Let's talk steering...

Here's some history.. My Jeep one day started to get very strange steering quirks. It pops and knocks sometimes and I can't tell whats wrong. First it deffinitly was the trac-bar (Rusty's). I swapped it out for an RE with and HD mount. Things seemed to get better from there but not for long. I went wheeling once, not even that hardcore, and she was loose again and now the steering wheel is off center. Now when I turn the wheel I notice a shutter in the tire at a certain point. I got underneath it and noticed that a tie rod end was shot. I hav since replaced the tie rod end which tightened it up a bit but its still somewhat noisy.
-If my Jeep is off and I shake the wheel back and forth I can here a knocking/popping noise.
-The shutter in the wheel is going from completely turned left going back to straight and if you turn the wheel back in forth in that area the tire will repeatedly shitter and make something like a pop/click.
-When I back out of my driveway my rear tires obviously go first and then my drivers front goes because of the way I turn out and my steering will pop or clunk when that tire falls off the maybe 2" drop from my driveway to the street.
Everything is tight, some things are new, everythings been greased and this is truly driving me nuts.
If you can help me out please do.

BTW specs are 00 4.0 4x4 but the front end is a Hp D30 out of an 1996 but it has my 00 steering and brakes on it.

-Andrew

sounds like the steering box to me

I looked again and it seems to be making a knock noise here....but I don't know much about the steering box and I don't know what to fix.





Andrew

Based on what you have said it sounds like the Steering box this time! Rebuilts are available (got mine at A-Zone). Mine is a rebuilt, solved one of my recent front end noise problems. Most of my front end parts are new. They all died seperately, one at a time over the last 18 months, 245,000 miles.

How much was a rebuild?...and my Jeep doesn't even have 100k on it yet!!


Andrew

It was under $150 as I recall, maybe as little as $80-?. Don't recall exactly, but it seemed reasonable.

100,000 miles sounds too early for a steering box failure to me, but I keep hearing people here getting bad parts right out of the new part box, so who knows for sure.

Keep looking first, might still be a bad bushing, or joint somewhere that you missed. Take it to a front end specialist, alignment/tire shop and ask them to check it. Many will check it for free (do their own wiggle tests).

Prop open your hood.

Stand next to the Jeep and wiggle the steering wheel back and forth.

Look at the joint in the picture.

If the steering wheel side moves and the other side doesn't you need to replace the steering shaft. There is a plastic bushing in that joint that gets worn out. You can't replace the bushing you need to replace the shaft.

So far I've had luck with the one I pulled from the junkyard. Others say go with new.

If you pull one from the junkyard keep the bolts that go on the input shaft to the steering box and steering wheel. They are different between the years.

Could be the steering box. I'd check the ball joints too. Especially if the noise is at the end of the steering range.

Hey karstic, are you talking about the plastic tab in that thing. Because mine for some reason in the center region (steering wheel) can be moved a bit before the shaft starts turning.

pete

Make sure the bolts holding the steering box to the frame are tight and that the frame has not cracked where the box mounts.

The bolts around it are tight, the box itself is tight and the frame is fine. Karstic I tried what you said and they both seemed to move. Some one mentioned ball joints, they too are in great condition. I've gone over the steering numerous times every nut and bolt is tight, new tie-rod ends, trac-bar is tight, everything seems fine...its getting worse (the noise and feel) my Jeep now has somewhat of a weird left hand turn characteristic and it jiggles at around 60-65..

I need a whole new box huh?

Andrew

For the time and effort involved, and safety I would not mess with anything other than swaping it out for a rebuilt unit. Especially if everything is good and tight now.

The rebuilts are not that expensive.

If you are really tight on cash or time and desperate you could look up the how to directions for adjusting the steering gear for wear to tighten it up and try to get some more life out of it until you can afford to replace it, or until you have time to replace it.

Just be real carefull to follow the correct directions precisely if you tighten it up.

Do not over tighten it (I am told) or it can cause other problems with steering response!!!!!! and increase steering part wear.

I might add that since the track bar and a tie rod already wore out even at 100,000 miles on yours, that increases the likely hood of it being the steering box, if all the other parts (ball joints, bushings, tie rods...) are solid. Mine followed the same path, tie rod, track bar, steering box each about three months apart. But at 240,00 miles. I bought mine at 220,000 miles, so for all I know this is third front end on mine.

Trac-bar didn't wear out I just put almost 5" of lift in it so I needed a new one and decided to go with the RE HD...My tie rod also hadn't been destoyed but the tie-rod end connecting the Tie rod to the drag link was stripped. So I will have it rebuilt or find a junkyard one.

Thanks for the help fellas. I'll see how this turns out, I may still have some questions.


Andrew