1974 Cj5 Steering Box

I have a 1979, disc brake dana 30 I want to put in my 1974 cj5. I have read the pitman arm is clocked differently on later model axles and the box is at a slightly different angle. I am upgrading to power steering. Should I use a '74 or '79 box and should the pitman arm be clocked as if it's a '79 or '74? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Pardon if I ask - why do you want to replace the axle? You can put the knuckles from the '79 axle on your '74 axle and have disk brakes. They are both Dana 30s. Either of those power steering gears will bolt to your existing steering gear bracket. The clocking is not in the steering gear but in the pitman arm. If you use a pitman arm from a '72-75 the clocking will be right for your existing bracket.

 

The box has a blind spline so not easy to change that.
The pitman also has a blind spline but that can be carefully filed out with a triangle needle file.
The important thing is that you use a pitman with larger eye to fit the power box shaft. Also the pitman must be of an appropriate length and drop if required.

 

The location of the master spline in the steering gear should be the same. The difference I know for sure is in the Pitman arm. ‘72-‘75 is clocked different from ‘76 and newer

 

Sounds right to me Nick.
In some instances one is better off using one of the various length saginaw pitman arms that were on GM vehicles.
I prefer to mount my Saginaw boxes parralell to the Jeep frame and so cutting into a blind spline is often required.

 

x2 ,the cast mount on your 74 will work fine for your new power gear even if it had a manual steering gear mounted to it. I preferred to use a later model power gear because they were a bit slower boxes. OLDTIME is correct, if a later model box and pitman arm is used you will need to remove the blind spline in your pitman arm. It will need clocking probably one or two splines. Easy to do with a v file. Note that you will need the pump for a later model also. The later models used o-ring hose fittings whereas the intermediates used flair fitting hoses. Having a pump and gear with matching hose fitting makes acquiring hoses much easier.

 

Years ago I bought a non keyed drop pitman from the jeep guy. The present flat pitman, also unkeyed, came from R&P4wd when we did the high steer. Just something to keep in mind.

My last steering gear was a variable ratio which was great. Slow to react in the middle, getting faster the more you turn. So you get great road manners and less lock to lock turns on the trails.

The present redhead gear is a big bore variable ratio from some 70’s Cadillac based on redheads recommend, and the input , output shafts, fittings and bolt pattern were the same as the cj gear. Just something to think about.

 

Thank you all for the information given here. I was given a front axle from a 79 when I purchased a dana 44, to replace the amc 20 someone had put in the rear of my 74. I just figured since I was putting in a locker I would just swap the whole axle. I now know I could have just swapped the knuckles. Learning all the time......