jkblackruby

has anyone replaced a pitman arm seal on the steering box. mines going and the stealership wants 500 bones for the box. there must be a seal out there. any help would be appreciated

wayoflife

unfortuantely, the entire box needs to be replaced. more than likely, your sector shaft is slightly bent and or has spun splines as well anyway. i just replaced my 2nd box a week ago. it's not too hard to do yourself and it will save you a lot.

JINGLES

Wayolife; Since you're on the second box; is the fix for this to add a hydraulic assist to the steering system?

wayoflife

not necessarily. i trashed my first box after hitting a rock hard with my passenger side wheel. this spun the splines and bent the sector shaft. in that case, a sector shaft brace would have made all the difference. my last box, i was doing a lot of hard steering through sticky rock faces and it's possible that the effort caused the splines to spin and sector shaft bend there too. while a hydraulic assist would have helped me through the obstacles with ease, i don't know if it would have saved my steering box.

JINGLES

Interesting.... I thought that the hyd assist would act as a "buffer damper" if you will. You stated that the first shaft spin was caused by the violent force of a rock hit. This makes sense; since the steering gear is trying to turn in one direction, effectively hydraulicly "locking" the shaft; and the force coming from the wheels though the steering linkage is in the opposite direction... shaft spins. Correct me if I'm wrong... Since the hyd assist is joined to the axle housing on one end, and the drag link on the other; wouldn't it effectively "lock" the steering linkage; and thereby not allow the forces of the wheels to transmit to the steering shaft?

wayoflife

oh, i never said that it wouldn't help, i just didn't know for sure. for whatever it's worth, adding one is on my to do list.

Hellbound13

I am on my second. I had a box go as well too and that was just from street driving. Sector shaft was moving sideways as you rock the wheel. Is this just a crappy part from the factory?

Would moving to a hydraulic setup make sense on a stock rig so I don't have to keep going through boxes?

WOL do you plan to ever do a write up on steering box replacement?

wayoflife

i don't know. it's a lot of money and maybe one that isn't really necessary. i'm kind of wondering if a sector shaft brace like off road evolution make would be enough to do the job.

yeah, i took lots of pics and will do a write-up. it's not too hard of a job if you have a second set of hands to help out.

Hellbound13

WOL,

But would a sector shaft brace even fit on a stock jeep?

wayoflife

hmmmm, maybe not