Steering gearing question

This question concerns the gearing in the steering box.
I've got a '73 CJ5 with power steering. Everything seems tight and I don't see or feel excessive play or anything sloppy in the steering.
The issue is steering sensitivity. The steering is pretty sensitive; a little touch goes a long way. You end up darting back and forth if you’re not careful. Makes highway driving a lot more exciting . I understand may folks that do a lot of off road change to a “quicker” ratio. I’m looking to improve the street handling and am trying to determine if a previous owner had switched to the quicker box. My steering is 1 ¾ turns center to stop or about 3 ½ turns stop to stop. Is this stock or normal?

SwampRatt

 

That seems about normal.all depends on pitman arm length.tierod link ,etc.saginaw had a variable ratio steering box that works well on a jeep.not much change at center,but increases as you turn. I have one on my cj-5 that came out of a Monte Carlo.drives very nice.

mike s.

 

yours sounds correct for a CJ application
maybe the Wagoneers and Trucks had a slower box
seems the big Caddys did
some info I ran acrossa couple years ago

http://www.chevelles.com/techref/shea_3.html

 

Could your steering geometry be out of adjustment? I've heard that toe-out (rather than the nominal toe-in) will cause "darting" where the car will take off to the left or the right with little steering input. 3.5 turns lock-to-lock sounds about right to me too.

 

This is the an ad from 4wd.com, It perked my ears up. If this is correct then I seem to have closer to 16:1 as opposed to 20:1.