1990 Jeep Laredo gearbox rebuild

INSANSK8ER90

MEMBER
1990 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE LAREDO
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
175,000 MILES

Ok so my power steering gear box was leaking. So I figured I would do a rebuild myself! Pita! First time I moved the piston to far out and lost the ball, and put the old o-ring for the end cap in by accident. So it leaked bad, pull the gearbox, and tested it with soap and water to be sure. It was the end cap. Pulled retainer ring, and end cap blew off with the piston throwing the balls everywhere! Opps forgot to turn the air off! So I cant find 1 of the balls! There should be 24 and I have 23 im ready to put it back together. So my question is!
should I be concerned about that 1/4in ball? A quater in ball missing wiould increase space between each ball by about 1.1mm if I did my math right!

3 Replies

BEEF99

MEMBER
152 POSTS

Yes, it would allow the balls to smash against eacheother through the back and forth movement and make the gear box wear a lot faster than it should and may not last more than a month and could last less or maybe a little longer. It is paramount that you find it or find one to replace it through a junk yard donor or make one. If you allow them to remain with the one missing, you could also ruin the casing and then you would have to start over with another one. Basically what you would end up with is a waste of money and probably could have almost bought a rebuilt one for all the money put into parts + your time.