There isn't anything about the Durango gearbox that would make anything looser, other than the fact they are all rebuilt, just like the TJ gearboxes.

You can likely find a new one from a place like PSC, but they aren't cheap.
I went with Redhead, they are also rebuilt but higher quality.

Either way you go, avoid anything made by Cardone

 

I had a Durango box on my TJ, and it definitely didn't make it any looser. The steering was much tighter, and the steering wheel had much less play. For years, my jeep box had lots of play before the tires turned... The box eventually failed. The Durango swap fixed the play issue.

I got mine at Pick N' Pull for about $70.
It looked fine in the yard but the seals leaked once it was under pressure. Just something to consider.

The only downside I noticed was that the turn radius was seemingly worse, but honestly it didn't bother me too much. It was a nice, reliable box. I can't give you any other input as those two are the only steering gears that I've ever owned.

 

Cheers, thats what I thought. From what I remember I loved the durango box when I did it on my 97. I think I'm going to do it again. Everyone has their opinions, but I think his was wrong about the durango box.

 

Talk to the folks at West Texas Offroad they may have a rebuilt box on hand or they can rebuild yours. Could also buy the kit and rebuild it yourself.

https://westtexasoffroad.wixsite.com/wtor

 

Thank you for the suggestion. I think I'm going to go against what that guy said and go with the Durango box again. I ran it once before without any problems, so why not again I say. Just wanted a second opinion since its been so long since I had that Jeep with the durango box on it.

 

Scratch that, I just realized the durango box swap isn't as easy with my 05 as it was with my 97. Looks like I'll be finding a stock box again. I may just end up going to Napa, I don't really know.

 

I've used RedHead Steering in the past for several vehicles, most recently a 79 Bronco and have had zero complaints; their shipping, customer service and timeliness refunding my core has all been great.

They really do a great job on the boxes, and they even honor group buys if you can wrangle up enough interested parties (maybe get on a few forums, including Pirate to get enough people going??) for a sweet discount.

I don't think you'd do better with a Napa rebuild, if you can afford the time commitment of mail order places.

 

Awesome, I greatly appreciate your input. I think you've convinced me just to go ahead with the RedHead. It seems to be the consensus as far as quality and price go. I'm not sure I'll have the time to wrangle up a squad to get a discount but thats a great incentive. I agree with avoiding Napa, my gut always tells me no, its just my patience that gravitates me towards their crap lol.

Would you recommend ordering through their official website, or is their a cheaper site you've used?

 

I just went through this in December. Looked at the Durango option, sounded good if you had access to a welder, etc. I don't. Looked at the local-ish pick-a-part places, they had some for decent prices, a couple hundred. But no guarantee on what you're getting. Seemed risky. Looked at Red Head & PSC. Sounded great, but very pricey for my pocket. I just kept digging until I found Detroit Axle on Ebay. Rebuilt for $425. Close to half of a Red Head, if I remember the prices correctly. Had some trouble with them shipping it, called twice to ask about it after they had sent me a waybill number but the USPS had no record of it. Finally it just showed up on the same day I got an email saying it had shipped. So a PITA, but it showed up. Looks good, installed fine no issues. No telling how long it'll last, but for now it's good. Here's a link to their Ebay site: https://www.ebay.com/itm/160980085265 Good luck, and keep us posted. BTW, mine's a 2005 also. Oh yeah, have you tried tightening the gear box using an allen wrench? If you take off the plastic Jeep shield or whatever it's called, there's place where you can tighten the gears using a box end and an allen wrench. Didn't help mine, but might be worth a shot.

 

... $425. Close to half of a Red Head, if I remember the prices correctly.

Redhead is $496 with $350 refundable core.

Their price is not terribly off target, as far as I can tell. They claim to go above and beyond the standard rebuilds, stating that they machine/replace bearing surfaces and install bearings to match.

I know that in my '79 Bronco, replacing the existing box with theirs reduced a quarter turn of steering wheel slop to zero.

I can turn the steering wheel 1/4" and the front tires move in accordance. It'd even better if I drove the thing more than 10 miles a month, but that's not in discussion here...

Mileage varies, but I will be replacing the wife's TJ steering box with Red Head when the time comes, and I will recommend that company to anyone I can.

I don't want to sound like a spokesman, but I really feel like that this is the best quality replacement I've ever installed in a vehicle.

 

I have a leaky stock steering box on my 2000 TJ. What year(s) Durango box do I need to look for?