how do i ajust the gear box for slop?

i have some nasty slop in the steering wheel of my 98 xj, it is lifted 3" and the tie rods and ball joints are good just added a new STOCK stabilizer and the problem is still there. any advise would be great thanks

before thinking it's your steering box, have a friend go down and look at the pitman arm/draglink while you just shimmy the steering wheel in the slop region. That way..if you're moving the wheel, and the pitman arm is not turning...then you know the box is your problem. If it is moving, then it's with your steering linakages.

if it is box, you can adjust the rack gear up and down a little to change backlash and such. But that adjustment is fairly slight, and you would probabaly not feel much slop in the steering wheel even if it isn't adjusted properly.

_nicko_

check your trackbar attachments for slop.

check the u-joints that connect the steerign wheel to the steerign box, as well as all links after that as described above (with two people) i have to let you know that setting up the preload on the sector shaft of the steerign box takes a little bit of effort find a fsm or some equivilant (might have it in chiltons) to show ya how to tighten it. with that being said i had loose steerign after messing with my box and i just tightened (actually loosened) the allen bolt on the cover of the box till there was very slight tention and the slop went away. it has been this way for 8-10k and been fine but i can't recomend doing it this way.

thanks for the help turned out to be the box is bad. off to the junk yard i go