centuryhouse

I am trying to do the steering box adjustment on my 2000 XJ (4.0L).

I am using the 5/8" wrench on the nut, but there appears to be NO allen wrench that will fit the allen screw in the center.

I tried using a 3/16 (too big) and a 5/32 (too small). None of the metrics appear to fit either.

What size wrench are you guys using for that allen screw?

DFlintstone

You might try the 3/16 again, you know how allen's can be funny. It's not a bad idea to just go 1/6 a turn at a time and sneak up on it. I got lucky and backed mine back off before any real damage was done.

Epk5150

No such thing as doesnt fit haha. In my experience with allen wrenches, its best to go one step up from too small and gently tap it in there. Its better for it to be too tight than too loose. Lots of innuendos there but you get the point. There have been many instances where I thought the allen was too big and it turned out it was just right. Sometimes built up crud on the bolt causes it to seem too big.

centuryhouse

There it is! I sprayed it down real well and cleaned it out as best I could, and was able to force the 3/16 allen into place.

Thanks for that. I thought I'd already used enough force, but I hadn't.

As to the adjustment, my steering has felt like it has been wandering lately, with a lot of play. No alignment issues or uneven tire wear though. And there is a little clunking in the front end over small bumps etc., although that may be unrelated. I can't find anything that looks particularly worn or loose in the front end though.

So I decided to adjust. I did a 1/4 turn of the allen (like from 12 o'clock position to 3 o'clock). I hope that will help, but I have to put everything back together in order to test drive.

Thanks for the info. I had been unable to find out what size allen wrench it was from a Google search, so maybe this will help someone else looking it up.

DFlintstone

I jacked mine up and looked really closely for play moving the wheels. Found play in the Pittman arm and changed it, but still had some play....Then took a gamble that I could get some play out with the adjustment.

I'm a fairly seasoned wrench and my Jeep had 270K on it, (12 years of gravel/washboard as well). I'm just throwing out a word of caution, that adjustment really should be done on the bench, it can go really wrong, ruin the box, and usually the play is somewhere else. Nobody should be in any hurry to jump in there and mess with that.

Turbo X_J

True, if the steering box is "sloppy" it's trashed. The over center adjustment is used for initial assembly and nothing more.

Bustedback

You're doing more harm than good by messing with that adjustment. Find your clunk and you will find the slop.

DFlintstone

I don't know guys. I successfully got quite a bit of play out of my steering adjusting mine on my 90. Ditto once years ago on an old F-250......

DFlintstone

Agreed.

md21722

The cumulative slop in aging front end steering linkage, track bar, bearings, and bushings can give you extra play in the steering. I recently rebuilt the front end on my 01 XJ that has 320,000 miles and its very tight. It wasn't too bad before, but now its better. I was looking to eliminate slop when hitting bumps, etc. All parts except the track bar and one wheel bearing were original.