Stiff Steering Annoyances

[FiveNdime]

The stiffness isnt the cause of the set screw on top being to tight as that would effect the whole range of steering. This is a valving issue, for sure. Its an easy mistake to make while building it if you get the large adjustment nut to far one way or the other it will cause stiff/high resistance while steering in a certain direction. I have another box sitting on the shop floor right now so once i get that in I will be either singing praise, or very unhappy. I will post up tonight if I get it in. Thanks for the help.

 

[FiveNdime]

Update: I installed the new steering box and more new fluild and bled the system. lets just say Im still not satisfied. The new box made it much better and now i can dry steer just fine aired up, but not aired down. So I was thinking it cant possibly be the pump and box since there has been 3 of each in there with near same results. I got to poking around a bit more and noticed one thing I didnt before. The drivers side ball joints are moving up and down very very little when I jack the rig up then lower it down. Passenger side doesnt do this. My guess is that there bad and that is causing the stiffness because it steers great jacked up but with the weight of the rig on the steering its no good. I will be changing them out on the drivers side here soon, and updating the progress.

 

[souske]

Dont think stock XJ power steering was designed for lock-lock turns aired down on the street :gee:

 

[FiveNdime]

Dont think stock XJ power steering was designed for lock-lock turns aired down on the street :gee:

Designed or not, it was working fine for years prior so it should work now. I also talked to my local 4x4 shop that's been in the business for at least 30 years....and they said I should have no issue. The box on our XJ's is very capable of handling 35's aired down. Its heat that kills them with no cooler.

 

[FiveNdime]

Anyone think that the ball joints could be the issue with my steering?

 

[TORX]

With the front end off the ground, pop the tie-rod off and see how easy it is to turn each knuckle. I'd think if there's enough resistance to bug down the pump, you could feel it by hand.

 

[FiveNdime]

I guess I should update my progress in trying to fix this issue. I went ahead and replaced both sides with new Spicer ball joints and Does turn much smoother and better now, but I am still having that nasty stiff steering problem when I jerk the steering wheel in either direction. I thinkits going to a shop to check pump and box pressures to rule out those. I also have access now to a known good steering box to swap in if the one I currently have is yet again bad.

The Jeep will now dry steer aird down.

 

[FiveNdime]

Heading to my local 4x4 shop tonight. One of the guys said he would come back later after work to help me out on it to save me a few bucks in shop time. WAY COOL! A big thanks to Woody's 4x4 here in Vancouver Washington. Anyway we plan to hook the box and pump up to some pressure gauges to see what they are doing as I steer to see if we can nail down a problem. He also said he had a known good box that he would let me swap on for a decent price, also very nice of him. I just hope we can resolve this stiff steering mess and post up for future readers of this problem.