powderfinger

1993 Country 4.0 AW4 4x4 4dr 120K

I picked this thing up as a project to restore and learn about wrenching. Loving it so far, but I'd be grateful for some guidance on tightening up the steering. The truck floats all over the road and I don't like it. What parts should I look at/replace? I've read about upgrading the tie rods, but I'm not knowledgeable enough at this point to know whether that will help my situation.

Thanks! This forum has been a great help so far.

foreveryoung001

First thing I'd check is all the tie rod ends. You've got one at the Pitman Arm, then follow that down the drag link to the other end. Then you've got your long tie rod... one end connects above the tr end on the drag link, and the other end is on the drivers side steering knuckle.

while you're under there, check the track bar, and make sure both sides are good.

If you're steering is sloppy, you're most likely going to find a bad tie ord end or two.

While you're checking things though, I would also check the ball joints, the steering stabilizer, and see if there is any play in your gear box.

If its just bad TR ends, there a pretty cheap and easy fix to sloppy steering. I just ordered all new parts for mine... track bar, drag link, zj tie rod, the two tr ends I'll need and new connecting sleeves... all for under $150 on ebay. They're not Moog or anything that I'd consider "good", but they're all greasable and should be ok for a while.

If you want to avoid all new parts, just figure out what is bad, and replace with a quality part.