Steering box

[Akula69]

Trying to finish up the small nagging items on the Christmas Jeep and ran into a problem I have not seen before. I took it for a drive down the road near my house and got up to anout 40-45 MPH and then got off the gas. The truck started to slow and then began a violent side to side vibration that almost jerked the wheel out of my hands.

 

I immediately thought of death-wobble, but it didn't seem to fit what those who have experienced it have described. The vibration was so bad all I could do was press on the brakes and hang on. it stopped as the speed bled down to about 20 MPH. I pulled over and checked the linkages under the front and all seemed OK.

 

I took the truck yesterday to a local shop to get the front end aligned and the tires balanced. They balanced the tires but the tech called me into the shop to show me a slight (and I mean slight) left to right movement of the shaft where it exits the steering box, (but before the pitman arm). He said it was useless to align the truck as the steering box should have no play there and needed to be replaced. He said he knew what death-wobble was and this was not it - it was the tires rapidly moving from keft to right due to the paly in the steering box. He recommended checking the steering dampner as well, and upon removal it did have considerable play in it.

 

I realize anything can wear out, but my question is: Does that small amount of lateral play matter? and - can the adjustment nut on the top (mine has never been moved) deal with that "play"?

 

Thanks

[jimoshel]

The bushing for the pitman arm are worn. The adjusting nut on top has nothing to do with it. You need to rebuild or replace the steering box.

[Pete M]

that's still deathwobble. DW is a violent, uncontrolable occilation in the front suspension. and my bet is that there's more under that truck that's worn out. DW could in theory be allowed by a single faulty component, but more likely it's a combination of slightly worn parts that allow the slop needed. there's a line in the sand. cross it and you can get DW. each worn out part gets you closer and closer to the line, but for every "this is what caused it", there are plenty more that had the same worn part but no DW. I've experienced bad trackbars, bad unitbearings, bad steering boxes, and lord knows bad shocks and bad control arm bushings. Never once have I had DW. :dunno:

[Eagle]

You had death wobble. Doesn't matter exactly what caused it (or, more accurately, allowed it to occur) ... you had death wobble.

 

For what it's worth, a small amount of lateral play at the pitman shaft is probably normal. If the box isn't leaking fluid around the bushing and seal, I don't think the box needs anything. That small amount of movement could not POSSIBLY be the cause of the death wobble -- and, BTW, it also doesn't have any effect whatsoever on the alignment, so telling you it was "useless" to align it was just trying to sell you a steering box you don't need. Alignment deals with caster angle, camber angle (which is not adjustable in the MJ), and toe-in. None of these are affected by play in the steering box.

 

Did he even check your alignment, or did he immediately proceed to "inspecting" the front end to see how many unnecessary parts he could sell you? I hate shops like that. My brother used to be a BMW service manager, and he was always complaining about some of his techs who were so busy trying to find work they could "upsell" the customer that he practically had to beat them with a baseball bat to get them to actually look at what the vehicle was brought into the shop for.

 

Let me give another example of how easy it can be to "upsell": Many years ago, my brother was the assistant manager of a Firestone store ... which was right across the street from the areas largest Ford dealership. It wasn't that unusual for Ford buyers to take delivery of a new car, and bring it directly across to Firestone for a new, aftermarket tire & wheel package. According to the "specs" put out by Firestone, these new Fords with less than 10 miles on the clock ALL needed new tie rod ends and new ball joints.

[HOrnbrod]

Sounds like an excellent oportunity to upgrade to the quicker ZJ box. :D I've had plenty of loose steering gear boxes like that too (play in the output shaft), but never experienced death wobble or shaking from it. Just a lot of play in the wheel, as the slop at the box is amplified out to the wheels. If you still have the original box and are over 150K mile, you probably need a new box anyhow.

[Akula69]

Well - lets see here:

 

Replaced the UCA and LCA and bushings

Replaced the steering dampner

Replaced the springs and checked the shocks

Checked the ball joints

Replaced the bearings and races

Got wheels spin balanced

 

and now, replaced the steering box.

 

Had it up to 55 on the hwy tonight and had no DW :banana: , hit as many bumps as I could to try and make it happen. Getting a little stickyness in the turns, but I'm gonna take a wait-and-see attitude about that as it may be air in the system.

 

Don - I thought about the ZJ box but in the end decided to hedge my bets and go back with an OEM. I was concerned if I changed anything (and the DW problem still occured) it might make things more difficult to diagnose. When I start on the '87 I'll take the new box outa this one and put a ZJ box in :brows:

 

Thanks guys!