Vgonman

I just got my first Jeep. It's a '93 4.0 2wd with 345,000 on the clock.

I've been wrenching for years, but mainly on watercooled VWs.

The engine seems strong, but the steering is scary sloppy! There is currently about 45deg of slop in the steering wheel. It would be bad enough if it was just a dead zone, but when the wheel gets to the end of that slop, the jeep almost swerves.

I've already installed a "new" (reman Autozone) steering gear box, and installed a poly bushing on the end of the track bar. I drilled the bolt hole out to 1/2" and installed a larger bolt as well, because the previous bolt got loose and wallered out the hole.

Would a bad pump cause this? Is there other bushings between the steering wheel and the gear box that I should check for play? Or is it a matter of replacing all the front end bushings?

Let me know if there's more info you folks need to help me out with this.

Thanks,
Sean

investinwaffles

The tie rod ends could be causing some slop too. Easiest thing to do is have someone turn the wheel while you look for play under the front end for where there is play. Was the steering spacer behind the steering gear in one piece? The unibody has been known to crack on that same location too but usually only with hard offroad use
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The reman steering boxes are usually garbage unfortunately. I went through two before I had it rebuilt by a reputable power steering rebuilder and it feels fantastic now, almost like a new rig.

The first one from Napa leaked out of the box, and the second one from O'Reillys had more slop than my original one with 260k miles on it.

caged

as mentioned, you can check the frame at the 3 steering box bolts. but if you just had that changed, you would have noticed any cracking.

another issue is the intermediate shaft u-joints. that's the steering column shaft that goes between the steering wheel and the steering box in the engine compartment. those tend to wear out, especially if it's the original shaft with almost 400k miles on it.

have someone turn the steering wheel though it's dead spot while you look at items like the shaft, tie rod ends, steering box, etc.

Vgonman

@Investinwaffles, The tre's i checked (granted, I didn't check all of them) seemed tight, but I'll double check. The steering box spacer was in one piece, and I didn't see any cracking in that area on the unibody.

@Caged, Thanks for the tip about the intermediate shaft u-joints. I'll be sure to check those tomorrow when I get back to the jeep. Are there only 2 u-joints? Or are there more? Are they all accessible from the engine compartment, or do I have to crawl under the dash to get to one?

Thanks for the input. I'll check these things and post back if/when I find anything.

Vgonman

You called it @caged. The intermediate shaft is hosed just below the first u-joint. Now I just hope I don't have to pull the steering box (again) to replace it.

caged

nope. you shouldn't. as long as the slip part of the shaft isn't seized. it is telescoping, so you unbolt both ends and push it into itself and remove. it installs the same.