Power Steering Box Bracket

Will a power steering bracket from a 80 CJ work/be modified to a 1974 frame. Looking at a 80 setup for my 74?

Thanks

 

It can be retrofitted but wouldn't recommend the steering box bracket from the '76 up CJ's. They are notorious for cracking and breaking and losing the steering box. Either find one for '72-'75, build one, or buy one from places like Mountain Off Road Enterprises (M.O.R.E.). Look here for more info.
http://www.mountainoffroad.com/more.htm

The steering box and other components would be fine to retrofit.

Nickmil

 

:iagree:
I second the MORE mount. It's beefy.:twisted:

 

Does the MORE mount fit an intermediate as a bolt up solution? The website referenced above indicates that the steering box bracket is for 76 and up.

Thanks,

Chuck

 

It has been a while since I put mine on, but if i remember correctly (there were many involved) I had to drill three hole in the crossmember.

 

For the 72-75 CJs. Is there a PS Saginaw box that bolts to the factory bracket? Should I use the MORE bracket and fit it to the frame? How much strengthening should I do to remove frame flex?

-Thanks

 

The stock bracket for a 72-75 is a nice beefy piece of cast iron that is more then strong enough for a PS application. Just bolt the PS box in place of the manual. Its that easy. I run a stock TJ PS box with a '83 pump. Works great. I have the TJ box bolted to the '72 stock mounting bracket.

 

Hudson Hawk,
So your box I take it is a 83 TJ box like the pump? Will the manual shaft match up where the rag joint is? Just replaced all steering components from the steering wheel to the tires (less gear box). Now I'm thinking of a quick switch out for PS gear box but don't want to trash all the new parts.

 

No, the PS box is out of a 97+ Wrangler TJ but any saginaaw PS box will bolt up to the mount. The Pump is out of an '83 CJ.

I was able to use the manual coupler from the manual steering colum to the PS Box.

 

The only difference between the manual and power steering box on an intermediate is the number of bolts holding the box to the bracket. The manual box uses 3, and the power box uses 4. They have the same pattern though; with manual, one of the 4 tabs used for a power box is missing.

I think that all the Jeep PS boxes have 4 tabs, though there are some GM applications that only have 3 (S-10 and Blazer 4x4, maybe others). All the boxes will bolt up to either bracket. The only down side to using the manual bracket for a PS conversion might be strength - HH says not, but I broke a 4-bolt bracket on my '73. Seems to work fine for a lot of folks though.

 

Thanks Timgr.

Thats what I needed to know before burning a Saturday wrenching out old PS boxes at the pull yard. For now I'm just concerned about the box. I've got a PS pump available local.

I know there are several late 70's early Wagoners there. Will these work?

 

Garbageman,

I used the factory '72 manual bracket. I think I remamber drilling an extra hole or two, but it was much easier to fit than the 80's CJ power steering box bracket that I had bought. The problems came later...

The only trouble I ran into, was that my 35 year old frame wasn't in good enough shape to handle the extra stress. I could actually watch the frame twist when I turned the steering wheel. It flexed so much that it ripped the bolts out of a steering box brace on two consecutive trips. I don't run a very aggressive Jeep. That was with 33x10.50 tires. Now is the perfect time to box the frame up front. I would drive down the road looking at the front tire (leaning out the door) and it wobbled like the wheel bearing were gone. I replaced the bearings, spent a lot of time shaking the wheel, etc.... When I finally figured out what it was, I put on the brace. That just kept ripping off. If I had to do it over again, (and I do) I would use the MORE mount and a boxed frame with a brace. As you box the frame, you can fabricate the proper mounting point for the MORE mount. It will not bolt up to your existing intermediate frame.

Hope that helps,

Jon



Good Luck,

Jon

 

Wow thanks Code Red.

My manual box will flex the frame. I plan to strip the frontend down and plate and gusset the front end. No cracks just lots of flex. When you say box, do you mean adding some channel over the frame opening and welding it up. Would this be stronger then plating?

-Thanks

 

Yes,

As I understand it, (not a first class fabricator and I haven't tried yet myself) You want to "box" the frame by welding a piece across the opening in the C channel. Thus making it look like this [|. The way I have heard it discussed is to go from the frame end back past the front spring hangers. I think MORE used to sell some pre-made plates that welded to the outside of the channel giving basically a thicker frame, but still a channel instead of a box. I think closing the channel would provide much more strength, but is harder to get to with the body/engine mounted. As to gussets, I plan on a solid MORE type box bracket and a good brace to the oposite frame rail. I think that should be plenty if both frame rails are boxed.

You end up with a stiffer frame that won't flex as much off road. I don't know how much this will effect wheel trtavel, but the peace of mind is worth it for me.

The frame on my CJ6 cracked catastrophically just behind the front spring hangers. This is a known weak spot for these models.

I ended up replacing the entire frame on the CJ6 and still don't have it back on the road. I'm driving the CJ5 every day and plan on boxing the frame this summer when its a little warmer.

 

OK, so I have everything for my power steering upgrade. The only problem is the mount bracket. I have two OE 74 manual brackets. They seem a lot more HD then the stamped steel 80's ones. But, the Manual bracket is a 3 bolt and the box is 4 bolt.

Should I adapt it by adding a tube to the frame? Or purchase/fab a MORE style bracket?

 

I used the stock manual cast bracket on my '75 with only three bolts in the power gearbox. I'm running 35" tires in the rocks and have had no trouble with it.

I should also mention that I am running a homemade cross brace from the gearbox to the other side of the frame for reinforcement.

 

OK. Not to hi-jack this post, but Ihave also started the upgrade of my '75 CJ5 from manual to power. I jsut picked up a couple gear boxes, 1 from a '74 waggy and the other from an 89 cherokee. I also picked up the pump with part of the bracket. Now all I've got to do is find the rest of the bracket to the eng. and figure out the steering shaft. Now one of the gear boxes has the rag joint. What shaft to use? Mine is the manual shaft. The gear bax mount on my manual pump is a 4 bolt mount already. Any help on this one guys? The steering shaft problem.

 

Hi-Jack away, I used Borgsen.com (sp?) for the adapter. Used my current setup down to the gear box. Get an adapter from the input shaft to the original steering shaft to mate together. 13/16" 36 spline to 3/4" 36 spline Your input shaft may be different on those boxes.

 

I have a pump and bracket for a V8 You will need a double groove crank pulley.

 

I do have a double groove crank pully. one is being used for my alt. I also noticed while there are 4 bolts that mount the gear box bracket to the frame there are only 3 bolts for mounting the gear box to the mount. My bad when I said earlier that it was a 4 bolt.