Gm a body Jeep steering box swap

[anotheridiot]

Would be nice to have someone move the steering wheel while you are looking for the leak.

a bungee cord at full lock usually is top pressure. Like I said, I dont know why a Jeep conversion would be better, but if you have leaks you are not getting the proper flow to that box and might be sucking air as well.

[SuperBuickGuy]

do you know what specs were used to align your car? old cars have less castor then newer cars - thus, the box is going to react 'faster' to input to overcome that castor. Put as much castor as you can into it, if you want the cheapest 'fix' (and you'll love how it handles), do a b-body spindle conversion. Find a 9A brake kit (cop car, Impala) and you'll get better brakes to boot. CPP sells the kit - you can shop and do a bit better, but it's good to know what the upper dollar figure is. It changes the spindle length (taller), lowers the car about an inch, and the conversion upper control arms give you more castor.....

yeah, oops - not camber - that said, the longer spindles give you more camber gain (that is, the wheel tilts in more as the suspension compresses)... so camber is there...

[Shep48COE]

Would be nice to have someone move the steering wheel while you are looking for the leak.

[pontiacpower]

So I drove the car around the block a few days ago. The steering was better than stock but a little twitchy. I do need some new hose and some adapters because fluid leaks from the fitting at the gearbox and possibly from a puncture in the hose. Parked the car to find a pool of hy fluid on the floor next day

[pontiacpower]

I値l be sure to run some atf through that ps pump and box. Thank you for the tip

[SuperBuickGuy]

about the only thing I could think of to clean it would be run ATF through it and flush it (don't hook the return hose back to the pump but rather to a bucket).... to be the most effective, you'd probably want to warm up the box then flush.... that said, I'd be more concerned with the pump getting trash in it

[pontiacpower]

Got the box in and all hooked up. Ran the car for a bit and turned the wheel back and forth trying to cycle some fluid through the box. Not impressed yet but I値l judge it after I get out on the road.
Is there something I can run through my ps system to clean it?
Looked like water or rust might have made its way into my box

[pontiacpower]

I see. I知 going to need new hoses soon anyway. These are at least 20 years old. I dunno if hoses could last fifty years.

[SuperBuickGuy]

How does that fitting work when the hoses are male and the box is female?

There is a female/male adapter - that one illustrates the difference between the two fittings.

Of course, in this day and age - you can buy a hose that is old GM on one end and new "GM" on the other.... or get a braided one, and the list goes on of the possibilities.... but again, my point was to illustrate the difference between the o-ring and compression fitting.

[pontiacpower]

How does that fitting work when the hoses are male and the box is female?

[SuperBuickGuy]

Saginaw went from flare to o-ring to metric o-ring. you have options to make it work - from adapters for the box to adapters that screw into the pump - it really depends on what line you use....I think you'll probably need one of these https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Steel...-GM,37140.html



Obviously, the non-pressure side doesn't matter.... so just one adapter. It gets confusing when you add hydroboost.

[pontiacpower]

I threaded the hoses into the box last night and they seam to fit but time will tell

[JamesMayberryIII]

You'll have to find out what type fittings the jeep box what model and year fittings it used. and what fittings gm used on the g body.
Many use the mid 90's JEEP grand cherroke steering shaft that is a solid part with no rag joint. Many also use the astro van shaft and do a little mod to them.
I have the Astro shaft for my g body, but I'm questioning if it is such a good idea.
The g body frame as it comes from g.m. new is weak and flexes ALOT , . don't think so, jack up the car under the engine crossmember, and then put it on jackstands on the fram under the a pillar/cowl and watch the weight of the engine make the front droop.
A solid shaft, works great on the unitbody jeep as the box and steering column is both mounted to the unit body.
The g body the box is mounted to the frame and the column to the body that is on bushings. that will give some, but the frame flexing will be putting lateral forces on the bearings in the box. as that solid shaft has no give like the rag joint did.
I'm questioning using mine as This might be one of those mods. those that are autocrossing the cars do that makes the steering feedback much better as the cost of trashing the box and column bearings, or it'll just break the melted plastic pins that hold the collapsing shaft in column to allow it to move in and out. some.
I have not looked deep enough into this yet as the parts are sitting on a shelf. along with the drop spindles and springs and such.
The astro frame doesn't flex as much as the g body. . it is kinda scary how weak the g body frames are.
An easy way to tell what fittings go into the box is, find out what year jeep and model cherrokke or grand cherroke.box you have and take your high pressure line from the g body with you to a parts store that has the jeeps h/p line in stock and compare them.

[SuperBuickGuy]

it's all the same think, the Jeep box is popular because there's billions of them out there - but its genesis is the quicker ratio boxes. It's why I grabbed the steering box off the GNX that donated its motor for my wagon. I still have no plans of putting power steering in it, but that box is more valuable then the motor and trans.

Jeep steering boxes are fine because they were outsourced from a good company, it's the crap that Jeep designed that isn't... and to answer the question

it's a metric box so you need adapters - otherwise it will leak

[Loren]

It seems to me that the GM Saginaw steering boxes such as used across their product line from the sixties on just got better every few years, by the time they were supplying on Jeep Cherokees they were really very good. It will be up to you whether you like the ratio but I'd bet you will, it will likely be a little faster than your stock box but not too fast. I'm sure that whatever Lee is selling is OK stuff, but as far as the fittings go you'll just have to try it. Lots of info on the swap via internet.