damn should have looked it over first...

[gijohn40]

So yesterday I was driving my cj7 and when I made a left turn it started to make a funny popping noise in the steering column right below the key... I though nothing of it until the next time I turned and the wheel actually popped and turned but the wheels stayed where they were... this got worse really quick!

I finally loose all steering control and can not turn the wheels to the left unless I am actually moving... at one point I turned the steering wheel 10 times just to make it around the corner....
so I finally get it home... thinking that something is broken in the column... So I start to take it all apart... I get the whole thing torn down and I'm not finding anything wrong other then the turn signal cancel is broken (knew that already).

I open the hood to get to the lower portion of the steering column and I look at the steering box and I notice that the damn lower steering shaft coupler is actually torn apart and seperated almost from the box....

so I tore the whole steering column apart for nothing... could have bought the coupler at autozone for 39 bucks and had it fixed quickly!!!

Moral to the story... check the whole system out before you tear into it!

 

[benjy]

Moral to the story... check the whole system out before you tear into it!

I once pulled the tranny in my old YJ to replace the clutch, and it ended up being the slave cylinder. Clutch looked brand new.

 

[Tacoma]

If you were smart, you'd grab an XJ steering shaft and swap it in, it does away w/the POS rag joint and is an easy, awesome upgrade. It's nearly self-explanatory, and super, super easy. I highly recommend it.

 

[gijohn40]

maybe I should just take the whole steering system out of my son's 91 xj sitting in my driveway seeing he is never going to be able to fix the damn thing...

 

[grinch]

Very common problem in CJ's especially if you have a body lift. I didn't convert over the whole steering column from an xj the last time this happened. I just cut if off by the slip joint and grafted the xj stuff in. For me welding is much quicker and easier than taking the steering column apart.

 

[JL Rockies]

I had something similar happen in an old Pontiac going down the freeway; went to change lanes and the steering wheel decided it was no longer connected to anything. It was good that I had my gangster turned way up that day.

 

[BCGPER]

You aint this badass.....

http://wimp.com/whenaccelerating/

 

[gijohn40]

no I was still able to turn right... just not left very well... I was able to drive it from syracuse all the way to farmington by the back roads... now getting into my driveway (left turn) I didn't make it and I'm sitting half on the concrete and half in the weeds... lucky for me the half on the concrete is the side I need to work on!!!!

 

[tisjeep]

There is a super cheap fix for this. Cost you a few hose clamps and the use of a torch for a few minutes. You can heart the yup half of the shaft and melt the plastic out of it. It will then let the 2 pieces of the shaft come apart. You can get enough extension out of it. Use the house clamp to keep it from sliding in and coming apart again. if you are interested give me a call at 970 seven 39 1975. I can walk you through it

 

[gijohn40]

Thank for the help Tisjeep... but when it comes to my heep I don't do the half ass method of fixing things... the part to fix it correctly only cost $72 and will be here wednesday