Team Chevelle banner

Trying to verify a GC steering box

13K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  Doogie S 
#1 ·
After seeing someone else on the team buy an incorrect steering box off Ebay, I am trying to verify one before I bid. I asked for the part number and only got two numbers that he found on the box:
5689010 & 7812195
He did not find the alpha code. Do these mean anything?
He says it is off of a 98 Grand Cherokee.
Thanks a lot
 
#4 ·
This is what JimL82 has said, and he is the expert on these things.

Now that said... if you can measure accurately the sweep of the pittman arm/shaft you can estimate the steering stops. Then by measuring the turns of the input shaft, you should be able to calculate the ratio of the steering gear. Between the ratio and sweep you have 2 of the 3 parameters of the steering gear.

But the real bugger, and the most interesting IMHO, is the T-bar size. And this little bugger is just not measurable without special dissassembly and assembly equipment. I keep thinking that as a spring you should be able to measure it's spring rate but nobody has come up with a way to do this. Part of the challenge is the very limited degree of movement before the hydraulic control valve goes from being on the T-bar spring to going into full mechanical lock.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the input guys. I think I will just keep looking for one at local salvage yards. That way I can check the alpha code. BTW, exactly where should I look for the code on the box?
 
#6 ·
It is most usually on the end cap, which in a Jeep is going to be a bugger to see.

It may also be found on the top cap under some amount of dirt.

The bummer is that these alpha codes were merely ink stamped onto the boxes and the ink is NOT the most durable finish marking.

I found alpha codes in both of these locations on my '92 Camaro box one Saturday at Pick-n-Pull on half price day. I must have been living right that day. I cleaned around the alpha code on the end cap and clear coated the thing for perpetuity.
 
#7 ·
I was the one (or at least one of the ones) that got the wrong box off ebay. Through this ordeal, I did find another way to help identify the correct gear. If the pitman arm is attached and looks to be the original arm, then look for the number "52005285" cast into the pitman arm. All '93-'98 Grand Cherokees had this part number pitman arm. The part number will be imbedded in a string of other numbers and letters, though, so look carefully (in my currently incorrect Cherokee box, the pitman arm part number was preceded by two numbers and then followed by a few more numbers and letters - the GC arm should be similar).

-Eric
 
#10 ·
I recently bought what is supposed to be a '98 GC steering box.
On the vinyl label attached to this box are the following...

TBT0438H2558
P52088488AB
BT

Any way to tell if it's a genuine GC box??
 
#13 ·
Hey, sorry to ask the question, however I bought a GC steering box that is suppost to be from an 1995 or 1996. The letter code doesn't match the list provided. It is PK (maybe FK - the paint isn't too clear.)

It does have the pitman arm attached and it has the correct number ("52005285").

Any help would be great.

Thanks,


Doug
 
#14 ·
I am at my daughter's for the next week so I do not have access to my data bases. However, I had not thought about the pitman arm being another bit of data that could help identify a GC power steering gear. I would think that if the gear had the correct sweep, the correct ratio, and the pitman arm had the correct casting number; then you would be fairly certain that you had a GC gear. (All of the 1992 1/2 through 1998 GC gears had the same valve so that is really not a variable.)

Saginaw shipped the GC gear to the Chrysler/Jeep assembly plants where they assembled their own pitman arm to the gear. So I don't have any direct information on the pitman arms.

When I get back to Saginaw I will try to find the Chrysler part numbers for the GC gear. I am not sure if that number will help or not.

The numbers that are cast on the gear housing, aluminum end plug, or the aluminum top cover are of no help in identifying the GC gear.

Jim
 
#15 ·
The pitman shaft sweep (full lock to full lock) on all 1992 1/2 through 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee power gears will be 87 1/2 degrees.

The number of input shaft turns (full lock to full lock) will be 3.1 revolutions.

If you have 87 1/2 degrees of sweep with 3.1 input shaft revolutions you definately have a fast ratio 12.7:1 power gear.

One of the following alpha codes was ink stamped or a sticker applied to the aluminum end plug and/or the aluminum top cover: AL, BT, PD, JH, KD, WK (there could have been other codes as well.) You will be extremely lucky if the code is still legible after the 10 to 15 years the gear has been on a running Grand Cherokee.

This is only for the Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Jeep Wrangler or the plain Jeep Cherokee gears are not the same.

Jim
 
#16 ·
Thanks for the info guys.

I looked again and under some grime I found a PD Code! (man those things get dirty)

So it looks like I got a keeper.

Thanks for your help.

BTW - Does Lee Manufacturing have a web site I can order the rag joint from? I did a couple of searches but haven't found anything.


Doug
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top