I have an 89 cherokee with a 3 inch rough country lift. Aftermarket track bar. Thats how i bought it. It wouldnt drive straight at low speeds so i aligned it, still would dive straight. Had play in steering components and ball joints so i changed it all and re aligned, still wont drive straight. Changed lower control arms for adjustables, still no change. Swaybars are attached, shocks are probably a little worn. Going down a side street at 45 it uses every inch of the road including the other lane... What do you guys think?

 

So if you are doing 45mph holding the steering wheel steady, what exactly is the jeep doing? Simply saying that it uses every inch of the road doesn't really give us anything to chew on.

How much experience do you have driving a vehicle equipped with y-link steering versus rack and pinion? What kind of tires are you running? Any funky wear patterns? What's the air pressure like? What shape are the brakes in? Sticky caliper maybe? Still a lot of components to check.

 

Holding the wheel straight it darts both left and right. Rear tires have funky wear pattern from the last vehicle they were on having bad shocks. Tire pressure is good.

 

With the vehicle sitting still and engine off, does the steering wheel have play in it?

 

The steering box doesnt have much play but the u joint coming from the steering wheel does. Im gonna put some grand caravan rims and tires that i have laying around on it to take out the tire variable.

 

If you have play there, then that explains your problem. All that stuff has to be tight

 

ill be fixing that next then. So far ive just been fixing obvious problems but i counted the steering wheel play out because ive never seen steering wheel play alone cause that.

 

Play in the u-joint of the steering shaft IS an obvious problem, and the 1st that should have been fixed.

If the u-joint has a lot of play in it, how can you tell if the steering box does or not ?

Was the alignment done correctly ? Is everything correct, some shops don't do everything (caster angle) because it requires shims behind the lower control arms.

Define steering components....IE, what did you replace exactly ??? There are 4 tie rod ends, any one of which can cause this if bad. You did say balljoints, so did you replace all 4 ?

Wheel bearings tight ?

 

Im used to big sloppy pickups with play in the steering wheel that still drive straight lol

I turned the steering box by hand but the ujoint was more obvious. Ill be replacing the steering box and steering shaft. I want to put in a support bracket for a winch anyway. I aligned it with a tape and i dropped in adjustable lower control arms and next ill be putting in the uppers.

 

big sloppy pickup trucks use a different steering linkage that would let them drive straight even with slop

Steering shaft, ok, not sure the box needs it yet.

You need to lay under it while the engine is running and have someone else quickly cycle the steering wheel back and forth 10-15 degrees so you can see what has play in it and what doesn't. Using the power of the power steering and the weight of the vehicle will show stuff you can't see moving it by hand.

Otherwise, you are just tossing parts at it and that can get expensive and still not solve the problem.

Get a professional alignment done, with toe, camber & caster checked/adjusted. A tape measure alignment is ok for getting to the shop, but not when you have problems like you do.

 

Now that we have determined what needs to initially be fixed, I would add that steering boxes can be adjusted most of the time to correct slop in them due to wear.

Next question: Is this a lifted rig?

 

Lifted 3.25 inches. A buddy of mine bought it for 400 with a new motor. Wouldnt run so i trouble shooted and found it was just the fuel pump. Fixed the fully rusted through rotors and leaking calipers, changed the master cylinder, some leaking brake lines. Took it around the block and drove like crap. Inspected ball joints and tie rods and both upper ball joints were absolutely gone same with the drag link and tie rod ends. Bought the jeep for 700 and so far put in about 600 give or take. Not too bad considering i bought it to be a project to work on and ive only changed parts that should be changed.

 

Stock front suspension links?

 

yeah oem 89. No 1 ton steering or anything

 

It wouldn't hurt to check the track bar for play. Sometimes the lower mount can stretch out.