XJninja

Just picked up my first XJ about a month ago for under $500! Black 1990 Cherokee limited, auto. Been playin with it fixing some stupid stuff & I love the thing except for this messed up steering issue. The dude I got it from told me it needs a pitman arm (which makes no sense). Steering has about an extra 3" of a full turn of play when turning the wheel from left to right or right to left. Sometimes going straight the wheel is straight, some times i'ts an 3" to the right, sometimes it's 3" to the left. I was thinkin maybe the tie rod ends are shot? They look pretty beat as do the rest of all the bushings on a 188,000 mile vehicle. Anyone know whats goin on here... I hate throwin parts at something and wanna get this babies steering tight before I get her in the woods.

winston427

There are a number of different parts that affect the play in the steering. There are also an equal number of guesses as to which parts to try first. So the best bet would be to take it to a shop and have them do an inspection. Most reputable shops will give you an estimate for free, so you would only be out a little time to find out exactly what is wrong.

XJninja

Yeah... Im not a fan of taking any of my vehicles to any shop for any reason short of a trans rebuild. I do all my work myself and was kinda trying to keep it on the super low budget side. As a last resort I'll take it to a shop but was wonderin if anyone had a similar problem they could give me some hints to what Im looking for or what would cause play in the steering...