It looks like my steering box took some damage when I got hit by a Toyota last fall.
It's leaking and I'm seeing what appears to be a crack in the body of it.

I'm looking at a used replacement from a 2016, are there any issues I need to be aware of, or is it plug and play?

 

If i recall, there is a difference between the 2dr and 4dr boxes, so make sure you're getting what you need in that regard if the steering ratio matters to you. Other than that, should be plug and play. I'd make sure to strap down that steering wheel as you make the swap. It's easy to jack up a clock spring with a knucklehead mistake if not.

 

The early Delphi ones were rebuilable but not the later units. Obviously you have a unit from a wrecked vehice that should work. My 2008 original unit is still going strong and steers like new.

 

Yep my 2007 JKU 2.8CRD RHD steering is still OK also, at 120,000 (fingers crossed) Gets plenty of mechanical sympathy. Replaced /exchanged a litre of the power steering fluid about 4 years back & fluid is still ruby red. Probably worth doing again though.

 

I picked up the later box, it's also out of a Rubicon.
Noticeably beefier/thicker than the original out of my 07.
So much so that it won't clearance the upper control arm or the track bar, I dropped the old one out between the upper control arm.

This should be a fun one, I'm thinking about tackling the track bar, one bolt vs 2.

 

And my steering box was perfect at nearly 180k.
but then it met a 4x4 Toyota Tacoma, they didn't get along well.
the Toyota caught my front wheel as they did a full send U turn in the neighborhood.
I still remember the guy's face in slow motion, he couldn't figure out why he couldn't turn, then he was like "oh shit there's a Jeep stuck to me!"

my steering was tweaked, I'm still not sure if it was the tie rods or what, I just replaced it all.

that accident paid for the jeep project, like a big refund/rebate coupon check.

Afterwards I had a little weirdness in the steering, like a bind, pop, and everything worked afterwards.
then the steering has been getting looser, a little more every few days.

I'm probably going to crack the old box open to see what I find; I also need to flush the old fluid out before I fully connect everything to the new box.

 

New box has been installed; it all went smoothly.
I ended up using a piece of rope, tied a loop around each end of the box and lowered it into place.
I then used the loop on the front bumper/guard to hold the rope in place as I got the first few bolts started.


I can confirm the later box is a perfect fit, even the hydraulic fittings were in the perfect place.
the seller of the new steering box said it had under 50k on it, so far, it's nice and tight with 0 slop.

I had to recenter the steering, but I suspect my old box tweaked when I got hit.
the direction it was off was about the same amount as it had after the accident.

Later I'll take the old box apart for some assessment.
I'll post it up if I see anything interesting.



Also thanks for the tip about the clock spring, I would have 100% let the wheel go crazy w/o the warning.