Hi everyone. Looking for a little help regarding my sector shaft and pitman arm. I recently installed a West texas off road steering gearbox (I did not install the ram assist yet). A couple weeks later I started noticing some play. I started feeling around while someone turned the wheel and noticed a clunky feeling at the pitman arm / drag link joint. While I was replacing the joint, I noticed that the clunk was actually a slight movement in the pitman arm. While the drag link is disconnected, I found that I could turn the drag link slightly in either direction before it "catches" and moves the steering wheel linkage. The movement is actually at the sector shaft (there is no play between the pitman arm and the splines on the shaft). Basically, there is a small dead spot somewhere in the gearbox that allows slight turning of the shaft. There does not appear to be any side to side motion, only the turning movement.

So my question is... is this movement normal? Should there be ANY free turning movement of the sector shaft? If not, would tightening the steering adjustment screw fix this? Or did I get a dud steering gearbox? Thanks for reading and giving any advice you all might have!

Edit: this is on a 2008 JKU with a 3.5" lift and yeti drag link flip.

UPDATE: I spoke with the team at West Texas Off road and they explained that the level of movement I was seeing is normal "backlash" in the steering gearbox. They were extremely helpful. I did a little research of my own and after watching a few videos on how the gearbox works, I understand now that the small play is necessary to ensure the steering gears can mesh and turn freely across the entire steering range.

 

Sounds like you got a dud box. You shouldn’t have play there. It’s likely that they got a bad box in as a core and didn’t rebuild it or at least didn’t inspect it properly before shipping it back out.

 

Thanks. That's sort of what I was thinking. I didn't remember if there was play in the old box because I wasn't really paying that much attention when I removed the old box. Ill give them a call on Monday and see if they'll send me a replacement.