LJ Steering upgrade mystery

[gorilla_skater]

When I bought the LJ, the PO said his mechanic said it would need new Steering, it was leaking power steering fluid from around the pump. Of course I didn't do anything with it and ran the stock steering gear and stock steering pump on the trails. There were no problems with steering other than the limitations of stock steering  and leaking under pressure.

I bought:

- PSC big bore steering gear - it replaced the stock Mercedes box.
-Reman steering pump
- PSC Pressure hose kit
- New return line
- New steering shaft - need shorter shaft to accommodate for the longer steering box.

Before the install, the Jeep had a stock steering gear and stock steering, ORO uturn steering linkage, G2 Core 44 axle with stock knuckles, and a MORE 1" body lift

This  new stuff sat on the bench for months. I've come to realize how little energy I had when I started not feeling well last year.

Anyway, my Doctor still limits me on how much bending ,twisting and how many burgers I can apply. So I asked Tom to install everything.

Of course the Install went well with the only snag being that Tom had to rework the return line to get it to line up right. That would have left me laying under the Jeep questioning my bad decisions in life.

On the test ride the steering was REALLY heavy and kind of uneven. It felt like manual steering.  Definitely No Bueno. Super disappointing since I was hoping for better, or at least the same steering feel, not worse.

I'll jump the gun and tell you I figured it out, and I will say it was 2 parts (one wasn't in the new part list above) that fixed this.

I'll post it up in stages to take on this interesting journey. [emoji3]

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[gorilla_skater]

Troubleshooting step 1:
I called PSC and they asked if I tested the output of the Reman pump to see if it was putting out 1300 PSI. Since I didn't have a gauge set up to test it, Tom recommended I call Radial Dynamics.  Eric took the time and was awesome to talk to.

Eric recommended a non-gauge test. He said to lift the wheels off the ground and turn till it stops. He said you want to hear a good groan. I did that and it groaned but seemed weak. I decided to replace the Reman pump with a new mfg pump.

SUCCESS! Well sort of...

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[RedJeepster1]

Blue collar Off-road did an awesome podcast with the guy that started radial dynamics. Super cool stuff. That guy seems to really know the ins and outs of what makes a power steering system work properly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[A new level]

I was going to say pump. I’ve heard good things about those guys.

 

[gorilla_skater]

Well there were 2 symptoms, heavy steering wheel and the best I can describe is uneven steering. It wasn't smooth.

The new pump fix the heavy wheel, it was 100 times better. It still felt weird though. I was going to call back PSC, but I hit the internet first.

A bunch of searches to the effect of TJ heavy steering wheel.

Believe it or not, it had to do with the MORE body lift!

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[JohnyPro]

Wow... too much separation between the body and frame?

 

[TJlongworth]

It needed the steering shaft bearing lift ?

 

[gorilla_skater]

The MORE body lift kit came with a riser bracket. The point being, if you raise the tub, you change the steering shaft angles. When I installed the body lift, I read that you may not need the bracket. So I didn't install, and the steering was fine, so I left it.

When Tom was installing everything, I brought the bracket thinking, just throw it in, it can't hurt. We decided to leave it out as the shaft angles didn't look bad. Afterall, I didn't need it before.

Well an internet search came up with a guy that REMOVED body lift pucks, then got a heavy steering wheel. It turned out that it had a riser bracket, and when left in, it messed up the angles and caused issues.

Since I had it, I went ahead and installed the riser bracket and it steers beautifully now!

So why? It didn't need it before and now it does? 2 things that were changed out were the steering gear and the shaft. You needed a new steering shaft because the steering gear is longer. So, the angles were not the same as stock with the Mercedes box. Also, the previous steering shaft was old and worn, maybe the new shaft with the new joints were more sensitive to the angle change?

Anyway, problems solved.

Stock picture...

 

[Horn]

I have that shaft riser.  I was on the fence about doing it myself when I did the body lift but decided to throw it in.  In my case my steering was ok before and ok after but sounds like I made the right decision since it’s probably helping.

 

[TJlongworth]

No Freaking way !! Well im glad to hear it was a simple fix

 

[A new level]

Would have never guessed that but makes sense

 

[YJScrounge]

Good to know. Ya know them CJ/YJ has a straight shaft with no carrier. New stuff isn't always better.

I have to throw a new box in my TJ. This write up is helpful.

 

[redjeep]

So what I'm hearing is that it was the shaft that was giving you the shaft!  :banghead:

 

[JohnyPro]

Good to know! I don't think I even got a riser when I did my JKS body lift back in 2007. If I ever put a new box in, that is awesome to know! Thanks for the write up Rey!

 

[Red Rocker]

I installed the riser bracket on mine too when I did the steering upgrade

 

[JeepinMaxx]

I had a similar issue with my old PSC set-up.  When I changed my steering gear (saginaw box out of an 80s wagoneer)  The steering whas so heavy I almost couldn't turn the wheels when not moving.  Turned out to be some sort of check valve in the PSC pump.  Swapped it out with a factory pump and all was good.  I'll have to check to see if I have that riser block with the 1" body lift...

 

[YJScrounge]

You need a riser block. That’s what she said…

 

[JohnyPro]

:rotflmao: