steering box or power steering pump?

[old_man]

There are two main variations in the XJ boxes. There are countless other variations to the internals that if you haven't gone through a bunch with calipers, you would never see such as the fact that there are different turns lock to lock on boxes. I still haven't figured out any rhyme or reason as to which box has what number of turns.

The renix box uses two double lip seals on the pitman shaft. Both seals have two lips. The HO variant uses only one single lip seal on the pitman shaft and a thin single lip seal outside the snap ring to keep the dirt out. There is also a difference in the input shaft configuration and seals.

Lately the HO variants are seeing a horrible failure rate on the replacement pitman shaft seals. I have seen roughly 50% fail. To that end, I am setting up to CNC machine the newer boxes to accept a different seal configuration similar to the Renix box.

While I prefer using the Renix boxes for several reasons, they are getting harder to find.

 

[kastein]

I have a RENIX box that's had water intrusion (it's almost seized, turns maybe 1/8 of a turn before sticking in each direction) that you can have free if you end up out here for work again. Might be able to polish out the corrosion and reuse at least the housing or something.

 

[sjx40250]

I wasn't paying attention when I replaced my pump after 215K miles and filled the steering system with brake fluid! Didn't work well and made a ton of noise and lost lots of fluid before I realized what I had done.
Replaced the fluid and still driving it without a problem

 

[old_man]

I have a RENIX box that's had water intrusion (it's almost seized, turns maybe 1/8 of a turn before sticking in each direction) that you can have free if you end up out here for work again. Might be able to polish out the corrosion and reuse at least the housing or something.

Thanks but the shipping will kill you. I really don't like to try and rehab a roached box. I do hone the castings, but not enough to take down any more than surface rust.

 

[old_man]

Just a note, put a filter in the return line and ideally replace the hoses when swapping a steering gear. The filter only runs about $10. I have seen way too much crap in new gears causing problems. The hoses seem to like to sluff off the lining when you move them around and put in new fluid.

 

[Demonoid369]

Well I went an got a full size Cherokee steering box from the junk yard which from what I read and searched is the exact same as a yj box. Ill have to take a closer look and make sure its not damaged. Ill definitely be putting a filter on it and hopefully will give me the kick in the pants to add a cooler on the line also lol