whyt said:
My 89 XJ has developed a loose steering wheel behind the tilt assembly. I removed the wheel and tightened the heads but that doesnt help. It seems the loose part is farther in. Any ideas?
I assume you have power steering like I do. My '89 had loose steering. Unfortunately the sensation of loose steering can come from any part in the path from the steering wheel to the wheels on the ground.
One example is the little drive shaft that goes from the steering wheel shaft where it enters the engine compartment to the power steering unit. I call it a 'drive shaft' since it has U-joints at either end. At the fire-wall end of this shaft there is a rubber bushing which essentially divides the 'drive shaft' into two parts. The purpose of this bushing is to decouple road vibrations from the steering wheel so you don't feel them in your hands as you roll down the road.
The bushing is supposed to sieze against the shaft. In case the rubber bushing fails, the Jeep engineers have designed the 'drive shaft' so only about 10 degrees of turning is allowed until a metal boss contacts and prevents further rotation. If this fail-safe where not there and the rubber bushing failed, then you could rotate the steering wheel 360+ degrees without turning the rolling wheels. No steering = crash = law suit!
Ok, my bushing failed. The sensation is that when turning the wheel it 'jumps' once and then continues to turn the vehicle properly. Things seem ok thereafter until turning back the other way at which time there is another 'jump' followed by normal operation.
I've also seen a little wear in the U-joints themselves.
The solution is to replace the shaft (it is easier than it looks if you take out the intake air filter box and loosen the power steering unit).
Another likely spot is wear in the power steering unit at the output shaft bushing, or perhaps within the unit itself. Tie rod ends and the Pitman arm junction also wear.
You simply have to search the entire linkage. Get someone to turn the steering wheel back and forth a couple of degrees, then follow the rotations and look for the point where you can see motion or rotation on one side of a joint but less on the other.... Remember also that loose steering doesn't have to result from and individual cause but could simply be the sum of worn parts all along the line!
