underneath the open inlet hole, and see if the fluid will push the plastic out. It's a long shot, but a quick look at the cross section diagram suggests that there probably isn't any sort of check valve or the like that would be harmed by doing this. I'd try it first without turning the wheel, and hope something comes flying out.

Any idea what the plastic is and where it came from?

As far as where the plastic came from, I have no clue. I decided to see what happens when I turned the steering box by itself, and fluid flows out of the left hole of the box, but never the right. If I turn it one way, nothing shows up, but turning it another way, fluid starts oozing out of the left hole, which is NOT the plugged hole.

Anyone?

I still think your best option is to try a backflush. If your steering gear doesn't work now, you won't lose much by trying.

I'll give that a shot before I begin taking it all apart. Thanks