97 grand cherokee.. has a lot of play in the steering it wanders when driveing streight down the road and have to fight understeer and oversteer in the corners. took it to the dearship yesterday and was told that the transfer case is locking up and thats what caused the steering problem.. any help or thoughts on this would be great.. thanks

97 grand cherokee.. has a lot of play in the steering it wanders when driveing streight down the road and have to fight understeer and oversteer in the corners. took it to the dearship yesterday and was told that the transfer case is locking up and thats what caused the steering problem.. any help or thoughts on this would be great.. thanks
NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE (MAY BE TRUE)DID YOU LOOK AT THE ADJUSTMENT ON THE STEERING GEAR BOX?THAT WOULD BE MY FIRST AREA TO LOOK AT

OK I had this one on my 93.

it was play between the steering box shaft and the steering arm.

I was assuming I would need to replace it all but someone suggested why not try tightening it up? those things are tapered, ya know?

Im not sure if your model is the same but in mine all I did was make sure that whan I did tighten the nt, (it was about a 2-1/4" socket I think?) I used an impacy wrench and adaper to put a good amount of torque on it. This made an amazing difference and didnt cost me a thing.

All I had to do to check it was have someone wiggle the steering wheel while I watched the nut/arm joint to see if there was any play between them.

Hey scandent,
Please explain a lil more.
Whats an nt?
what did u tighten?

Hey scandent,
Please explain a lil more.
Whats an nt?
what did u tighten?


the NT was suppose to be NUT, I assume.
they tightened the nut that holds the pitman arm onto the pitman shaft.

Joe

Well after reading this yesterday, I went out with my impact and tightened the pitman nut down it spun almost a full turn. and it did seem to tighten the steering up a bit.

i gotta try this too

Sorry folks for all of the typos, I did mean Nut; specifically the one holding the steering arm onto the actual shaft coming out of the steering box. The shaft is splined and also tapered, and as you tighten the nut, it takes up the play between the shaft and the arm.
Make sure that the nut doesn't bottom out against the end of the shaft, (although mine had lots of clearance - probably .080 - .100" to go).

I also got about a full turn or more when I did it, and it made a dramatic improvement in my driveability, and havent had to do anything else since.