Steering play

M

mjtjnj

TJ Enthusiast
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Nov 15, 2017
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Hey all,
Replaced the entire suspension on my 2000 Sport over the past couple of years. Did ball joints, control arms, springs, all steering components, including putting a new steering gear on. The Jeep goes straight down the road, but there is still a couple degrees of left/right play. The Jeep did have 35's on it when I bought it (31s now), and I'm guessing the steering shaft U joints could be worn out. Had the front end of the shaft off when I replaced the gear, has anyone gotten any bang for the buck on replacing underhood portion of the shaft? Thank you!
--Tom
 
mjtjnj said:
Hey all,
Replaced the entire suspension on my 2000 Sport over the past couple of years. Did ball joints, control arms, springs, all steering components, including putting a new steering gear on. The Jeep goes straight down the road, but there is still a couple degrees of left/right play. The Jeep did have 35's on it when I bought it (31s now), and I'm guessing the steering shaft U joints could be worn out. Had the front end of the shaft off when I replaced the gear, has anyone gotten any bang for the buck on replacing underhood portion of the shaft? Thank you!
--Tom
Click to expand...

Alignment?
 
Did you replace the worn out steering gear with a rebuilt worn out steering gear?
 
35’s might have worn the gear box prematurely if not kept balanced-

Dry steering test and not only are the u joints important, the shaft bearing really matters.

Keep us posted, be relentless,

Andy
 
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Thanks, guys. The box I bought was new, I did have it aligned, after reading some similar posts on this, going to do the dry steering test. FUN!

Thanks--

Tom
 
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Haven't gotten the help to do the dry steering test yet, but this Jeep had 35s on it for years before I got it. Still has a 3-4" body lift. Been looking at the 2 steering shafts, and the job doesn't seem too bad. Would probably get a taller bracket since I'm body lifted, too. My frame is actually a 2003-2006, so I have the Mercedes steering setup. The lower shaft is really expensive, is the upper shaft the same on all TJ's?
I read somewhere that you could buy the earlier TJ lower shaft, knock the pin out of the U joint before the steering gear, and replace the part that slips onto the gear. Could save quite a few bucks. Opinions? Thanks ! --Tom
 
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