steering wheel issue

I have a 01 xj with this weird ass steering shimmy. When I'm driving and hit a bump, the steering shimmies. You have to hold the steering wheel tight or put downward pressure on it to keep it from shimmying. It appears that something is loose or broke in the steering column or brackets. When I close my door, you can see the steering wheel shake like mad. It's almost like hitting a big coil spring, when it resonates and shakes till it stops. I had the lower dash off and I tightened the four steering column nuts down there but they were tight. I checked everything I could see under there for play and nothing. it appears the entire bracket moves just a little when you pull or shake the steering wheel (almost as if it's plastic and bendable). I found this picture:



It shows two steering column bracket bolts up near the windshield. These I cannot check cuz I'm not sure how to get access to them. Do you have to take off the entire dash to get to em? Any short cuts to getting access to em?

Is there any other explanation for this annoying steering wheel shimmy? I been dealing with it for 2.5 years now. I replaced everything from the steering box down and it did nothing so I know it's something within the steering column. The jeep was in a front end accident with the PO but appears to be rebuilt properly.

I'm sick of my numb hands from holding the steering column steady.


I post this question a while back but I can't find the thread now so I started another one to see if there's anyone who can figure this out.

Yes, I don't think you will get to those without pulling the dash.

Any chance it is a tilt column and just worn out?

joe_peters said:

Yes, I don't think you will get to those without pulling the dash.

Any chance it is a tilt column and just worn out?

Click to expand...

Not sure how to tell if it's bad or not. The shimmy seems to be coming from the whole column.