adjusting steering box

just need to know which bolt i'm supposed to loosen to tighen the steering box. is it the one right under the fan shroud? its a '97.

Almost impossible to adjust in the vehicle, that top adjuster is mostly a center over adjuster and when too tight, can cause the steering to bind (danger). The adjustment ring on the imput shaft, is the more relavent and hard, to impossible, to adjust with the box in the truck.
What´s wrong with the box, is the sector shaft moving up and down? Or does there seem to be left and right play?

theres a little bit of left and right play before the pitman arm moves.

i've had sloppy steering for like a year and a half, and finally got my angles and such right...so i figured i'd finish the job. its not to bad right now, but it would be nice to get it back to a stock feeling.

so you're saying i should just forget about it for now, or at least untill i can pull it out all of the way. if i do that, how can i tell if i've gone too far... as far as binding?

I tried one years ago, almost had a catastrophy. Finally read the step by step in the Chitons, worked out OK, but didn´t last long, most of the play was in the ball bearing drive, bearings were fairly worn. Finally put in a rebuild. Most times the wander in the front was the track bar bushing and/or alignment. The little slop in the box, didn´t affect it much.
The binding happens when you tighten the top adjuster, when the ring is tightened on the imput, you can feel when it gets tight, thing turns pretty easy without the pitman attached. The spec.s are in the Chiltons and the FSM. The setting on the top adjuster is like 4-5 inch pounds, and the input shaft thrust, has to be adjusted before the top adjuster. An inch pound or two to much and the sucker can get real stiff real fast, takes some miles for it to wear in and the heat tightens it up a touch more=disaster. Made that mistake.

does it make any popping noises when you cycle your wheel?

i dunno. i've gotten so used to the random pops and creaks coming from my jeep, i guess i've tuned them out. its not the track bar if thats what you're getting at though. off of the top of my head, i'd say no...there are no noises present anymore when i cycle my wheel (except for a slight rubbing of the oem bushing of the track bar). my steering set up has come a long way since i started dropping all of my dough into this contraption. i'm currently running a combination of orgs mounts and a rusty's/bulletproof style OTK steering. i am satisfied for the first time since lifting my jeep with that stuff (although a little weary of the stress on the pass. side knuckle). i just thought i could try and get it back to a stock feeling while i was putting on a new air filter. but i don't want to jump on this if i can't comprehend the procedure. i had simply remembered a post during a search a few weeks back that gave me the info. i can't seem to find it anymore though. apparently its not as easy as some of the people in that post made it sound. usually i can figure everything out by the info i get off of this board, but i guess i'll have to go buy a chilton's. thanks for the help though guys.

Probably one of those things, you get away with, until you don´t. I cut a corner and tightened the center over adjustment, without first setting the input shaft adjustment, drove for awhile and all of a sudden, it got real tight during a turn and I almost ran into a retaining wall, one of those lessons, a person doesn´t forget.
The FSM, does a better job of discribing the procedure than Chiltons does, I just happened to have a Chiltons handy.
Most of my problem truned out to be scuffed/worn balls, in the worm drive. Not all were worn, just some, a lot, best guess would be a bad batch of balls (pun intended). And some wear on the sector shaft.

The original box in my '88 MJ was so loose that the adjustment screw was already tightened down as far as it would go, and the sector shaft still wobbled where it exits the box.

8Mud is correct, the procedure calls for setting the worm bearing preload first, and THEN adjusting the over center lash screw. And the FSM has this done on a bench, out of the vehicle. I have done the over center adjustment in vehicles, but the reason I dare take this on is that I used to work on AMC vehicles and their FSM procedure was to do it in the vehicle. I've done enough that I have a feel for how far I can go. I don{t recommend this to folks who haven't done it before.

If you must try, be sure the steering box is pointing straight ahead, because there is more lash (free play) off center. And do not try to take very last bit of lash out, or you'll destroy the box like 8Mud found out about.

8Mud, how do you adjust the ring on the input shaft? What does it do? I tightened my screw on the top of the box and it got tighter on center, but there is still about 2 inches of dead play at the steering wheel. The pitman shaft moves very slightly left and right while turning. What does that mean? Is my box bad, or is this normal?

You loosen the lock ring at the imput shaft, back off the centering screw (on top), and with a spanning wrench, tighten the ring, while turning the imput shaft with a inch pound torque wrench, tighten to inch pound specifications. When your done, you then tighten the centering nut, to specs. Whole operating, requires finding the center of travel.
Better look up the exact spec.s and procedure in a manual. Type of job I always do with the book handy.
Depends on where the play is, if it´s a little throughout the whole box, an adjustment can be benefitial, if it´s one very worn component, probably won´t help much and/or for long. And can be more problem, than cure.

8Mud said:

You loosen the lock ring at the imput shaft, back off the centering screw (on top), and with a spanning wrench, tighten the ring, while turning the imput shaft with a inch pound torque wrench, tighten to inch pound specifications. When your done, you then tighten the centering nut, to specs. Whole operating, requires finding the center of travel.

Click to expand...

The factory service manual calls for this to be done on the bench. It can be done in the vehicle, but it does require that all steering linkage be disconnected so you're not trying to move anything more than just the box. You can leave the pitman arm on the box and pop the draglink off at the upper end. You also have to disconnect the box from the steering column -- otherwise there's no way to pit the torque wrench on the input shaft.

What this adjustment is doing is setting the worm gear bearing preload. If the worm bearing itself is bad or if the pitman shaft bushing/bearing is bad, this adjustment won't help you, nor will the over-center adjustment help you.

My pitman shaft moves very slightly left and right, maybe a mm or 2. Is my box bad or is this just normal?

Play in the front is accumulative, a little here a little there and it all adds up. Throw in a little out of alignment and/or tall sidewalls and you get an unacceptable amount of wander. A steering box adjustment, is often a very small part of the problem.
I´ve put a block of wood and big C-clamp, holding the pitman arm solid, took some of the wieght off of the wheels (jack the axle up a bit), grabbed a tire front and rear and given it a good twist. Tells you pretty quick, where most of the play is. Lift the tires 6 inches off of the ground and pry up and down vigourously, under the tire with a long bar or 2X4 board, take a close look at the ball joints, a click or most any noticeable play in the joints, it´s time for attention.
Locking/blocking the steering wheel (with the wheels raised a bit), and shaking the pitman back and forth. Might be another method, to access the play in the box. The U joint in the steering column, is also worth a look (usually where I jam the column down, to check the box for play).
Have seen a few boxes, with mild play. Most times, a new trac bar, seemed to have much more affect, than a steering box adjustment. After the trac bar, alignment, control arm bushings and tie rod ends, would probably be higher on my list, of wander reduction, than the box, in many instances.

Yeah, I have checked everything. The thing is, I took a pair of pliers and turned the box where the steering shaft meets the input on the box, and I can move it a little with no movement from the pitman arm. Its not like I am all over the road or anything, but the steering is not nearly as tight as my cousins S-10, and his truck has the exact same steering box. I don't get it. Maybe just the design of the solid front axle. I have actually had several steering boxes and the problem has been the same, but I swear the joints are ok, I get the play by twisting the input on the box and seeing the pitman arm not move. Maybe I'm too sensitive to it, but I would like tight, sporty steering, not a wheel that I can rock back and forth on the highway and keep going perfectly straight.

I got a little anal, with a steering box, guy at jeep adjusted it and did an alignment, after I´d bounced the XJ, off of a guard rail. I couldn´t leave it alone and tigntened it some more, a little too tight, almost had a repeat of the guardrail experience, but with a retaining wall (box grabbed and got real stiff, quick). A few months later my box was toast, always figured I´d tightened it a bit too much, heat did it in.
Felt pretty comfortable, adjusting the box, had done it before, on a bigger version of the same box, no problem. Since then, I don´t tighten them, unless the play is excessive. Once burnt, twice shy.
Eagle probably has more experience with the Jeep boxes than I do.