I forgot to mention that one of the tie rod ends on the tie rod bar and one on the drag link is backward/reverse thread. If you look at the new tie rod ends threads, you should be able to tell. I don't recall which is off the top of my head... Sorry. :(

Forgive me if I am wrong but I am wondering why no one has suggested to adjust his steering box. It takes literally 5 minutes and it got rid of all the steering play I had. I had a little wobble on the highway and this also took care of it. I can obviously see that there are some worn out parts that need replacing as well.
I sort of skimmed through all the info provided and that is what I would suggest.

You can check how loose your steering box is by seeing how much you can move the steering wheel back and forth before there is any movement of the pitman arm, that's the arm that comes out of the box to move the linkage. Do it with the engine off. If you can move the wheel more than a little, it's loose. This clearance can be adjusted, but they are usually worn near the straight position and not near the extreme right or left. Too tight adjustment near the center may cause binding at the extremes.

Ok here's the deal so far. I bought new Moog rear sway bar links and my dad and I will be putting them in this weekend. We borrowed jack stands and have the time to do it. Oddly, the front sway bar links were replaced with JKS Swaybar Disconnects, which are pretty beefy looking, and very new so I won't be replacing them.

I hear that you guys are sure that my steering problems aren't caused by the sway bar links, but I am going to replace them and then take the car out on a ride and see if it makes any difference. Assuming that doesn't work, I believe my next plan will be to adjust the steering box, now how do I go about doing that? I've read that upon removing the cooling fan, there will be a hex nut that needs to be tightened, can anyone clarify that? I found a writeup here, might follow that too, but I don't really want to take the steering box out of the car, all in all it depends on time constraints. http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/s...ering-1164443/ Any recommendations?

I have a weird feeling that won't work, and my next step would be tie rod ends. My brother has a friend who used to work in a Chrysler dealership, particularly the Jeep repair, so I am going to see if he will take a look at it. I will likely end up paying him to do the work, rather than doing it myself, but either way I want to have a professional opinion on the cause of the problem (control arms, tie rod ends, etc.)

I have faith you can do the tie rod ends yourself. Its far less work than pulling the fan. I'd hate to see you throw money for labor away. It sounds like you have a good plan. Good luck. Please keep posting. :)

Ok, some new discoveries here. Where the pitman arm connects to the drag link, there is some sort of a rubber bushing, or cover or something that is cracked, and I can peel the entire bushing up with my fingers. Look at the pictures below. I don't think that is causing the problem but it was an interesting find.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/6854/img3375gd.jpg

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/9437/img3370g.jpg

And then the next interesting find is that if I grab onto the tie rod, I can rotate it laterally, which I don't think it should be able to do. But I really don't know. See pictures:
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5397/img3378e.jpg

This is why the tie rod pivots from:
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/1126/img3374sy.jpg

Any ideas?

EDIT: I was not able to do the steering box test, because I have the back wheels on jack stands and I couldn't even turn the steering wheel because there was so much weight on the front suspension. Also, the track bar is rock solid. I couldn't move it AT ALL.

The first picture is not a bushing. It is the boot for that tie rod end. They are supposed to hold grease, and that boot is what holds the grease in. I would replace it. If it cant hold grease, then its no good.

The bar that you can turn laterally is the adjustment for the tow. It is supposed to turn, but not without loosing the sleeves that hold the tie rods in place.

There are two bolts with nuts at each end of the bar you can turn. Make sure they are tight. If they are not, you may have some walking or shimmy in the steering wheel. If they are tight, and you can still rotate that bar, I'd say buy new sleeves.
Honestly, with the pictures, you should replace all tie rod ends. The ones shown look in pretty bad shape and are most likely causing your issues. If you replace one, I'd also suggest replacing them all. Not doing so may cause the ones you don't replace to wear faster, causing you to have to repeat the process of changing them again.

IMO the person that did your alignment should have saw what bad shape these were in and brought it to your attention.... Makes me wonder why they didn't. Those tie rod ends look horrible!!!

Ps. Do not buy masterpro tie rod ends from oriellys. I've been having very bad luck with them. I'll be upgrading to moog in a few months when these new parts go out again. They have been lasting about 3-5 months of daily pavement driving.

IMHO, the guy that did your alignment should be shot for even doing it! With the front end in that condition, I would have sent you right out the door until you replaced most of the steering joints, or told you what needed to be done and how much it would cost. There is no way he was able to get accurate adjustments with all that looseness. Please don't go back there!

Ok, let me be more clear about the rotation of the tie rod. I can rotate the entire tie rod, as in, the tie rod and the ends. The tie rod does not rotate inside of the adjustment sleeve, it rotates from the point where it mounts to the drag link. That leads me to believe that I need new tie rod ends.

Again, the tie rod does not rotate within the sleeves, but rather from the point where it connects to the drag link. Should I try tightening that bolt and see if that makes a difference?
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9643/tierodbolts.jpg

I don't have a lot of problem with doing this entire repair, but can you explain to me the difference between inner and outer tie rod ends? I've looked through my Haynes repair manual and I can't seem to locate what the difference is. It always just groups them together as one piece, the "tie rod".

The alignment was done by the previous owner. When I test drove the vehicle it pulled VERY sharply to the right, so part of the agreement was that he completed the alignment and inspection. I called the shop he used to do the alignment, hoping that they shared some information regarding the steering components to the previous owner that he did not pass onto me, in fear that I would back out of the sale. Point is, I didn't have the alignment done, and I will never go to that garage ever. The mechanic literally said to me on the phone, "I didn't find anything out of the ordinary with it, and I didn't test drive it after I aligned it." I have a printout with the information regarding the alignment, the toe in measurements, etc; who knows how accurate they are.

Since I've begun these repairs I have promised to myself that I will only be buying Moog and other components of equal quality. It seems worth it to cough up the extra dough to get the extra quality.

***So, as I understand it, you guys recommend that I replace the tie rod ends? And see how that solves my problem and go from there? Also Crazy4Wheelin you think I should replace the boot on that tie rod end? Wouldn't that be replaced when I replace the entire tie rod end?

From my research on Rock Auto, it looks like the inner tie rod is also the drag link? http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/more...497&cc=1182181

Thank you both so much for all of your help!

Yes, new tie rod ends will solve the rotating.

Do not tighten that nut. I do not think it will help. The problem isn't that the nut is loose, it's the fact the tie rod is that shot.

The tie rod ends on the tie rod are outers. The tie rods on the drag link are the inners.

The new tie rod ends will have new boots and grease zerks. After you do your repair, make sure you get them greased. If you are taken it straight to an alignment shop, they can/should do it for you.

The right inner tie rod end is also the drag link. That is correct.

I would defiantly start with the tie rods, get an alignment and see how it goes. Good luck. :)

A trick I use when replacing tie rod ends is to measure from the center of the old link
to about 10" down the rod. Put a piece of tape there and mark it. Then when you put the new ones on, run them in until you reach the same point. Just make sure the ends are the same lenght (old/new). If different, this won't work.

That's a great tip! I've been eye balling it every time and then measuring from rim to rim front and back to check the tow. The way you do it sounds so much easier! Lol

man gonna have to keep this thread for my zj :)

Ok, so I started to adjust my steering box today. It made a difference, but I adjusted the nut at least 1 1/2 full revolutions and the steering is still loose (better than before), and its not binding at the edges. Can I continue to tighten down this bolt until I am satisfied, as long as there is no binding? Or do I run the risk of damaging something by tightening it anymore?

IMHO, You need to replace the steering box. If it's that loose, I wouldn't trust it. The problem is, it may be worn in the center of motion and not at the extremes of travel. I've heard of boxes that actually split by tightening them too much! On a manual steering box, you can feel it binding. Power boxes, not so much.