Jerky steering wheel

My 01 XJ developed jerky steering a little while back, and I'm kinda stumped. I removed the steering stabilizer since it was very stiff, thinking that it was impeding the travel, but it didn't help much. It only does it when returning to center or holding a tight corner at low speed; you can see and feel the wheel jerking in increments.

The pump could stand replacing, but this seems like it would be more related to the box. The output shaft in the box has ~1/8" of play in it when turning at a standstill.

Technically it's not stock steering, I'm running Teraflex OTK with a Waggy pitman, but it was doing fine with that setup until very recently. The box and pump are stock.

Any thoughts?

have you checked the blots around the box? look for cracks around the bolts in the "frame." also does it happen in 4 wheel drive or 2 wheel or both?

ujoints ok?

2wd. Haven't tried 4wd.

Box mounting area is ok, I just put in JCR reinforcements a couple months ago.

Hmm... I'll have to check the u joints.

Well, the D/S axle joint has a bit of play. The P/S is rock solid, so I'll change the D/S tomorrow and go from there.

I'd change them both. When one goes, the other side is close behind it.

This is usually the u-joints at the outer axle shafts. It is not abnormal for the axle u-joints to bind a little bit. It is only a problem if the u-joint has failed or the symptoms get worse/noisy really fast.