My 97TJ's steering pump seized a few months ago; so I replaced it with surprisingly little issues. Since then the steering gear started leaving unsightly stains in the driveway. I decided to replace the gear instead of new seals; and went with the 98 Durango upgrade. I am a backyard wrencher at best and have no training other than trial and error; a lot of error. I got new hoses, since I didn't replace them when I did the pump. I had a hard time removing the pitman arm from the gear. I had a puller on it and with as much force as I could muster, hit the pitman arm with a 3lb sledge. After a few hits and more torque on the puller it finely let go. Rest of the job went OK, till I tried to put the pitman arm back on the new gear. I reversed the procedure by torqueing the nut and hitting the arm, re-torqueing, hitting... I couldn't get the arm to seat on the shaft as far as the old gear. In my opinion, it could go about another 3/16" or so. The nut is on the shaft with about 2 threads showing on the bottom. That nut is TIGHT. When I got the rig put back together, I filled the system and went through the process of bleeding and cycling the steering wheel. The steering wheel got really hard to turn after a few turns, and ended up replacing the pump again (under warranty). So here are some questions...
Did I get the pitman arm on all the way and did I go about it correctly?
Could I have damaged the gear by the force of installing the arm?
Did I cause the pump to fail by turning the wheel too fast or with the wheels on the ground?
The steering linkage attaches to the gear one way I think. But my steering wheel is cocked clockwise 45degrees. Is the pitman arm off by a few cogs or the linkage off a few?
Like I said, a lot of error and trial. Hope to hear some good feedback with little criticism. Thanks for reading.
Did I get the pitman arm on all the way and did I go about it correctly?
Could I have damaged the gear by the force of installing the arm?
Did I cause the pump to fail by turning the wheel too fast or with the wheels on the ground?
The steering linkage attaches to the gear one way I think. But my steering wheel is cocked clockwise 45degrees. Is the pitman arm off by a few cogs or the linkage off a few?
Like I said, a lot of error and trial. Hope to hear some good feedback with little criticism. Thanks for reading.