Check out these pictures of a Jeep Wrangler steering box. The shaft is clean broken off. This would make the car undriveable, and probably leave you out in the middle of nowhere.

Starting in about 2003, Chrylser changed suppliers from Saginaw to Mercedes. Saginaw had been the primary steering supplier to Chrylser going back to the 1960’s. When Daimler bought out Chrylser it tried to cut some costs and put a 140 chassis mercedes box on the jeep.

You can see that the box is not the same as the old design, so you cannot swap them over. That is unfortunate. The Saginaw box is a bit longer and bigger, so you would need to do some modification to the steering gear or the steering layout.

I’m not entirely sure what the moral of the story is. Jeep Wranglers are still fun, so just something to be careful of. Someone will probably build a better system soon.

Seen me your comments or suggestions.