TJ steering boxes

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Are all the early TJ steering boxes functionally the same? Up until 03ish, when they went from a Saginaw box to a Mercedes?

Is this "Dakota steering box upgrade" worth anything?

Mine is leaking, I've got a couple XJ ones in the shed that I can clean up and reseal to swap in, or I can just buy a reman, or a Dakota one... I believe the early TJ ones and XJ ones are basically the same, but the part numbers change all throughout the years and whatever, not an obvious cross.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

I did a bunch of reading, and I was remembering incorrectly, it is the Durango box that is an "upgrade". However, there seems to be a lot of debate to this, it does look like the piston is much larger, but it is a little tighter ratio. It also apparently has just a bushing to support the sector shaft, as a opposed to a bearing, and apparently this does not lead to longevity when used with a solid axle/offroad.

I hate ordering seal kits for boxes and trying to reseal them, it seems they're never the right ones and it leaves you totally screwed by the time you get that far. But if an XJ box is the same then that is an option, I might have one that doesn't even need seals.

[Scoobienorth]

Apparently the wj box is beefy as well and as good or better than the Durango box but the bolt pattern is different. That being said I broke the steering box on mine long before the d35.