thebyus
12-01-2014, 09:47 AM
The steering on the my XJ has been crap since I bought it in July. Lots of slop in the steering wheel, it wanders all over the place. Wasn't a big deal, but now I want to start road tripping in the thing and after a 4 hour trip this weekend, the steering/wandering is:
A) a PITA
B) exhausting and
C) flat out dangerous
Finally got underneath and checked it out while my son turned the wheel this morning. All the bushings are solid, the track bar and drag link bar are parallel, the drop pitman arm is working correctly.
What I found is that if you play the slop in the steering wheel, the steering shaft rotates but the wheels don't budge. Once you get through the wheel slop, everything works fine.
I found these two videos on youtube that perfectly show my problem:
Steering wheel slop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv8wIXRH0uA)
Steering shaft turning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKJ3U5bbi0s)
After trolling the threads, i found two possible solutions, either it is a steering box problem (if so, could tightening the box fix it, or I am I looking at replacing it?) or a shaft problem (though I'm not sure about this one, as the steering wheel seems to be sending the output all the way down the shaft, but there seems to be a problem with the steering shaft inputting to the box).
Would love advice/opinions -
fyi - 2001 XJ, 190K miles, lifted 6", rolling 35's, custom over-sized tie rod, drop pitman arm.
A) a PITA
B) exhausting and
C) flat out dangerous
Finally got underneath and checked it out while my son turned the wheel this morning. All the bushings are solid, the track bar and drag link bar are parallel, the drop pitman arm is working correctly.
What I found is that if you play the slop in the steering wheel, the steering shaft rotates but the wheels don't budge. Once you get through the wheel slop, everything works fine.
I found these two videos on youtube that perfectly show my problem:
Steering wheel slop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv8wIXRH0uA)
Steering shaft turning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKJ3U5bbi0s)
After trolling the threads, i found two possible solutions, either it is a steering box problem (if so, could tightening the box fix it, or I am I looking at replacing it?) or a shaft problem (though I'm not sure about this one, as the steering wheel seems to be sending the output all the way down the shaft, but there seems to be a problem with the steering shaft inputting to the box).
Would love advice/opinions -
fyi - 2001 XJ, 190K miles, lifted 6", rolling 35's, custom over-sized tie rod, drop pitman arm.