Went and did some mild wheeling yesterday. Nothing extreme compared to what I usually do. Got off the dirt road and onto the pavement and heard something hit the wheel well and fragments. I assumed it was a rock being thrown from the tire but thought it sounds odd because of the metallic sound. I thought maybe rock hit the coils or something. Looked at everythign under the jeep and nothing broken or missing thats visible. Maybe the noise was a rock???

Later on went to turn left and the steering wheel wobbles and feels like its still in 4x4. Only when turning left. In the parking lot turning left you can see the front left wheel wobble back and forth like the lugs are loose. Turn straight and drives fine.Turn right and no problem.

- Lug nuts are tight
- u joints LOOK fine. No caps missing.
- its not in 4x4 still.
- wheel weights still on - none missing
- everything was just re- torqued last week. everythign was tight and at spec

Seized ujoint maybe? Broken axle? unit bearing? steering gear?

Im going to pull the wheel tonight to see if i can find anything. Just thought i would let you guys have fun diaging it. Lol

 

Sound to me like your axle u joint... It pulls the steering wheel when it wobbles?

Though I'm surprised it doesn't when turning both ways...

 

Sure sounds right ... or a steering stop fell out and you are going beyond the stop? Is the steering wheel rocking when it happens?

 

yup..you can feel the steering wheel pulsing. Stick your head out the window and look at the front tire when turning in the parking lot and you can see the tire wobble even at 5mph. It feels just like it does when its in 4x4 and your on a hard spot on the trail.

 

correction...it does it turning both ways. Just realized i make all left hand turn going to work.

 

only does it when you cut your wheel for a full turn?

 

x2 on u-joint, you'll have to pull the wheel off to get a real good look at it.

 

wont do it at full lock turning in a circle but will do it under normal turning like in a round about or turning into a drive way or intersection. And that leads me to beleive its a steering gear or my diff. if the u joints were bad i would think full lock would cause the most stress.

 

Ddd you ever find out if your problem was the u-joint?