Don’t think this can happen to you? Think again! With the installation of a lift kit, big oversized tires and a dropped pitman arm, more side loading will be placed on the sector shaft of your steering box (which in factory configuration is a single shear mount) and more and more people that I know are starting to damage or break theirs. As a matter of fact, I have broken my sector shaft as well and when yours breaks – you’re walking!!
Fortunately for us, there is an answer to this problem and it is the all NEW bolt on EVO 1015 Sector Shaft Brace. Developed by our good friends over at Off Road Evolution, the EVO 1015 Sector Shaft Brace is a bolt on item that double shears the shaft and therefore helps to alleviate some of the side loading on it.
Features:
• Bolt on installation (Drilling of two holes required)
• Double shears the sector shaft inside of the JK steering box
• Helps to alleviate side loading on sector shaft.
• Can be used with any suspension kit that has a drop trackbar bracket on the frame side (i.e. like the kind that Full Traction, Rancho and Rubicon Express makes).
Needless to say, if you are running 35″ tires or taller and play hard on the trails, this really is a must have upgrade and I would highly recommend it. For more information about the EVO 1015 Sector Shaft Brace, please contact Off Road Evolution by email at: mel.wade@offroadevolution.com or by phone at: (714) 870-5515. Or, visit their website at: www.offroadevolution.com
Eddie
Nice. I’ve seen sector shaft braces available for Dodge trucks, though they were a slightly different design.
I wonder why this is now a problem on JKs though, when it wasn’t really a cause for concern on previous Jeeps?
on previous jeeps, big tires used to mean a set of 33’s. on the jk, 35’s are an upgrade you can get to with a 2.5″ budget boost. likewise, the steering boxes on at least the early tj’s were much stronger than what the jk’s have now.
Yeah it’s cheaper and easier to fit 35s on an JK, but 35s are now the norm on both XJs and TJs too, and have been for a many years now (shoot, we’ve had 35s on both our rigs for nearly 6 years now and we were late to the game), so if they were going to be plagued with similar sector shaft issues, they’d have shown up long ago. I think you must right about the JK having a weaker box, which is strange considering the JK is bigger and heavier than the TJ…
While it’s disappointing to hear about the issues JKs seem to be having (bending inner Cs, broken sector shafts…) it’s awesome to see Off Road Evolution responding so quickly with products to address those problem areas. Kudos to them!
Eddie,
Do you have a straight-on shot? I’m wondering if it would interfere with my ORO Kilby setup…
js.
i don’t but it shouldn’t. ore has a similar setup and have no issues with it.