Can anyone explain a dry steering test?

[GeorgeSully]

So I’ve been trying to stop my jeep shaking so much and after having the tires balanced perfectly it helped but didn’t totally solve it so I was told to do a dry steering test but I’ve only started working on cars and don’t know what that is or how to do it. Can anyone explain it to me?

 

[JeepingNet]

Here is what I take that to mean.

With Jeep off wiggle the steering wheel back and forth. You might hear and even more feel if something is loose. This is the best way to test your front steering joints and suspension.

I have someone wiggle the wheel while I lay under the Jeep and feel around. You'll be surprised how easy it is to feel a thud with your hands

 

[Chris]

Sure, it's very simple!

Have someone get in the vehicle and start it, while keeping it in Park (if it's an automatic), or neutral with their foot on the brake (if it's a manual).

While they do that, get under the front of the vehicle while laying on your back, looking up at the steering. Have them aggressively turn the steering wheel back-and-forth while you're laying there. While they're doing this, look for any unwanted movement in the tie rod, drag links, track bar, etc.

When something is loose or has unnecessary movement, it should be very obvious when you're under there. For instance, a loose axle side track bar bolt will be instantly recognizable, because you'll see the bolt that holds the track bar to the axle side moving around in it's hole with plenty of slop.

Doing a dry steering test is how you can identify components of your steering that visibly need to be replaced or torqued to spec. The most common one is indeed the axle side track bar bolt.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

A key requirement left out above is the tires must be on the ground for this test to actually tell you anything useful. The tires being on the ground provide the necessary resistance while the steering wheel is being turned back & forth so any slop or looseness in the joints will show up more clearly.