Dfread

Hello, so when I turn my steering wheel and it returns to center, it wobbles back to center (straight). For instance if I turn in a parking lot and turn it all the way to lock, then when I let go and it moves the wheels straight, it does so in short bursts. It somewhat rapidly turns the steering wheel and then stops, does it again a little less rapidly, but does eventually make it back to center. What could be the cause of this? One of the steering arms, ball joint, pump, gearbox, something else I'm missing?
I don't remember the xj ever doing this when I first got it and it seems it slowly crept up. I've changed the power steering fluid multiple times with prestone smooth steering over the past couple of years. I've never worked on a steering box or pump, and am completely unsure of what is causing this. So if anyone has any idea what the main cause would likely be, please let me know, thanks.

shawn_00x

Does it feel weird while turning the wheel? I am wondering if it could be the steering box. They have an adjustment screw on them that adjusts the worm gear in it, unless it has alot of damage in it.

Radi

Might have bound up front u-joints.

Pelican

I would only say that you don't want to mess with the adjustment screw on the box unless you really know what you are doing. It can appear that you have it adjusted properly and then have it bind up at a most inopportune time.

freegdr

X2.... fluid level, belt tight ?

Dfread

Yeah I don't think that I'd ever mess with that adjustment screw anyways. I'm going to be replacing the axle U joints at some point in the future, so I'll see if that fixes it. My fluid level is about perfect, but I'm not sure what you mean by is my belt tight. My belt seems good to me but I don't see how that would effect it too much unless it was really loose. It's on their pretty good but not tight so I'm going to say that it's okay, unless their is a certain amount of tension it's suppose to have that I am unaware of. But I don't think it would be the belt because it has been gradually getting worse over the course of a couple years.
So it seems the most likely cause would be just the steering box? I wasn't sure if one of the arms like the very bottom one (pitman??) could have bad ends and the ball socket thing could be doing something to cause this. If anyone else has any other ideas or a way to test something, thanks.

And yes it does feel somewhat weird because the wobbling back to center very very very minutely seems to affect the turning itself. It also seems a tiny bit hard to turn the wheel too. Or maybe it's just because I haven't been lifting weights like I used to.

Turbo X_J

First easy check see if the axle shaft u-joint caps are covered in "rust dust"? (from what used to be needle bearings)

Then,
Jack up & secure the front of the vehicle. Then turn the steering wheel all the way to lock. Rotate a wheel by hand and see if the u-joint binds up and tries to tear itself apart. If those u-joints have never been serviced or replaced it's better to fix it now verus waiting for it to come apart.

Makarov

This.

A little late to the party, but my XJ was doing exactly the same as the OP described. The driver's front Ujoint was completely seized up, couldn't budge it by hand. Now the wheel returns to center, smooth as silk.

Dfread, did you make any progress?

Dfread

Sure haven't, I'll be doing this in the near future here when I figure out all the sizes that I need for the u joints. Thanks for the response though, was hoping it was something simple and it seems it might just turn out that way.
Also mentioning the u joint sizes... I believe that I need spicer 1310 and 297?? I'm going to be ordering these online and hate not being able to return them to a store easily. Does anyone know what u joints I have on a 2000 stock xj? I can add info on what sizes of axle shafts or something if that changes it. I have no abs though and I think that was a difference in size. I believe I need 2 of the same for axles, and then 5 for the driveshafts??

I guess I could just stop being lazy and go to the dealership tomorrow and see what the original parts were. The guys there seem to know their stuff.

Makarov

I'm pretty sure all the later model XJ's had 297x's on the front axle, I don't remember the driveshaft joint numbers off the top of my head. Check your local NAPA, they often keep Spicer joints in stock.

As a warning, if yours are as bad as mine, you may need a torch


Good luck, post back with the results.

Dfread

Well the dealer didn't help at all except for he said that the rear driveshaft and the front driveshaft have different u joints? But he was unable to tell me any of the sizes for any of them. Nothing in my area sells spicer u joints. Are they 297x on the axle? How about the front driveshaft and rear driveshaft? Thanks for any help!!

Radi

297 is the front axles. 1310 on front and rear driveshafts.

Alternates I can find for your year:

Front and rear driveshafts:
Solid:
ACDELCO 45U0145
MOOG/PRECISION 269
Greasable:
ACDELCO 45U0111
MOOG/PRECISION 280

Front Axles:
Solid:
ACDELCO 45U0104
MOOG/PRECISION 371
Greasable:
ACDELCO 45U0114
MOOG/PRECISION 377

Dfread

Well I finally got the u joints in with the usual "accidents". Changing the u joints on my xj greatly smoothed out the steering and now the wobble back to center issue is now almost completely gone. So if you have hard steering or issues that I described earlier in this post, you might want to check your axle u joints. Some of the caps on the u joints were pouring out red dust . Thanks to all those that helped.

Dfread

Thanks for the info., I will definitely be using this again in the future.