Power steering whine after installing tow hook brackets?

[sandalscout]

Hey all!

I recently installed a set of HiCountry tow hook brackets with DRings on my XJ. http://www.hicountryoffroad.com/Products/Cherokee/Recovery/cher_recovery.htm They installed easy enough, and the driver's side bracket was 100% bolt on. I loosened the 2 bolts for the steering box, slid it in place, and then rebolted it down. After the install, the steering box whines like crazy at low speed, almost like it's low on fluid (I should check that) but it started immediately after the install. I retorqued everything, visually inspected it and it seems fine. Has anyone ever seen this before? Anything to worry about? It's been 3 weeks or so, I usually only drive the jeep on weekends, so it's not real annoying to me, so I've sort of ignored it for now.


Thanks!

 

[Brian McVickers]

Hi Have you check with HiCountry?

Matt is very responsive and puts a ton of thought and R&D into their products.
He can probably help you trouble shoot it pretty quick.

One thought though, did the steering box get moved at all? Could it have changed angles or anything that may effect its alignment?

Brian

 

[sandalscout]

Hi Brian, I have not checked with Matt since then, I'll do a bit more checking on stuff and then get in touch with him. Matt has been absolutely great to work with.

To the best of knowledge, the box did not move, but it's entirely possible. I've been thinking about it some more today, I think I might loosen those 2 bolts and see if the box will adjust a little bit. It's not very bad, but I don't want to mess something up. Thanks for the help, I'll let you all know what I find.

 

[njtaco]

Did the bracket move the steering box left to right or right to left, and if so, did you re-align the link from the pitman arm to allow for this?

I'm not familiar with the steering geometry on your truck, so bear with me...

If the steering wheel is now off center to compensate for the steering box being "relocated", the box may be constantly trying to "help" you drive straight ahead, instead of (or in addition to) helping you turn. Make sense? (It does in my head...) Something about a shuttle valve keeps surfacing in my mental picture, too...

Point is this...maybe re-aligning the truck so the steering wheel is centered again will resolve the issue.

Good luck, and if you can, post a pic. Just because I'm curious

 

[sandalscout]

Did the bracket move the steering box left to right or right to left, and if so, did you re-align the link from the pitman arm to allow for this?

I'm not familiar with the steering geometry on your truck, so bear with me...

If the steering wheel is now off center to compensate for the steering box being "relocated", the box may be constantly trying to "help" you drive straight ahead, instead of (or in addition to) helping you turn. Make sense? (It does in my head...) Something about a shuttle valve keeps surfacing in my mental picture, too...

Point is this...maybe re-aligning the truck so the steering wheel is centered again will resolve the issue.

Good luck, and if you can, post a pic. Just because I'm curious

I'll try to grab a picture, but for now maybe this will show some of the info:

http://www.hicountryoffroad.com/Products/Cherokee/Recovery/images/tow_hook_photos.htm

Unfortunately, only that last picture is the Driver's side, and it's not real clear of the interaction with the box.... but, the bracket doesn't move the steering box any, and my steering wheel, and hopefully the pitman arm link is also untouched. The truck drives fine, and the noise is only really pronounced during low speed turns.

I've attached a picture of what the mounting of the bracket looks like when looking @ the front of the truck, toward the back of the truck, and the interface between the bracket and the frame/steering box. The steering box is the circle, the frame is in gray, the bracket is in red, and the bolt is black. This should show that the only thing that SHOULD have changed is the depth of the bolt into the steering box holes.

Thanks!

 

[Heimz]

Did you move the box at all? Sometimes if the fluid gets aerated/cavitated, the pump will whine. If its time for new PS fluid, maybe try to replace it with a high performance fluid like Redline Synthetic.

 

[sandalscout]

To the best of my knowledge, the box didn't move any at all, but it is possible, I suppose. I will look into the fluid, check the levels and it's condition. I vaguely recall my old mustang running low once, I seem to recall is producing frothy fluid, due to air in the lines. Perhaps the same is happening. I do have a small PS leak, may just be a coincidence that it all occurred at the same time.

 

[sandalscout]

Forget to update this a while back, I think just working on the front end, bumping the box around made it worse. It was just a little low on fluid. I need to replace one of the lines, I think. It's a pretty slow leak though.