I know we have a couple threads with people asking about steering wheel play.
But didn't want to thread-jack. So thought I'd make this one nice and clean.

Some of you know by now that I recently got my first Jeep... a '99 XJ 4wd.
I've been working on getting her up to snuff for a solid DD. As the PO wasn't nearly as smart with vehicles as he thought he was....
I recently replaced the steering gearbox in it from the original one that was in the the Jeep. Only reason I replaced it was that the orig. one had been leaking.
Now I've replaced (on my own) damn near everything else you can possibly replace on a vehicle or in a vehicle build.... over the years...but not that much with the steering gears apparently.
I was not in "the know" as to the ripoff scheme manufacturers have when producing remans on this part. I am now though. After a nice bite mark on the butt. lol.

So... that being said... Being fairly new to Jeeps and the handling... I think the reman that is in mine now is crap. But for those that feel their steering is pretty decent in their XJ's.... do you constantly have to pull the steering wheel to one side or the other just to go straight in a lane... even on stretches of road that do not seem to have a center crown?
I really need to know if I go the route of replacing this one, how much better can I really hope for on these XJ's? Or am I wasting my time and this really is as good as it gets for the steering? It does honestly **** me off a bit to have to contantly adjust the wheel when going straight, haven't had to do that before in other vehicles I've owned... but on an XJ... is this the "nature of this beast" and am I just being too picky? Or is there an actual problem that can be addressed and is worth doing so.

Thanks for the thoughts and comments from your personal experiences.

 

Mine does this too but I know what it is. My upper control arm bushings are sloppy and when you combine this with a solid axle it likes to wander side to side and I have to "bring it back" with what feels like slight understeer. But thinking back over the years, I remember that solid axles just always had a tendency to do this a bit. And they really liked to follow groves in the road. My current 53 M38A1 does it, my 58 Ford F150 does it, and my 57 Chevy stepside does it. I think a lot of it is just normal straight/solid axle handling characteristics. And if it has loose control arm bushings like mine it will just be that much worse.

 

OK I just went and checked mine not running and I have about 22 degrees of "free play" or about a 16 th of a turn. I know mine has not been adjusted yet and that I can probably get almost all of that out when I do. For not being rack and pinion steering that is actually not bad and fairly tight.

We tend to get spoiled every time we drive something with rack and pinion steering and expect everything to handle that way. Sitting in a Jeep with the highback bucket seats and center console can give us the feeling we are in a sports car. When I first drove mine I had subconscious thoughts that it should handle like a sports car. This came from how it feels to sit in it behind the wheel. I had to remind myself it was not and it had a geared box and a solid axle.

 

RocketMouse, it can depend a lot on how much the suspension and steering geometry has been modified due to lifts, tires, etc. You may want to include more information about your setup to get more specific advice.

If you are running a fairly stock suspension setup (less than 2" lift, and tires that are 30" or smaller), then I would say what you are experiencing is not normal and should be resolved. Steering that wanders can come from a variety of things. If it wanders after hitting bumps and grooves (as in sudden things), then the steering gear can be a culprit, as it is designed to help damp these out, as is the steering stabilizer. However, if the steering wanders all the time, needing constant correction back to center, than can be due to a generally loose front end, where many parts are worn out (but none necessarily failing). It can also be caused by an improper caster angle and/or toe-in angles. Given that you said that it pulls in one direction, it leads me to think that you may need to begin with just a proper alignment.

When was the last time you had an alignment?

 

I agree... Alignment can cause this. Mine is toed out and exacerbating the drift issue. But it is toed out because the upper control arm bushings are allowing the axle to tilt back backwards throwing off the alignment.

 

Thanks.. I should've stated my setup in my initial post.
Right now, The only thing NOT stock on mine is that I have 235's on the stock steel wheels. So that brings the overall circumference about 1" or so larger over stock. But that's it.
Here's what I've replaced suspension-wise over the last month:
1. ALL tie-rod ends (inner & outer) on both sides. (also including the drag bar)
2. New trackbar (OEM style replacement not adjustable)
3. Re-manufactured steering gearbox.
4. While not suspension, I did do new brakes on all 4 wheels.
5. After I replaced all of those components, I went and had a full alignment done on it.

I appreciate the honest feedback. I just mainly wanted to see with this thread if I'm just being too damn picky or even at their best, this is as good as it gets with an XJ. I've had 4x4's for years so I'm not new to the 4wd side of the rodeo.. but those also had independent front ends too. So this is my first solid axle front end 4x4. I wasn't expecting it to handle/steer like a FWD car, but this just seemed further off than I was expecting to encounter was all.
Now I know in alignments, I've heard it's fairly standard to have it set with just a slight degree of adjustment to the right, for safety. So in case it's on a road with no center crown, and something happens, driver falls asleep, medical emergency, etc... that the vehicle will naturally, gentility drift to the right (shoulder of the road instead of into oncoming traffic in the opposite lane to the left.

@ Bugout... I would say that the approx. 20 degrees in the wheel that you mentioned is about what I'm seeing on mine after the reman. steering gearbox replacement. I just thought it was less with the original one in it. But I can't recall with 100% certainty.
I didn't check the upper control arm bushings closely. I will do that. I think the sway ones are showing signs of wear, but not that bad.

@jordan96xj.... I think the fact that I have to pull to the left approx 20 degrees, is partially due to both center crown roads and on flat ones, simply the normal slow drift to the right adjustment put into the alignment.
I notice that I rarely have to correct back to the right. Maybe due to the direction of how the track bar pulls the axle back to help keep it centered under the vehicle. Just a guess on that one.

 

Seriously though man, I would do the upper control arm bushings. They go out and get sloppy but will still look fine from what you can see. And the tops go out long before the lowers do so you can't use the lowers to judge by. I really think you will be surprised with the difference. Those uppers help greatly to keep the axle from shifting side to side.

 

I will look at those tomorrow when I can get some good light on them and plus it's freezing here right now. I know I could tell my tie-rod ends were toast pretty easily. Really only the driver's side were pretty far gone, but they all work in conjunction, so I wasn't about to just replace half of them.

Thanks for the help

 

It was a very good question.

 

well at least it didn't have to be one of those threads where you're having to back-trace a short in one wire that's in the middle of the main engine wiring loom.

Plus.. when it comes to the actual control of the vehicle, I want to make sure everything is up to snuff. Because with any vehicle, usually ignoring a little thing now...always reincarnates itself much worse down the line.
I mean if it were that the stereo speakers were cutting out..no BFD... but when it's having control over the vehicle going down the road that's a whole different game. And in my book, one that should be watched closely.

 

I have a little less than 2" lift (over stock) and 30" tires. Other than that, the suspension is stock. I rebuilt the front end about a year ago. I have new LCAs (OEM style), but still have original UCAs. The steering gear is still original.

It does not wander, and my steering wheel play is minimal. Perhaps 1/32 of a turn. My XJ had pretty low miles when I bought it 2 years, ago, so I'm not saying every XJ should be like this, but there is no reason a stock-ish XJ should have major wander or steering play problems, and they should be taken as a sign of trouble and go on the to-do list.

My experience with steering and suspension items, is that unless they are making loud noises, or literally pulling the vehicle to the side of the road, people put off fixing them until something is completely worn out, or failed. Luckily most designs (like XJ) factor this in, and it doesn't typically end catastrophically, but there is no reason to not address the problems like any other maintenance item.

 

agreed... that's why I'm going to look closely at my UCA's tomorrow. I want to assess any other components that could be affecting the issue. That way I know everything that is going on with it and will help determine what actually needs to be replaced. I think I was looking at it from the steering gear perspective because even though I haven't had this XJ long, I don't recall the original one causing this kind of issue. I replaced it because it was leaking quite noticeably. And as my only vehicle right now, I didn't have the luxury of taking it out and having it rebuilt. And waiting for however long that would take.

 

This is also why I started this thread in the first place. So that I could get other perspectives of things on the XJ's that I may not have been aware of. So I'm hoping that this thread will also help others in the future too.

I've seen people blindly throwing parts at a problem before when they haven't taken the time to fully diagnose what is the actual issue first. And that's really the worst way someone could go about any problem/issue with a vehicle.

 

With a helper at the steering wheel, have them gently rock the wheel right and left.

Get under there and place one hand where the steering shaft connects to the steering gear, and take the other hand and put it on the pitman arm. (basically one hand on the input, and one on the output). If there is play in the gear itself, it can usually be detected here, and your brain should sense the slop between the two. If there is significant amount of slop between the input and output, you'll probably have to replace it.

I know a lot of people are having bad luck getting steering gears that are good these days (we read about it on the forums here a lot). One thing that can help is to check it thoroughly for input/output play when it comes out of the box and before going on the vehicle.

 

yeah.. I've had that done...but maybe I'll check it with ME under the hood instead. And I'm not bashing on Jeep steering gearboxes... My frustrations with the issue is the poor quality from the manufacturers...because it's that industry as a whole... and they certainly don't give a rats a** about anything that even remotely resembles quality..and with the main part that helps the driver maintain control over the vehicle, it just makes me sick that they couldn't seem to care less. The solution is way up the chain... and will only be solved once someone legally makes them do it. (unfortunately)