Another possibility balancer slipping.

 

I would have kicked that mechanics ***, No way he was not telling the truth.

 

Finally! I wish I could remember where I read this but there's be soooo much searching on this I forget. Anyway, someone (some brilliant genius man) on one of the other jeep forums mentioned that since it only does it when the vehicle is cold, and it "squeaks", and everything else has been ruled out then what it likely is is the intermediate steering shaft upper bushing that is some sort of rubber and wears out and can squeak and slip when cold and then expand when warm, causing it to tighten back up.

Whew. Finally. So, I went and held the lower end with a wrench and twisted the shaft by hand, it moved and squeaked! Ohhhh freaking finally. This problem has been bothering me for like a year now all through redoing the linkage and even installing a new steering box to fix it. Whew.

Man I hope this thread helps the next dude that runs into this. That suuuuucked.

Thanks for all your suggestions anyway, I think.

 

Does it squeak when sitting still also or just driving.