First off whats up to everyone. New to the board, I just picked up a 1990 Cherokee, matte black, auto..nothing special. As soon as I got it I changed the passenger side upper and lower ball joints and u joints. On my way home I got about 180miles into my trip and all the sudden it felt like I was on ice, no control over the steering. I could turn the steeringwheel about 90 degrees before the wheels would move. Scary as hell.. I looked under it for the obvious and couldn't see anything out of place. I noticed that the driver wheel bearing was making unusual noise when I was turning. I was on a flat road, didn't hit anything...it just went..? Any ideas what to look for when I get under it would be greatly appreciated.. Other than that its runs great, engine is strong, and I only payed $350 for it. I'll post some pics soon.

Thanks again.

 

so your steering wasent doing anything? holy moly, id a pooped myself.

 

did you check your steering linkage? did you check to make sure you installed and tightened everything before the drive?

 

oh yeah, everything was pinky tight for like 180miles, no problems at all. No play at all.... then all of sudded....it was everywhere. I looked under it, had the wife steering back and forth... I don't know, just seems odd to me that the box would just go..like that.. with out hitting anything...?? BTW I got in Chicago, and was driving back to Detroit.

 

I'll bet the steering box is shot. I know detroit's roads are not pretty, but some of the streets in chicagoland are no picnic either. It probably got pot holed to death and that is why they sold it so cheap. Put a new one in from the junkyard and enjoy.

 

what did it look like when the wife turned it back and forth for you, did the gear box shaft move and not the wheels?

 

make that two. That is a really cheap Jeep though.

 

Often the one place we overlook is the rubberized flex joint between the steering box and the column. Those take a lot of stress over the years. I replaced mine when I bought my Jeep because it was partially torn. Have looked at several since which were pretty frayed.

 

Thats what I can't figure out, when I looked under it while the wheels were being turned, I couldn't see anything that looked crazy out of place. If the wheelbering is shot, could that cause the problem? I'm going to work on it this weekend, just looking for aheads up. Also, forgot to mention, the oil pressure gauge pegged, now I know its not possible to get more oil pressure all of the sudden, is the gauge bad, or the pressure sensor? Any ideas would be great.

Thanks

 

+1 on the steering box it sounds like it went bad. And no the wheel bearing would no cause you steering issues.

 

Sounds like a good time to put in a durango steering gear box.

 

X2 on the durango steering box change. I hear its a great upgrade to any xj.