I have been running a Gen2 steering box in my 89 LWB Montero for the last 2 years. In that time I broke 2 pitman arm stubs off. Both stationary so thank god no disasters. I pulled a Gen1 gear box and pitman arm and compared them side by side. the Gen2 pitman arm is just under an inch longer. I am assuming this is causing the front end to bind up causing excessive wear and breaking of the pitman arm. I looked at changing the pitman arm for a Gen1, but the splines are too different to work. Sucks, but I guess without some more reverse engineering, Gen1 steering boxes are the safest route to go when your old one fails... Just a heads up to those people who have done the upgrade.

Ouch! Glad you're safe. I've lost steering twice in different vehicles. One at 70mph the other while pulling out of a driveway. Not something I care to repeat.

If you can install the gen2 idler arm, that should elimintate any binding.

I've had the GenII box and idler for 3 years with zero issues with binding. That's on 35's too and wheeling the teetotal piss out of it. Sounds like you've got an isolated issue...

Should I put a Gen 1 Box on my Gen 2 when it goes bad? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Is that a Georgian word? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

He's running the gen 2 steering gear with the Gen 1 idler, that must be the issue.

My thought too. If the pitmann is longer, the idler must be longer, too. This would at best cause some mismatched steering angles.

whew! i swapped to a gen 2 box and this post had me concerned until i read that so long as i swap the idler too the set up is solid. i did just that - lucky hunch. thanks for the follow up posts guys! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I never swapped the idler, I stole my box from the Raider so I will just install the box and idler in the Raider. Glad it could be clarified.