Hey everyone. How difficult is it to replace a steering box on a 98 4x4 Jimmy? What should I expect when I speak to a mechanic? I can get the part from Advance, but I cannot replace it myself. Is it a $1000 job to swap it out? The reason why I need to have it replaced is because there is like 2-3" of play in the steering wheel and it is NOT in the front end or the rag joint and I can't drive this truck a long distance like this. In fact, the steering shaft was already disconnected a few months ago and they found play in the box, confirming it.

 

I replaced mine myself. The worst part was getting the pitman arm off the centerlink. Took my b-in-law beating on it with a pickle fork and hammer while I was using an air hammer from the bottom.

 

spray down the lines where they attach to the box soon as you can so they can soak. that was always the biggest problem i ran into was lines braking due to rust. and that pitman arm is a pain. if you have access to a impact, just leave the pitman arm on that gear box and do it on the vise outside the truck

 

The hardest part for me was disconnecting and connecting the power steering lines to it. (96 Jimmy) For the pitman arm, just use a two jaw puller and a vise. Should only take seconds.

 

yeah i have done one before and it wasnt too bad to do. if you havent replaced the pitman arm I would just recommend doing that at the same time. Thats what i did and it made it much easier. That way you dont have to fight the old one off.

 

Ok Thanks for all the tips. I got the box today at Advance. It is a remanufactuered Fenco unit. Is that good? Didn't want to have to deal with 2 way shipping with these gas prices (also with the core). Now I just have to make an appointment to have it replaced locally. The shop I go to is very good and doesn't try to sell me unneeded stuff, so I think they will try to reuse the old pitman arm by default. The old lines look good for over a dozen NY winters, so I don't think they will have problems removing them (I had rusted brake lines in that area that were replaced in September and they didn't have trouble removing them). However, I will spray them before I go to the appointment.

 

Got the box replaced today. They also replaced the pitman arm because they said there was play in that and 2 ball joints. The steering is tight now with very minimal play (I can't feel any). With the ball joints, I don't know how that is possible because all of them are between 1 and 2.5 years old. But sure enough, there was a bit of play on the right front wheel. It is like a hair, but it is noticeable when I jack it up from the control arm (but I can't feel any when I jack it up from the frame). How is all this possible? Would adding grease at the next oil change help? I always grease them at every oil change.