steering box noise

I was looking over my xj last night trying to find way my front ned is lose and making a noise. I noticed theres a popping sounds coming from the steering box? Anyone ever have this problem? I never had a box go bad on me before what are the symtoms? Any help would be great. Thanks

check your unibody for cracks mine did that and i had a bunch oc small craks near the s.box so i welded em and made a reinforcemnet plate. noise gone. it happened because my track bar had a heim joint and it was angled wrong so it was twisting my "frame". dont know if this helps at all

That noise usually comes from the track bar. Make sure both ends are tight before you jump to any conclusions.

i have the same thing a "popping" mine happens mostly when i turn to the left. it will pop once or twice on a full turn. it also leaks a little bit from the pitman arm, never fixed it. this also caused play where the pitman arm comes out this may be that same with yours. in the end i never fixed it and it doesnt seem worse it has nothing to do with my track bar sounds like thatswhat your dealing with