Hi everyone, I’m planning on adjusting the steering box in my 96 XJ in the next few days. There’s a bunch of slop in the steering wheel, and I have a really bad shake at around 60 MPH which I would assume is death wobble. I know my control arms aren’t in the best condition but I think the steering box is causing a majority of the shaking. I know how to adjust the box but what if I do it while it’s installed in the vehicle? The manual says to do it out of the vehicle but I don’t exactly understand why. If anyone could answer that I would really appreciate it as I just don’t want to take it out and possibly strip something out when disconnecting the lines, etc. Thanks!

 

Don't start by messing with the steering box adjustment. If that's not the problem and and you tighten the adjustment you're going to make the steering stiff and potentially damage the gearbox. If you don't understand why it should be done on the bench, then you really don't understand how to adjust it properly.

You need to figure out what's loose or misaligned in the suspension first, and it's probably not the steering box. Crawl under there and look at and feel everything while someone turns the steering wheel back and forth. The usual culprits are sloppy rod ends and track bar. Look at the steering box and make sure it's not moving with respect to the frame rail too. Check the toe-in measurement.

 

you can determine if the steering box has wear by observing the relative play between the Steering wheel, or input shaft, with respect to the Pitman arm

If there is play, normally that means the box is worn out, as they have very little adjustment available

The only way to do this properly is read the torque settings, usually in inch pounds with a dial gauge

Once you reach that setting, anything much tighter and the box will actually lock up

 

I believe that the 96s have a rubber coupler in the steering shaft that is known to go bad over time. I would check that first.