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XJ steering shaft issues

4x4blaze

4x4blaze

That's not going to work
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Well guys, I went ahead and swapped out my stock steering shaft when I lifted my truck (roughly 1000 miles ago) but have been having issues with it:doah: It for whatever reason always wants to pull the steering wheel too tight into the column. The wheel is "binding" and will rub on the column causing it to squeak occasionally.. And my horn doesn’t work half the time. All due to the binding. I’m sort of lost at what could be causing this but it’s driving me nuts....

I know this is a really popular upgrade to do with these trucks and I was wondering if any of you had experience with this issue..

Thanks!
 
Sounds like it may have been installed a tad too short and it’s pulling the steering wheel towards the firewall
 
It's supposed to collapse and extend. Do you have a ujoint bound up?
 
Bent77 said:
Sounds like it may have been installed a tad too short and it’s pulling the steering wheel towards the firewall
Click to expand...

That's exactly what it's doing. and if I flex the truck, it will really bind then and pull the wheel pretty snug in the column.


obijuank5 said:
It's supposed to collapse and extend. Do you have a ujoint bound up?
Click to expand...

It does collapse and extend, but the shaft I have has a plastic insert in the middle of the shaft between the two pieces (made to collapse if you have a crash) that you have to get hot in order to collapse it to fit. I also had to heat it to open it back up to fit. It does not just telescope freely on its own. Could this be the issue? Arent all of them like this?
 
4x4blaze said:
That's exactly what it's doing. and if I flex the truck, it will really bind then and pull the wheel pretty snug in the column.




It does collapse and extend, but the shaft I have has a plastic insert in the middle of the shaft between the two pieces (made to collapse if you have a crash) that you have to get hot in order to collapse it to fit. I also had to heat it to open it back up to fit. It does not just telescope freely on its own. Could this be the issue? Arent all of them like this?
Click to expand...
You might have set it up a bit too short, then when it set its too tight.
Mine has that eliminated, which is not recommended.

They do not telescope, there is some build in play on the end of the column up by the firewall

When you flex it and it tightens may also suggest that the body mounts are tired
 
Wow, I drink the XJ Coolaid and love it.
Even before my cage went in, when the truck is completely flexed out, the steering never bound up.
Interesting
I'm hoping your body mounts are really bad, but if you tell me they are new...... ugh. And so the investigation continues.
 
lol
Loosen the bolts that hold the column to the dash, so they give when you're doing the extreme.

#RaceTruck
 
As far as the body mounts being worn out, truck has slightly over 120k miles that were grandpa owned, Sunday driver, garage kept miles.. So I'm really not concerned about that being an issue at all.. And the clearance between the back of the wheel and column is extremely tight to begin with. So it does not take much to pull it in an 1/8 of an inch if that
 
did you happen to take your steering wheel off when you installed the XJ steering shaft. If you did the steering column shaft could have dropped down, and slipped out of the steering column bearings that hold that part of the shaft in place. You might want to also look at the steering column seal area to see if the seal slipped out too. I went with the Chevy Express Van steering column, which is the same as the XJ shaft except it does not have the plastic inserts that hold the telescopic shaft in place. Here is a picture of my set up. You can see that I put a stack of washers to hold the steering column shaft seal in place.

full
 
Bent77 said:
You might have set it up a bit too short, then when it set its too tight.
Mine has that eliminated, which is not recommended.

They do not telescope, there is some build in play on the end of the column up by the firewall
Click to expand...

It sounds like I do have it set up too short, so that will be the first plan of attack. It's just such a pain in the ass to get out since you have to heat it, collapse it while its red hot, etc.. But hopefully it will be right this time!

I did grind a little divot off the top of column, but do you normally have to take a little more off the column shaft sticking through the firewall?
 
1-ton said:
did you happen to take your steering wheel off when you installed the XJ steering shaft. If you did the steering column shaft could have dropped down, and slipped out of the steering column bearings that hold that part of the shaft in place. You might want to also look at the steering column seal area to see if the seal slipped out too. I went with the Chevy Express Van steering column, which is the same as the XJ shaft except it does not have the plastic inserts that hold the telescopic shaft in place. Here is a picture of my set up. You can see that I put a stack of washers to hold the steering column shaft seal in place.

full
Click to expand...

I may have to check this out instead of the jeep shaft, huh.. Thanks for the input! & I did not take my wheel of when I installed it. It does sort of spring out at the end of the bearing though.. huh.... So the Express van shaft can freely open and close without getting it hot?
 
4x4blaze said:
I may have to check this out instead of the jeep shaft, huh.. Thanks for the input! & I did not take my wheel of when I installed it. It does sort of spring out at the end of the bearing though.. huh.... So the Express van shaft can freely open and close without getting it hot?
Click to expand...

Your previous thought about the shaft being too short because it is not telescoped out enough could be the problem as well. If your XJ telescoping shaft is not pulled out enough, and you pulled the steering column down to meet it, then this would pull the steering column shaft out of the centering bearings as well.
 
1-ton said:
Your previous thought about the shaft being too short because it is not telescoped out enough could be the problem as well. If your XJ telescoping shaft is not pulled out enough, and you pulled the steering column down to meet it, then this would pull the steering column shaft out of the centering bearings as well.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what's happening. To a T. I'm going to pop it off this week and see what I can do. And I'll post my findings on here. If I'm still not satisfied, I'll probably try out the express van shaft.. What year and is it off a 1500 or 2500? I drive a 2500 express almost everyday:D
 
4x4blaze said:
That is exactly what's happening. To a T. I'm going to pop it off this week and see what I can do. And I'll post my findings on here. If I'm still not satisfied, I'll probably try out the express van shaft.. What year and is it off a 1500 or 2500? I drive a 2500 express almost everyday:D
Click to expand...

It would be the 2500. I got one from RockAuto...cannot remember the part number. I am sure you can get your XJ shaft figured out. No need to go spending more money an another shaft. If you do a search of some of the other threads on XJ shafts, you can see what other members did to make the telescoping shaft work good.
 
With my frame flex my xj shaft shows over 1/2" change in length.
 
I've about had it with this thing....:angry1: Took the shaft off the truck. Got the upper part of the shaft fitting perfectly on the column without having to beat it on... like I had to before. Got everything buttoned up and drove it... And the wheel still seems as if it's pulled too tight into the column.. you can feel any pebble that you run over in the road through the wheel.

AND now some strange clunk appeared while turning... It appears that it is coming from the bearing/bushing at the very end of the column.

Can't catch a break with this thing and am regretting swapping in this shaft..:mad: Has been nothing but a constant headache.
 
& BTW, here's a sideshot of the wheel showing just how close it is to the column.. Is this normal?

20180813_205207.jpg

And heres a picture of my column and the bushing/bearing that I believe is the culprit of the clunking.

20180813_220120.jpg
 
I would park the truck on level ground, engine running, and have someone turn the steering wheel left and right. Make sure they can duplicate the tightness you are having, otherwise park the truck on a curb so the suspension is twisted a little.

While they saw the steering back and forth, look under the truck for where the problem is. I agree, the steering wheel gap looks kinda tight. With the XJ shaft off the truck, can you move the wheel up and down, forcibly? My places of concern are the steering box frame area, where something is able to pull the box up and down. I'm thinking the old steering shaft has play in the rubber isolater and allowing something else to move without you knowing. The XJ doesn't really have any play in it, unless it's old. In that case, the upper isolater should be welded so it's not sloppy.

I think either you have something forcibly pulling the shaft down, or the steering column has a problem. The column problem would be not keeping the inner shaft in place, allowing it to drop farther than it should. I wonder what the steering wheel gap is before XJ shaft installation and after, without flexing the truck.
 
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