So I need to replace the power steering box and my local parts stores carries Duralast, Cardone and Masterpro, reviews are all over the place. Anyone have any experience with any of these boxes. Thanks
Power steering box options
- Thread starter The Real Lxxtsy
- Start date
Hopefully steering guru @mrblaine will chime in but one brand of steering box to avoid for sure is Cardone... pure junk. Masterpro is O'Reilly's house brand and Duralast is Autozone's house brand... none have great reputations.
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Blade
TJ Enthusiast
OP
Perhaps just going with a remanufactured OEM gearbox?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZASQ4OI/?tag=wranglerorg-20
It seems to have good reviews too.
I would like to hear from @mrblaine. It seems we're getting questions often on what are good replacement steering boxes for the TJ, and I'd be interested to see what Blaine recommends, since he will have a lot of experience on the matter.
A good replacement option would be nice to have, that way I can recommend it to people!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZASQ4OI/?tag=wranglerorg-20
It seems to have good reviews too.
I would like to hear from @mrblaine. It seems we're getting questions often on what are good replacement steering boxes for the TJ, and I'd be interested to see what Blaine recommends, since he will have a lot of experience on the matter.
A good replacement option would be nice to have, that way I can recommend it to people!
OP
OP
Yeah, I saw one person said that which is hard to know how true it is.
You could consider the Durango gear box swap.
OP
OP
I wish I could find a good option. We have tried several with no good success on any of them. There are two problems. The first is that there is very limited support for the early gear box in the TJ and the second is the ZF box in the 03-06 wasn't that great to begin with. It works well in stock form and after that, they aren't very consistent in how they respond to bigger tires. They also tend to be subject to shearing off the sector shaft with a frightening regularity on 35's.
I do lots of steering work and my option is new from PSC and it's horridly expensive so it's out of reach of most folks as a replacement.
We tried a Redhead after reports of good about them but like our other options, it was good for less than a year on 35's.
Good luck, we haven't found much that works.
That box is recommended a bunch. The problem with it is the vehicle it is from has independent front suspension which is far nicer to a steering gear than a solid front axle is. That means it has a bushing for support in the same place that a SFA gear has a bearing. It has a larger bore but it isn't really as heavy duty as the internet would have you believe.
derekmac
TJ Addict
In your opinion, would the Durango box be equal, better or worse than the TJ box?
OP
I'm not planning on going with bigger tires then 31's.
Anyone recommend rebuilding the stock box with the seal kit, if so is it a PITA.
Anyone recommend rebuilding the stock box with the seal kit, if so is it a PITA.
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That sounds like a PITA. I'd probably just order one of the re-manufactured ones and see how well it treats you. Hell, in your case if you're not going bigger than 31" tires, then maybe the Durango box would be just fine in that case.
OP
@Chris, just might order the one off amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZASQ4OI/?tag=wranglerorg-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZASQ4OI/?tag=wranglerorg-20
That's the one I was going to suggest.
A few things:
- Since you're ordering it from Amazon, returns are super easy (incase it doesn't work out for you).
- It's got enough good reviews that I wouldn't hesitate.
- You're only going to be running 31" tires so I really don't think you'll have much of an issue with a remanufactured steering box at all.