BIGdaddy
Expedition Leader
So yeah, you could have described my XJ's steering as loosey-goosey, floppy, noodle-ish, etc...
Drove me crazy, but I lived with it for a while until recently when i just couldn't stand it any more..lol. :littlefriend:
The shaft in question connects the steering gearbox and the upper steering shaft/wheel at the firewall. On older cherokee's the upper and lower joints are "mini" u-joints just like most other shafts. Whats not familiar (at least to me) is a rubber bushing sleeve that joins the upper and lower shafts.
This rubber bushing was designed to reduce vibration, and tends to deteriorate with age, allowing a lot of movement. Your steering will not catastrophically fail, because the box side of the shaft has ears/flanges that are captured by the steering wheel side.
This meant I could drive my rig, to and from work but it meant a LOT of sloppy movement before the wheel would send input to the steering box.
So I researched and found three choices as far as fixes...
1. Fit a Borgeson steering shaft upgrade...about $250.00 that eliminates the "rubber bushing"
2. weld and/or bolt the upper and lower parts of the shaft together eliminating the movement allowed by the blown bushing.
3. Fit a stock replacement shaft. $109.00
I chose choice three, since I didn't feel safe drilling and welding on something that connects my steering wheel to my steering. Just not worth it to me. And though I feel Borgeson parts are of the highest quality, I felt like the stock replacement shaft was perfectly fine at a significanly lower cost.
So once again, I chose www.Morris4x4.com, and once again, I am 110% satisfied with the service, packing and communication.
Here's the new shaft, came nicely painted. you can see the upper yoke, the u-joint. the bulge after that is where the rubber vibration dampner is found, and was the source of all the movement in my old shaft.
Steering box end in foreground, firewall end near the DEVO hat...haha!
Drove me crazy, but I lived with it for a while until recently when i just couldn't stand it any more..lol. :littlefriend:
The shaft in question connects the steering gearbox and the upper steering shaft/wheel at the firewall. On older cherokee's the upper and lower joints are "mini" u-joints just like most other shafts. Whats not familiar (at least to me) is a rubber bushing sleeve that joins the upper and lower shafts.
This rubber bushing was designed to reduce vibration, and tends to deteriorate with age, allowing a lot of movement. Your steering will not catastrophically fail, because the box side of the shaft has ears/flanges that are captured by the steering wheel side.
This meant I could drive my rig, to and from work but it meant a LOT of sloppy movement before the wheel would send input to the steering box.
So I researched and found three choices as far as fixes...
1. Fit a Borgeson steering shaft upgrade...about $250.00 that eliminates the "rubber bushing"
2. weld and/or bolt the upper and lower parts of the shaft together eliminating the movement allowed by the blown bushing.
3. Fit a stock replacement shaft. $109.00
I chose choice three, since I didn't feel safe drilling and welding on something that connects my steering wheel to my steering. Just not worth it to me. And though I feel Borgeson parts are of the highest quality, I felt like the stock replacement shaft was perfectly fine at a significanly lower cost.
So once again, I chose www.Morris4x4.com, and once again, I am 110% satisfied with the service, packing and communication.
Here's the new shaft, came nicely painted. you can see the upper yoke, the u-joint. the bulge after that is where the rubber vibration dampner is found, and was the source of all the movement in my old shaft.
Steering box end in foreground, firewall end near the DEVO hat...haha!
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