Invisibleman

1995 XJ sport, 4.0.
One day went to use and voila, hard steering.
Replaced power steering pump, no difference.
No leaky hoses or other obvious signs of leaks and no abnormal noises.
Did the 20 times left to right air evacucution, no change.
My choices I see next are,
1) Bad, collapsed interior high pressure pump hose. (has anyone heard of this on an XJ? I've seen nothing on forums.)
2) Steering box issue
3)
The only other easy check would be some type of steering damper issue. I'll disconnect that next.
I've looked at a couple of power steering pressure test kits (Amazon) but dont seem like quality. I hate to just keep throwing parts at this, especially since they are expensive and hard to get to, to some degree.
Any ideas ?

exasemech

You can cross "rack and pinion" off your list of suspects. XJ's don't have them.

Invisibleman

Ha. Well I've been working too much on my 2011 which I did have to change the RandP once because of one little leak in one little cross over pressure line. Huge hassle.
BTW, this isn't like NO power steering. It's like about 50%.

Saudade

Jack the front end off the ground. Make sure you use safety stands, set the hand break.

Since the weight is off the tires, try turning now. See if there's any binding. Then have a thorough look underneath.

Definitely check the steering stabilizer and disconnect it.

After that you can disconnect the tie rod end at the pitman arm. That would isolate the power side of the steering (and steering shaft and column), from the linkage.

Invisibleman

Heading to shop to do that now.

Invisibleman

Steering can be moved freely by grabbing and turn a wheel with damper and pitman arm disconnected. Damper seems fine. And, steering is still dragging somewhat with nothing connected and engine running.
I guess new steering box, and may as well change both hoses.

cruiser54

ever inspected the fluid condition? Changed it?

Invisibleman

Fluid nice and clean. The problem turned out to be bad universal joints on lower steering shaft.
Never saw that coming.
Couldn't find on any of the big three or four online auto parts stores. Ended up getting one on Amazon. There were some on Ebay, but Amazon returns are the best.
Thanks for the suggestions. Liking this site.

Saudade

Glad you found the problem. Post back later to confirm it worked!

cruiser54

Thanks for posting back!!

Invisibleman

UPDATE: Turned out not to be the universal joints on steering shaft. It was the steering box. Replaced, and all good now. Expensive but did the job.

That Jeep Guy XJMJ

Kudos to you for following up with your findings/resolution. Seems too often some folks will ask questions to no end and never follow up with results.