My Expensive Lesson. Loose Steering Issue Resolved

[TOOBSOCK]

So in the interest of a more informed forum membership, I'm going to share my $400 lesson in ideocracy. Over the last few months I've mentioned slightly loose or drifty feeling steering response after a kind of hard sideways impact on a trail. Hard enough to knock my steering wheel on a 45 degree angle. I adjusted the wheel back straight but the looseness has been evident ever since. I adjusted the steering gearbox play, removed every steering component except the track bar (remember that last part) and checked all the ball joints and connections. Everything checked out solid. So I finally came to the conclusion I tweaked something inside the gearbox hard enough that I should just get a new one, which I did. This cost $400 after taxes, shipping, and before core charge. The core charge is $70 but shipping is $55 so ill eat the $15 and keep the old one for a possible hydro upgrade in the future. So this weekend was the time for the swap/installation. I get the truck on jack stands, remove the driver wheel and inner fender, pull out the washer fluid bottle and am now ready to remove the Pitman arm. Now back to the earlier mentioned track bar. As you may know, the track bar obstructs easy access to the pitman arm nut (which is a 42mm nut btw). I removed the frame end of the track bar and decided to just remove the entire bar. I get to the axle end and find the bolt is completely loose! Well here is my DUH moment. I went ahead and removed the track bar to check the bushing. The bushing is worn some due to being loose for so long and has a little lateral movement so a new one is on the way from Core 4x4. I reinstalled the bar and torqued everything back down and problem solved. The truck is back to its former tight steering glory. The moral of the story is it doesn't matter how good of a mechanic you are, sometimes the simplest things can get over looked. If you have steering that just feels a little "off", do what all the smart people on here tell you and check the torque on ALL components before buying new parts. I will torque check everything at every oil change from now on. I decided to just keep the new gearbox since it's already paid for and I'm not paying $55 more to send it back. With parts shortages you never know what availabilities will be in the future. I hope my $400 lesson helps someone here some day.

I'm right there with you, man. Had some clunking in the steering. Thought I had it tracked down to a worn drag link bushing. Replaced the tie rod, and drag link since it was all stock stuff anyways. Added a steer smarts trackbar brace too, which meant I had to drop the frame side of the trackbar, but didn't touch the axle side. Steering was better, but still had some slight play. Took the Jeep on a washboard road yesterday, and when I went to turn around at a dead end, heard more clunking. Thought I had it fixed...got under there and the axle side trackbar bolt was so loose, the flag nut was gone and the bolt was hanging halfway out of the hole. Quick dig in the parts bin and re-torque of the bolt, and the steering was better than it's ever been. Kicking myself, but at least I got some upgraded parts out of the deal.

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[JTenn]

Awesome you got it fixed up. If my replacement parts would have been upgraded stuff it wouldn't have been as big a deal to me. Oh well, as previously stated, live and learn. I'm still living and definitely still learning so all is good.

 

[ecidiego]

I've made videos on checking the pitman arm nut and torque

where is this video?

 

[tysongladiator]

where is this video?

Here's the video with the pitman arm nut:

And in addition to the pitman arm nut, the four steering box bolts too. The pitman arm nut is supposed to be 185 ft/lbs. Tight enough isn't good enough.

 

[ecidiego]

Here's the video with the pitman arm nut:

And in addition to the pitman arm nut, the four steering box bolts too. The pitman arm nut is supposed to be 185 ft/lbs. Tight enough isn't good enough.

Thanks. I did torque it to 185.

 

[tysongladiator]

Thanks. I did torque it to 185.

Good deal! And also, make sure you check the four steering box bolts for proper torque.

Here's some crazy info for you about that. I had the aluminum gearbox. Didn't need, but wanted the steel, so I had Jeep exchange it. So, they're the ones that touched that pitman arm before that issue. I went back to them and told them what happened and it was a deer in headlights situation. Mass confusion. Then, I had new tires put on and asked the tire shop to torque it for me since they had it in the air. Afterwards they told me that they tightened it with a crescent wrench. Ummm.... No.

Moral of the story is: You have to check this stuff yourself!

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