What's wrong with my steering?

[Manuel Angel Gil]

I live in Caracas, Venezuela and drive a 1987 Grand Wagoneer with the good old 258 under the hood. My problem is unprecise steering. When I bought my rig it was terrible, today, after replacing the tires, springs, spring mountings, shock absorbers, steering flector, the whole front end, steering pump and steering box it feels much better and certainly safer, but there's still a funny feeling to it. It is as though it's hard to keep it going in a straight line,(You have to make steering corrections constantly). I love my Jeep and would hate to part with it just because of this because it's perfect in every other way. I'd appreciate any help you can provide.

Manuel Angel Gil

[tito]

MAG,

A search in this forum for steering problems or other variations of title may give you some ideas with instructions on how to do the work. There's a lot of previous posts about this problem that include causes and what to look for first. Things such as tie rod ends, ball joints, etc. It may be the steering box needs adjusting, but that should be the last possibility to check. I don't know if new ones come pre-adjusted. There are plenty of others here that understand the steering system better than I do, but a search in the archives will provide a lot of info.

I had the same problem until installing a lift kit. It was better but still not good enough, so I put a new steering shaft figuring even if it was not the problem I was going to need a better one with the bigger tires anyway. That improved my drifting problem by 90%. It still wanders a little, but it doesn't take 2 hands (with white knuckles) on the wheel anymore.

Good luck.

[PhilSine]

Ball Joints. I have the same problem. Just havn't had time to deal with it yet. Besides, mine's not unsafe, yet.