Steering Shaft Problem

I was doing a little time wasting, and was looking through the tech messages, and I found a thread back in October of 2002. It was about steering slopp. After reading through all of the threads and finding out about all of the work that was done to prevent the problem, and yet it still existed a little or the same, it sounded like the problem I had. I had my front steering completely rebuilt with new parts, and I still had some wandering. One day I was taking a corner and WOW!, the steering wheel turned but the jeep didn't. I finally found the hidden problem. My steering shaft at the firewall at the rubber vibration dampner was bad. The rubber dampner turned freely and was loose from the metal. I found out by researching with my jeep dealer, that this is a more common problem than one would think. More people spend allot of money on lower steering rebuilds, when allot of the problem was actually the shaft. Unfortunately, it is a Dealer or junkyard item. I have be unsuccessful in finding anyone who carries a repair kit or inexpensive replacement shaft. New ones run around 200.00 to 300.00. Any ideas from the group?? Is it possible to drill and run a bolt through the sleeve to prevent the shaft from slipping?? Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks,
Casper
member #40

Sorry I don't have any sugestions but thanks for the info, I'll be looking into that as one of many possible solutions. I've been thinking that I may have to have my steering box rebuilt.

Thanks Scott. Hope things work out for you and yours. Our prayers and love are with you and your Family.

Casper

Keith, try Borgeson ....they make replacement shafts for Jeeps, not sure about the XJ. Let us know what you find.
http://www.borgeson.com

XJEEPER

Casper,

What vintage XJ are you having this problem with? Is it a GM or Mopar column?

My '87 has the GM steering column so replacement parts are pretty easy to come by. If yours has the same you may try looking for listings on GM vehicles. Sometimes the aftermarket doesn't cross reference us.

I ran into this too. Nobody but the dealer had the part. I was able to get wholesale so it was not too bad and it helped. But I remember noticing after I did it that I think the YJ part number was the same as the XJ. I could have been wrong though. There are some universal ones out there like from flamng river. Borgeson said they could make one or find one that would fit if I would send them one, but I would look into the YJ part first.
Dustin