Steering

Dec 1997

Background | Installation | Cost | Postscript

Background

On the first trail run after the new axles everything seemed fine. The next day I drove it to work, and several times on the way it started shaking violently. The only way to stop it was to come to a complete stop. It would then return to normal for a little while before doing it again. After getting some suggestions from people in my club, I started looking for imbalances and loose parts in the wheels and steering.

Installation

Try #1 - Since I had been in quite a bit of mud, I thought I might have some inside one of the tires that had hardened and caused a major imbalance. It was also possible that I had lost a balancing weight while wheeling.

I took it to the closest Les Schwab Tire Center and had them check it out. They found nothing inside, but they said the tires were several ounces out of balance and they fixed them. 20 feet out of their parking lot it started shaking again.

Try #2 - When I got home I put the front up on jack stands and started shaking the tires looking for slop. I noticed that the brackets that hold the power steering gear to the frame were cracked. It had obviously cracked before and had been welded. Well, the old weld was broken. After doing some calling around, I ordered new brackets from 4WD Hardware.

To replace the brackets, you must remove the power steering box. This wasn't too bad once I figured out that I had to jack up the drivers front spring a bit to remove the load. (The brackets use the bolts that attach the spring hanger to the frame.) Once it was out, I decided to try to fix the leak it had at the rear seal.

That was my first mistake. To do this, I had to remove the hoses and ended up with power steering fluid everywhere. Once I had it on my workbench, I started calling around to find a new oil seal. No one I could find had one except as part of a complete rebuild kit. I was not up for that, and the leak was not that bad, so I cleaned it all up to reinstall. Getting the hoses back on was even worse than getting them off.

Putting everything back together was like a puzzle with no solution. Some bolts couldn't be tightened unless the gear was off, others had to have it in place first, and no sequence seemed to work. After 5 tries, a lot of cursing, and a few bruised knuckles, I finally got it all in place and most of the bolts tight. I immediately took it for a road test, and it quickly started shaking again. Arg!

Try #3 - I put it back up on jacks and started pushing on stuff again. This time I found that one of the tie rod ends was very loose. Sometimes it would stick and hold like it was supposed to, and sometimes it just flopped around. I also noticed that the rod sleave was bent. I decided to replace the whole thing. I did some calling, and I found out that nobody even came close to 4WD Hardware in price. After looking in their catalog, I also decided to replace both tie rods while I was at it.

Once they came, the installation was pretty easy. I had a little trouble getting one of the old ones off, but a cut-off wheel and a big hammer did the trick.

For a first pass at alignment, I measured from the inside of one wheel to the inside of the other. I adjusted the rod until the distance was the same at the front and back of the wheel. I then adjusted the other rod to center the steering wheel. I should get a real alignment done at some point, but this will do for now.

Cost

Postscript