1984 Jeep CJ-7 Progress 2011 10 01

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Ok, this is the start of the first task that I knew had to be done when I purchased this Jeep. The steering has a dangerous amount of play in it. You can turn the steering wheel almost a 1/4 turn before there is any movement in the tires. With the Jeep idling you can reach in and turn the steering intermediate shaft and see that there is no movement in the pitman arm. I decided that if I was going to do this I would replace the intermediate steering shaft, power steering gear box and hoses, all the tie rod ends as I will be running 31 X 10.50 X 15 tires.

I purchased all “Crown” steering components. The Jeep Forum was a little down on “Crown” quality, so I relented, and purchased all Moog tie rod ends. I will compare the quality of the two companies products and return the weak stuff. So here goes.

	New parts and lots of PB Blaster. As I will soon learn there are never enough new parts to finish a task. Something I should already know from past projects.
Man that is tight, I’m thinking I will have to remove some stuff to get to the power steering lines. Below are the before shots.
In preparation I started to soak up all the lines and bolts two days before hand, when I say soak I really soaked these things.
As I needed to remove the power steering lines and I wanted to remove the Stainless Steel braid off of the radiator hoses I decided it would be a good idea to remove the radiator. This provided great access to the top of the power steering box. I also found that the side brace on the radiator was completely separated from the radiator, and as there is some green corrosion on the bottom tank I will be purchasing a new radiator.
With the radiator remove, the lines, tie rods, and gear box came out with only a little effort.
	I did break one bolt off. Interestingly it did not snap off flush with the frame. I will try soaking it again with the PB Blaster and then some heat on the frame and a pair of vise grips tomorrow and see if I cannot twist it out. A little precaution with the blue tipped wrench got it out.
	I carried all the parts down stairs for preparation to install them. I am totally incapable of just bolting parts on, I always have to play with them first.
	Parts to be installed, steering gear box,, from Crown, but made for Crown by AGR (MB Motorsports), Crown tie rod kit, also purchased Moog Tie rod ends, Crown P/S Hoses, Heavy Duty intermediary steering colum and a SPECTRA PREMIUM Part # CU583 15-7/8″ Between Tanks; Heavy Duty Cooling  purchased through RockAuto.
I’m not so sure how heavy duty it is as the upper universal joint is certainly not as heavy duty as the stock one is, but they have eliminated the lower “rag” joint. I will keep an eye on this, but as this will be a daily driver with little off road use I will install it.
	I compared the Crown tie rod ends to the Moog and decided to use the Moog one. I did keep the steering knuckle to steering knuckle crown kit to use the link as the one in the Jeep was bent
	The new steering box looks ok, they did do a repair on one of the ears, but the welding that was done was excelent.
	The Crown hoses were almost an exact match, only a very small amount of twicking was necessary to get them to fit just right
	Off comes the Pitman arm
	As I said before I just cannot leave any part untouched. Here we see every part that can be powder coated, powder coated. What I could not powder coat I painted
	Steering box and brackets reassembled
	Heavy Duty intermediary steering colum installed
The Crown Power Steering lines were a pleasent surprise and fit very well.
	I’m not sure this radiator fit as well. There seems to be a large gap at the front and the fan shroud I purchased did not fit.
	In the process of this install I remove a lot of hoses that the previous owner had installed with stainless steel braiding over. Not all has been removed as yet as I have to do the heater upgrade.
	This project is almost done. I need to get it to an alignment shop now.