Popping sound when turning steering wheel
#1
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Year: 1985
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 2.5L
Popping sound when turning steering wheel
This morning when I was pulling out of the driveway I heard a slight pop when turning the steering wheel. At work I had someone turn the wheel as I listened and with the hood up I could hear a barely audible pop when the wheel is turned with the engine off. It seems that the steering box is moving slightly back and forth as the wheel turns. Would this simply be loose bolts, cracked frame rail, or possibly the spacers behind the box?
This is an 85xj with 2.5L. All original except for adding in the WJ tierods. I hope to be able to get in there and check it all out this weekend if the weather doesn't turn off rainy or snowy, not pleasant to work in the open when it is like that Just wondering where to start and what to look for.
This is an 85xj with 2.5L. All original except for adding in the WJ tierods. I hope to be able to get in there and check it all out this weekend if the weather doesn't turn off rainy or snowy, not pleasant to work in the open when it is like that Just wondering where to start and what to look for.
#3
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Year: 1995
Model: Cherokee (XJ)
Engine: 4.0L
I'd go though and make sure everything is nice and tight, inspecting for cracks or worn components along the way. Ensuring everything is tight and looking around is free.
#6
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Year: 1985
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 2.5L
If there is a crack there in the frame rail, would one of the plates that goes under the steering gear and has the brace that connects to the opposite side be a fix for that?
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#8
Old fart with a wrench
Sometimes the internal ball bearings that are the actual gear teeth fracture and start catching in the roller grooves causing a popping sound. The steering gear is a recirculating ball type in which there are ball bearings in a tube that feed thru the worm and sector and then thru the tube back into the other end, so it sound doesn't happen with any regularity, just occasionally, unless many of they are fractured. This happened on my Chevy truck after I hit a rock with the pitman arm. Both the Chevy and jeeps are Saginaw.
Last edited by dave1123; 11-08-2018 at 09:33 PM.
#9
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Year: 1985
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 2.5L
I grease the uppers regularly, but the lowers don't have a fitting on them. Thinking about replacing them since they are 30+years old and I know the original owner never changed them. Remarkably for an 85 model it still only has 185K miles and I put the last 40k on it myself in four years.
Original front suspension parts are upper and lower ball joints and all control arm bushings. The rest I have replaced or upgraded since I got it, and I bought it from the original owner. Needing a set of rear springs and bushing too, but trying to get the front done first.
Original front suspension parts are upper and lower ball joints and all control arm bushings. The rest I have replaced or upgraded since I got it, and I bought it from the original owner. Needing a set of rear springs and bushing too, but trying to get the front done first.
#10
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Year: 1985
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 2.5L
Sometimes the internal ball bearings that are the actual gear teeth fracture and start catching in the roller grooves causing a popping sound. The steering gear is a recirculating ball type in which there are ball bearings in a tube that feed thru the worm and sector and then thru the tube back into the other end, so it sound doesn't happen with any regularity, just occasionally, unless many of they are fractured. This happened on my Chevy truck after I hit a rock with the pitman arm. Both the Chevy and jeeps are Saginaw.
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