kbeam418

I can wiggle my steering shaft back and forth easily, mine is a rebuilt that was properly adjusted and has no wandering issues or play. If your' Jeep tracks fine and you have no steering play I wouldn't worry about it. Replacing the box is pretty simple it's just time consuming and hard on the body (without power tools). It took me around six hours to do it and two days because I had to wait for a new brace and new bolts.

Shocks are not really safety issue imo some people will say they are but I've never been even close to an accident with bad shocks. That's not to say they shouldn't be replaced because they should but I wouldn't worry about it if you don't have the cash or time. Get the rear shocks done at a shop it took me hours to drill out those broken bolts and broke three of my drill bits. Front shocks took me about 30 minutes for both sides.

lawsoncl

Pictures not working for me. You're talking about the shaft on the bottom of the steering box? A little play isn't unusual. If it's not bad enough to be leaking, I wouldn't worry about it.

jpz

Same for me. Need pics to really be able to give honest input.

Jeepwalker

I thought I was the ONLY one who went through that! I waited until I removed my gas tank and tail pipe to drill out the bolt and re-tap the shock mount hole.

Password12345678

The shaft that is in the engine bay that runs beside the engine itself. Not below or above the box. It's the shaft that leads from the steering wheel itself directly into the box. It wiggles.There is about 2-3 inches of slop in the steering wheel. Sure, it tracks straight, but when I get to 50 mph and I have to jerk the wheel left and right every time some wind pushes the Jeep around, it gets pretty annoying. I feel like I lack control sometimes. I'm trying to give you guys input, but not sure what to give. I'm sorry if I come across as rude.

I might try to do the front end by myself and take it to a shop so they can do the rear end. I don't think I have acces to air tools or anything at the moment because the compressor is on the fritz.

Since the photos won't load, try this online album. https://photos.app.goo.gl/FVyLoGUypMdrszL78

Dave51

Boy those rear springs are flat!

Start soaking everything in PB.

Need better look at front perches.

If (when) you break the rear upper shock bolts just punch out the welded nuts. Takes 2 seconds.

Dave51

Example of a bad perch.

Dave51

Don't need air tools, just PB, torch, RA grinder, punch and BF breaker bar.

kbeam418

It's very common on these Jeeps, I knew going into it would be like that just didn't realise it would take that long to drill them out and fish new bolts in.

Before replacing the box make absolute certain there is zero play in the rest of steering system. It sounds like the box is bad because that's exactly how mine was too but it's hard to replace so it doesn't hurt to double check the front end. I checked the photos and would agree that the shocks should be replaced, if you have the extra money. Like I said shocks are mostly for comfort but will help keep the Jeep from getting pushed around in the wind. Also check the sway bar links and bushings from my experience these make a dramatic difference with how the Jeep handles. Replacing the box, shocks and links/bushings will make it handle like a new vehicle. Like the others said go with redhead or a local place that rebuilds the box, I got lucky with my Cardon box that it was properly rebuilt and just needed to be adjusted.

Dave51

https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/...-heavy-323809/

PatHenry

On the rear shock bolts, I too found the drilling to be super tedious. The bolt I started on had a nut welded by a P.O. on the bottom (I think both sides IIRC), so it was a LOT of metal. As such, I decided that it would be a HECK of a lot easier to just drill and tap. I don't know if this was possible because of the added metal welded on the bottom, but there was more metal than patience.

The drill and tap worked AWESOME - I just tapped it to the closest SAE size (at least 1/4") and put grade 8 bolts in. It was a huge time saver and everything bolted up nicely with the newly tapped threads. I double checked the hardware after a few hundred miles and everything held up beautifully.

Password, I agree with Dave that we need some better pictures of the spring perch. You don't have to have it completely disassembled like Dave's picture, but a couple of angles would be fantastic.
Also some pictures of where the brackets where the leaf springs connect to the body would be helpful.
At first blush, the rust doesn't look horrendous, but with rust it's very difficult to analyze with pictures - it's best done "hands on". Rot (aka when the rust is so bad that the metal has lost all structural integrity) is very easy to spot - if you poke it with a screwdriver and chunks of crud crumble and the screwdriver can be pushed through it - it's rotten. Use a screwdriver and gently poke above the leaf spring brackets and at the top of your front shock mounts. If it's rotten, you'll know it.
As mentioned by the other guys, bad shocks are more of a comfort thing than a critical safety issue, HOWEVER, if the mounting points at the top or bottom have rusted through, that IS a safety issue. Fortunately there are replacement components available to fix these problems at a pretty reasonable cost.

Dave51

Oh and start soaking the rear bottom shock bolts with PB and use heat. I snapped one off with hardly any pressure even with PB. Kind of a pain because you have to drill a pretty big hole (7/16") regardless of your fix (Crown makes a bolt, others weld in Grade 8 bolts, crazy people get a whole new mount and replace it with grinding and welding...).

PatHenry

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ x 1000

I snapped off one side on mine and ended up drilling and tapping into the center of the old stud and put a grade 8 bolt and washer on it. Again, this has worked great for me and has held up over several thousand miles.

Dave51

Oh wait, that was 9/16". And those metal bits are pretty expensive, I ended up enlarging a smaller drilled hole with a rattail file.

Bottom line is that's a bolt you want to try to save.

jpz

All good advice here. I can't add anything other than to say I just did my full suspension (front and rear) in my garage using jack stands, hand tools, and a 4 1/2" grinder from Harbor Freight and I was fine. I broke 2 of the 4 bolts for the upper rear shocks. Just drilled out the holes and installed the Rough Country brackets. Heat and PB will be your friend on this job, that and patience.