Power steering box without pump?

[xsdg]

Hey, y'all

 

I picked up a bunch of power steering stuff from the JY, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to swap that in for my current manual steering box.  I'm wondering if the box will get damaged if I run it without the pump installed — I want to be able to work on this project one piece at a time, if at all possible.

 

Alternately, any suggestions on how to go about this other than "do it all at once, and cross your fingers that it works"?  In particular, I know nothing about the box itself.  I don't know it it has a ton of lash or anything, and the last thing I want to do is to finish _all_ of the work, just to discover that I have to wait for another power steering box to pop up in a JY so I can grab it.

 

 

FWIW, I'm aware that the power steering and manual steering columns aren't exactly compatible.  I'm probably going to weld up an intermediate adapter piece so that I don't have to mess with stuff in the cab.

[datzenmike]

Looks like there was a big change around 11 '82 build dates. If all your PS parts are after you should be good.

 

You'll likely have to shorten the column at the box end.

 

As long a you keep the dirt out of it it should be fine. It'll be stiff to turn without power assist..

[MikeRL411]

In the interim you will have "Armstrong Power Steering."  Eat your Wheaties!

[wayno]

Is this a 2wd?

If it is a 2wd, you will need the power steering column also, you cannot have the rag joint connected to the power steering gear in a 2wd, it will hit on the upper control arm at the inner pivot point.

You need the column with the rag joint near the firewall.

[Jester]

  I'm wondering if the box will get damaged if I run it without the pump installed

 

 NO. The box will be fine without a pump. The pump is what creates the assist and the box will not care if it is being assisted or not. We were out wheeling one weekend and I lost the pump on my Wrangler. Steering was a BITCH with the resistance of the fluid. I finally said screw it and found someone in our group with a hack saw. I cut one hard line about two inches up from the box and cut the other line somewhere in the soft part, cranked the wheels back and forth to get most of the fluid out of the box and clamped the soft line onto the cut hard line. This kept the water and mud out of the box and I kept wheeling.