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J20 Power Steering upgrade

4K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  wm69 
#1 ·
The power steering gear box on my 1985 CJ7 is leaking badly so planned to replace with a reman unit and thought it would be a good opportunity to upgrade to the J20 variable unit from the 80's.

AutoZone has a unit listed for the 1985 J20 as Duralast 7538 with the following specs:

Input shaft dia - 0.72"
Input spline count - 26
Output shaft dia - 1.25"
Output spline count - 32

Their listing for the 1985 CJ7 is Duralast 7535 with a 0.8" input diameter and 31 spline count.

My question is will the J20 part # 7538 adapt to the CJ7 and if so does anyone have any experience using this unit?

The J20 unit is listed at $119 and the CJ7 unit at $145.

Thanks in advance for advise
 
#3 ·
H1 Hummer box will fit your power steering lines and directly bolt up. It is the bigger bore Saginaw box. The ORIGINAL J20 boxes were the bigger bore, but most of the remans people report getting from auotriellyboys are J10 boxes.

You'll also have to replace your steering shaft coupler if you use a J10/J20 box. The H1 box bolts right up.
 
#4 ·
H1 Hummer box will fit your power steering lines and directly bolt up. It is the bigger bore Saginaw box. The ORIGINAL J20 boxes were the bigger bore, but most of the remans people report getting from auotriellyboys are J10 boxes.

You'll also have to replace your steering shaft coupler if you use a J10/J20 box. The H1 box bolts right up.
Only downside is the price. My reman H1 box was double what the other options cost. :thumbdown:
 
#5 ·
The coupler should be replaced anyhow. It a common place for slop, and is worth spending 30 ro replace while the Box is off.
The j10 Box has plenty of power. I can easily turn 35" tires, with a front locker, and a 13" steering Wheel.
I also had to upgrade my drag Link and tie rod because it kept bending stock drag links.

A Lares reman j10 Box can be had at Advance Auto for under $100.

Sent from my HTC One SV using JeepForum
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the feedback.

Not so much worried about the extra muscle from the J20 since only have 30" tires and its a 4 cylinder. Mainly wanted the variable control since its pretty twitchy at highway speeds.

Think I'll try the 7538 and install new bell coupler for manual set up. Hopefully I'll get the actual J20 unit.

Jeepwhore, the H1 unit sounds tempting but at 2x cost can't really justify it for a light weight set up like I have. And you are a lucky SOB :)
 
#8 ·
J10 and J20 boxes are the same, except the J20 has the bigger bore (at least stock they did).

For what you're running either would be fine, and both have the same ratio IIRC.
 
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