BROKEN Steering Box Output Shaft!

(Hi folks, I ain't posted in awhile....)

OK so my '92 Ex with 6" skyjacker (front) and SOA rear has very largely been a daily driver for awhile.

The other day at work while leaving for lunch the steering stopped steering!

Apparently (as evidenced by the pics) the steering box output shaft had partly fractured at some point, and went ahead and broke off while pulling out of the parking lot... (Glad I wasn't on the road!)

I run a FA600 (correct part number???) drop pitman - not sure if it adds to the loading on the shaft or not. I run 33x12.50x15 A/T tires on 8" rims.

Moral of the story is... might be worth checking your truck for signs of a stressed or cracked steering box output shaft!!!

(sorry about the weird pic sizes)

Wow!!

I had this same problem on my 91 except I just happen to see it before it broke. I had about 6 hairline fractures running up the splines of the shaft.

Dear god!!if that thing breaks wile driving it would be all over!!i will be looking at mine daily now!!

Holy crap!

I have seen it a couple of times and usually occurs after the front end received an impact.

I was wheeling with DiffWhackDaddy about a year and ahalf ago, and he broke his clean off when his spotter was watching an obstacle, but didn't see the rut sticking out of the ground....DWD hit it square on, and broke the shaft clean off.

We took the box off his sons BII, and got him back on the trail.

Luckily there was a couple other guys on their way up to where we were....and they brought a box so his son could go wheeling the next day...

Ryan

swetrid I'm not recalling any heavy impacts to my Ex - since I owned it anyway.

Local parts house, DID have one in stock though... hmmmmm
$145 + $80 core... my core is no good obviously!

So I pulled one off my part rig. Oddly, it had a real nice coat of black paint on it, and it was nice and tight too. A replacement maybe? hmmmmm

Yep, another thing now on my checklist during oil changes - right along with front wheel bearings, ball joints, etc...

Keven (dwd), Chris (with his ranger), and I (exploder) all have broken or slector shafts off. The fix for all of us? hydraulic assist steering... check out PSC or redneck ram. All of our rigs have solid axles but you could make it work with ttb and it would take the stress off your pitman arm and steering box.

This is also a problem on the super dutty trucks, thats why ford went to a bigger shaft in 05 or 06 and newer F250 and 350 trucks...