Steering box question

I heard that there is a screw on top of the steering box that i guess is suppose to adjust the steering tightness im guessing is this true? Reason being is that when my xj is at a stand still on the ground and i do short turns to the left and right there is a clunking sound that i feel in the steering wheel and that you can feel by touching the front bumper why i do this.i was wondering if anyone knew of this screw that i am talking about or what it does and if it could be a possibility that it needs adjusted or something. My xj has an RE 5.5 short arm lift with a drop pitman arm and 33's. Any help would be appreciated.

Have you had someone turn the wheel back and forth while you look at your steering setup? Messing with that screw is not going to help with any type of popping.

I would look at it being something loose, pitman arm, trac bar, drag link, tie rod, TREs, the steering box itself, something along those lines.

It sounds like something loose or worn out to me. I have had a clunk like you are describing 3 times so far. twice it was the trac bar and the other time it was my sway bar bushings. But it could be a lot of things. look at the ends of your control arms too, they may be worn.

If you are hearing a popping noise when turning, it is most likely your frame side trackbar bracket.

adjusting the allen head screw/nut(atleast on my 89 steering box its an allen head screw) on the top of the steering box is the very last thing to adjust and thats only when every steering and suspension part has been tested/check out to be good.

if you do adjust it, which i would not concider yet, you need to be very careful not to damage the gears by adjusting too much. too much adjustment can damage the gears and also bind up the steering where the steering wheel will not return to center after making a turn. i adjusted the steering box on my 89 after everything checked out ok and i only needed about a 1/4 turn of the screw.

clunking while turning is definately not the reason to make this adjustment.

i would lube all the steering TRE's and tighten the trackbar axle mount bolt and frame mount bolts. also check the steering box where is mounts to the frame for cracks

did you use "lock tight" on the track bar frame mount bolts? .

More boxes get ruined by people adjusting them wrong. If you do decide to make an adjustment, you need to have the front wheels off the ground, vehicle not running and I usually adjust it very slowly just until you can feel a small bind, then back it off a quarter to half turn. Like has been said, if you over adjust the sector shaft, your box will shortly be junk.