i have a 96 jeep cherokee country with a 6 in lift i am having serious problems with my steering. sometimes i go to turn right and the jeep will not turn right at all then after i turn on the steering wheel really hard it makes a loud clunk noise and then finally it turns right it doesn't happen all the time but sometimes it does its pretty damn scary to be driving on the road and not being able to turn right. also i made a u-turn the other day to the left then i heard that same loud clunk and it went to the right wile i was turning left. any ideas i would appreciate a lot. also how could i tell if my steering box i messed up can i test it? could having the factory track bar have any effect on this

 

It sounds like your steering box has broke . I would upgrade to the durango steering box. You can pick one up at a pull apart for $30

 

Short arm or long arm? If your angles are off it could be binding. Mine used to catch on my sway bar links where the tie rod attached to the drag link.

 

Possibly a broken Steering box bolt. Personally I would start with the tracbar; at 6" lift and a stock (factory) trackbar, this is either causing your problems or will end up causing problems.

 

have some one turn the wheel back and forth while you are looking at the front suspension and steering components and try to see what is actually happening

 

they are short arms i think im going to get adjustable ones for the time being then later on shell out the money for long arms

 

x2 id check this

 

How did you lift it? What parts were changed? Cause if all you did was use longer springs or spacers, there is your problem.

 

i used a kit i got new lower control arms i got new shocks and new coil springs and spacers. how would this effect my steering i dont understand?

 

how does it bind they are short arms i cant really see how it could bind could you explane it to me in stupid terms i wouls appreciate it.

 

Wait, so you had the steering wheel turned left and the jeep started going right? Without the steering wheel location changing? If that's the case and your steering still operates the same as before it's definitely the steering box. Only other thing that could cause that symptom as far as I know would be the drag link not being tightened and slipping in the sleeve, but that doesn't make sense with the not turning and then suddenly turning.

 

i found out that the where the drag lik connects to thetie rod bar it was catching on the sway bar link. but yes that is what happened the wheels went to the right and the steering wheel stayed in same place. steering stabilizwe is also bad and need adj track bar just wanna find out if my steering box is bad or not cant figure it out.

 

My Drag link was rubbing the bottom of my sway bar links at full lock to the right. Rough country sent me the wrong pitman arm with my kit that was causing a whole bunch of other problems too. Needless to say I got the correct pitman arm on today an it dropped the angle on the drag link down enough to clear the sway bar link. Maybe something to look into.

 

also after liffing track bar changes must be made to recenter front axle

 

okay so i thought my steering box was bad so i changed it couldnt find 99 durango so got one off a dodge ram holes weret the same so had to drill new ones . put it all in and it doesnt work? the powersteering pump makes a real loud noise and so does the box and it wont turn just doesnt work. when i took off my old box their was no cracks in it but the three whole bracket was broken would this have any effect on my old box if thats the only problem ill put the old one back in could use any advice from anybody cause need to put it back on the road my primary car.