Steering Grinding

This is my first posting but I want to say thank you to everyone first. I don't know how many items I have been able to check off my list just by looking on the forum. With that said, I have searched and nothing seems to address my current issue.

My steering grinds when I turn the wheel to the 11 and 1 positions, I can feel it in the steering wheel. If I do a sharp turn (right or left) it grinds as well only louder.

My question is, Should I replace my steering gear box or my Stock tie rods? I am not very mechanically inclined but my brother who is helps me out immensely. We have checked the PS fluids, nice and clean. We have tightened up the steering rod connecting bolt to the steering box, we have gone underneath the Jeep checking to see if anything else may be binding. We have tightened up the RE adjustable trackbar. I do want to replace my Tie rods and such but I want the money to go towards taking care of any safety related parts first. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,


Puffydad

1998 Jeep Cherokee
95K
RE 3.5" lift
4.0L IL6
31" BFG ATA
Upcountry Package

check the steering shaft for play/binding. There's also a rubber rag joint in there that can wear out and cause some slop.
I had a brake line rubbing against mine

Thank you sir! I shall look into that. Anyone else with any suggestions?

its the track bar.

tighten it more, put a damn 2' bar on the ratchet on that upper bolt.

i didn't believe it either on mine, but I guarantee its that upper bolt on the track bar most likely. The bolt stretched the first time on me, after re-tightening the grind vanished. I used a 1' piece of pipe over a 14" long box wrench to get it tight enough. when i posted this same exact problem i got like 20 replies all saying track bar, and they were all correct

Thanks Jason. I saw your original thread and brought it up to my bro. I guess we'll need to throw a breaker bar on the beast.