cypher

Hey all,

Really need some help here. The steering box in my '96 ZJ clunks. Here are the symptoms;

When I first start up the heep to head out for the day, the box doesn't clunk. After everything warms up however, whenever I go to make turns, the steering clunks while turning. It makes more clunking turning left than right. It does clunk on right turns but it's minimal. It's been clunking for over a year now and getting worse. Everything in the front end, suspension-wise, is tight and new...all bars and shocks. The steering knuckles are tight, the steering shaft knuckles are all tight, ball joints are fine, no loose hardware and nothing is broken. There is no resistance in the steering wheel so I know the pump is still working....kind of....(I'll get to that next). There are no obvious leaks, there is fluid in the reservoir, albeit a bit darker than new fluid.

My first thought was that something inside the steering box was broken or loose but, like I mentioned above...when I first head out in the jeep there is no clunking but, after about 10-15 minutes of driving the box starts clunking making left hand turns. Now, I'm starting to think that there is something wrong with the pump. I did however, notice that when I first start it up, there is a slight screeching/grating noise coming from the pump pulley while it is idling then after some driving the noise goes away.

So, what do you guys think...any input would be much appreciated.
If I've left out any pertinent info please let me know.

Thanks.

Bustedback

I had a clunk in my 95 ZJ if I made a right to left turn. It turned out to be the track bar.

cypher

The clunking started before I started replacing everything up front and just kept getting worse as time went on.