Originally Posted by Theresonlyonejeep

I know theres another thread for this somewhere,but I have confirmed someones elses finding on how the problem can be corrected without a new shaft.

The problem is in the "steering shaft".The slip joint that is used on Wranglers and many other applications uses 2 splined shaft that slide into one another.

I explained the problem to a shade tree mechanic I work with,he knew exactly what it was and explained my symptoms exactly.He said he had a cavalier that had the same type of shaft years back and experienced the same problem.Lack of grease between the splines or excesively worn splines are the problem.Since the wrangler is brand new ,I would expect a lack of grease.

He told me to use open gear compund(ALSO FITH WHEEL GREASE).Its a "high" tack grease that actually becomes thicker as its worked.(used in appliations where 2 gears intersect each other but are not able to be oiled due to size or configuration).I took some from our maintence shop at work and bought a small grease/oil syringe.

I took my shaft off yesterday while performing an oil change.It took less than 5 minutes.
Upon removal I notice a tiny bit of slop when I twisted the upper and lower portions of the shaft.Not much but enough to feel it through the steering wheel.I removed the upper clamp and inserted the grease syringe under the lip.I pumped the boot full of that black goop.I used a zip tie to secure the boot.

After the boot was secure.I worked the shaft to compression and back to full extension until it became very hard to slide them back and forth into each other.As I stated ,this open gear compound is very thick and has a high tack to it.You will know once its worked its way into the splines.I could not feel any slop betwen the shafts any more.

I reinstalled the shaft and Viola! No more clunky steering.A new steering shaft will probably cure the problem,but just greasing it solved mine.

I don't think regular grease will cut it,it might be ok but it will have to be done more often.

I hope this helps everyone.I've been trying to track this down for 2 months and I finally got it thanks to some hillbilly mechanic.

Originally Posted by Trail Bud

Greasing the column is a temp fix. The gease will break down and you have the same problem.

And you should keep this on the master thread for this problem, so we don't have multiple threads on the same topic.

Originally Posted by mslc10

I had this same problem with a 95 cherokee and they replaced the steering shaft twice ..so at every 18,000 miles the noise would return...after the third I just lived with it until 160,000 miles I sold it.

my jk didnt have the clunk until i went slightly off road (down a sandy road that I could have taken a car down without any problems) and the clunk appeared. My jk has 16,500 miles on it...hmmmm any coorolation to the 18,000 miles on the cherokee shaft...too coincidental!!!

So to think that just because DC replaces your shaft that you are clunk free is ridiculous.All they are doing is replacing a faulty part with a "not yet "faulty part. They haven't fixed the problem or learned anything since "95 !!!

As I stated before I think the issue is lack of lubriction inside and we aren't feeling slack but rather a bind of the splined shaft as it moves in and out of the outer shaft . won't bore you with more ramblings but so far this has cured it.

Or the possibility that just removing the shaft and putting it back in has re-seated the couplers on the steering box and column shaft. Who the freak knows