farmboy191

i have a 92 xtra cab with the 3.0 and a loose as hell steering box. my buddy has a 86 xtra cab and the 22re and a tigh steering box. i was wondering if the steering boxes are interchangeable?

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Generally they are the similar, there is a slight difference between those two vintages as far as the overall shape and the length of the input shaft. Should be close enough to sway, or try loosening up the sector shaft bearing pre-load nut on the top of the box and crank down the pre-load screw and lock the nut down again.

drew303

What he said.

Except, the boxes do wear in the center (of the worm gear). I found that with my old box... It was used with 230k on it when I got it and now ive put probably 25k on that. haha... its just worn in the center.. coupled with the factory play thats just part of the stock steering setup... Balljoints... ugh

anyway, the adjusting nut doesn't always cure the issue. I found it made my steering more responsive, except when you're turning the wheel inches to get it to respond, when it finally does, its easy to oversteer.. so tightening the nut aggravated my situation.

Plans for a SAS this summer, at that time I plan to replace this box with a new one drilled for ram assist.

Though I have an extra box, but unknown miles, ive been tempted to swap it in and see the difference.