Groaning/Whining noise when I'm turning left

Since I've gotten my 96 Classic on the road, I've been having this groan, almost like a power steering pump whine coming from my steering, but it only does it when I turn left. I thought it was my leaky steering box, so I swapped for a YJ box and it's still there. I'm pretty sure it's coming from my steering column because when I had the box out, when I turned the wheel to the left, it was still whining. Now I'm beginning to develop a squeal when I'm turning too, which I'm sure it's coming from the column too. It's getting pretty annoying. I've searched and only thing I found was the boot on the firewall needs lube, which may be where my squeal is from.

I haven't checked my rag joint to see what the condition is.

Ideas?

pumps are what usually make the whine

ehall said:

pumps are what usually make the whine

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Yeah but the steering box was out of the jeep and is still whining. It even whines when the jeep is off, and still only to the left.

Some kind of bearing that's dry maybe?

bump, nobody?

I don't know of anything that would produce a whine while the jeep was off.

Except mother in law maybe :rof: Probably ought to take it in and pay for diag time

Yeah I've never heard of anything like that before. Is there a breakdown of the column assembly?

Well after driving it some more and listening to it, I think there's some kind of bearing or something that's dry inside of the column that's causing the noise.

Maybe I'll try to dig in this weekend and see what it could be.

you've got the other half of my column-- mine does it to the right. I'm gonna dig in and tighten the tilt mechanism and grease anything I can find at the same time-- just waiting on some free time or the annoyance level to rise....

Sounds like you and I are on the same road.

If you or anyone you know has a column breakdown, it would be appreciated

ANOTHER UPDATE

Spent a little bit troubleshooting, looks like it's all coming from the lower bearing right at the firewall. Tried spraying some industrial lube to see if it helped, didn't do anything.

Is that bearing replaceable or do I need another steering column?