My 2010 2 Door Sahara (standard wheels and suspension) had excessive steering play(1/8th of a turn) quite scary at highway speed! Took her to the dealer and all they could offer was a steering box replacement at (17'000 ZAR) about $1500 including labour:icon_crazy:
You'll be able to diagnose the problem by reaching in to the engine bay and gripping the input shaft and being able to twist it(while the engine is off; no power steering) the pic shows the input yolk(that the input shaft is attached to)
After some research, found that I wasn't alone but also that nobody had been able to find the fault. Stumbled across Wayalife and Project JK which made it easy to get the steering box out, so had nothing to lose and a whole lot of cash to save if I sort the problem!:thinking:
Bingo:thumb: the large nut in the steering snout(stock steering box NOT PSC) holding the input yolk/worm was loosening(I recommend that the worm isn't removed from the piston like in the pic; its a complicated maze of ball bearings in a channel keeping the two together, a headache to reassemble!!)
Made a tool(seen in previous image) using 6mm flat bar, grinding the loop to fit around the worm and 2 M6 bolts to fit into the nut's key holes
This is my thank you for all the other write ups, I hope it helps a few people out there with the same problem!
There is already a write-up on getting the steering box out(once again, the stock steering box does differ from the PSC)
http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write...g-box-removal-psc-o-ring-replacement-write-up
What you will need:
Tools described in the Box removal thread
14mm wrench
Machine the tool for the Nut
Lock-tight
Bench vice
Once the snout's bolts are removed, its quite sticky to remove from the casing because of the O-ring, just rotate the steering yolk until the piston bottoms out and forces the snout out, you can use a 14mm wrench, vice grip shown in pic was before I discovered that
I also removed the Intermediate Shaft(IS) while trying to diagnose the problem, not sure if it is necessary to be able to get the piston out. Be very gentle when putting the IS back, the end cap is a softer metal, mine buckled when I forced it back tightening the bolts, almost created another problem after sorting the other out.
If it is necessary to remove the IS and you don't want to, this might work too. Clamped the snout in a bench vice, not too tight either.
Loosen the nut a little to expose the thread(I had the nut off all the way while the worm was removed from the piston, another complicated bearing set that is likely to spill all its ball bearings if its removed too far, I must insist that the nut faces up all the time(unlike my pic) and the the position of the yolk/input shaft relative to the snout doesn't move at all!!) put some lock-tight on and screw it back.
clamp it it the vice for tightening (not sure how you'd go about torquing it) and that's it!
You'll be able to diagnose the problem by reaching in to the engine bay and gripping the input shaft and being able to twist it(while the engine is off; no power steering) the pic shows the input yolk(that the input shaft is attached to)
After some research, found that I wasn't alone but also that nobody had been able to find the fault. Stumbled across Wayalife and Project JK which made it easy to get the steering box out, so had nothing to lose and a whole lot of cash to save if I sort the problem!:thinking:
Bingo:thumb: the large nut in the steering snout(stock steering box NOT PSC) holding the input yolk/worm was loosening(I recommend that the worm isn't removed from the piston like in the pic; its a complicated maze of ball bearings in a channel keeping the two together, a headache to reassemble!!)
Made a tool(seen in previous image) using 6mm flat bar, grinding the loop to fit around the worm and 2 M6 bolts to fit into the nut's key holes
This is my thank you for all the other write ups, I hope it helps a few people out there with the same problem!
There is already a write-up on getting the steering box out(once again, the stock steering box does differ from the PSC)
http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write...g-box-removal-psc-o-ring-replacement-write-up
What you will need:
Tools described in the Box removal thread
14mm wrench
Machine the tool for the Nut
Lock-tight
Bench vice
Once the snout's bolts are removed, its quite sticky to remove from the casing because of the O-ring, just rotate the steering yolk until the piston bottoms out and forces the snout out, you can use a 14mm wrench, vice grip shown in pic was before I discovered that
I also removed the Intermediate Shaft(IS) while trying to diagnose the problem, not sure if it is necessary to be able to get the piston out. Be very gentle when putting the IS back, the end cap is a softer metal, mine buckled when I forced it back tightening the bolts, almost created another problem after sorting the other out.
If it is necessary to remove the IS and you don't want to, this might work too. Clamped the snout in a bench vice, not too tight either.
Loosen the nut a little to expose the thread(I had the nut off all the way while the worm was removed from the piston, another complicated bearing set that is likely to spill all its ball bearings if its removed too far, I must insist that the nut faces up all the time(unlike my pic) and the the position of the yolk/input shaft relative to the snout doesn't move at all!!) put some lock-tight on and screw it back.
clamp it it the vice for tightening (not sure how you'd go about torquing it) and that's it!
