[Guest]

I am swapping in the power steering on my 77 CJ5 (using jeep parts, of course) and as soon as I get that bracket from Jeepskate (my fault, not his), I will bolt it all on. Here's the issue...I see a lot of publicity for those steering braces that bolt from the frame down to the steering box...I am planning on fabbing one of those, but what about where the box mounts to the frame...is there any extra bracing neccesary? At the rear of the jeep, I built a custom body mount/bumper mount/frame brace/shackle holder brace out of angle iron and I am considering doing the same up front and incorporating a steering box brace into it. Overkill? Anyone have problems with the power steering and the frame? Does anyone have any suggestions for other steering system beefs before I try the new P/S out? (i.e. tie rod braces, etc.) One more question...The rear-most stud (third from front) that holds the manual steering box to the frame on the underside of the frame (aft of the shackle holder) is sheared off. Any ideas on how to replace it?

p.s. due to popular condemnation of the use of Grade 5 threaded rod I am considering making new studs with grade 8 bolts. Will a standard die work on them to make threads, or should I just go with grade 5 bolts? (changing from the threaded rod to studs made from bolts so I have the non-threaded shoulder to take the stress..by the way, it was FOUR WHEELER that said that grade 5 has more shear resistance than grade 8...I swear!)
Dean

 

[Guest]

All you really need is one of the braces from the box to the opposite frame rail. IMHO anything else is overkill. A few years ago on the
Dusy Trail one guys Jeep cracked one of the brackets between the frame and the steering box. He did not have a brace on his Jeep,
so we took the brace off another Jeep in the group and put it on his. The box stayed on for the next two days on the trail and the bracket
crack didn't get any worse.

Gary