ANyone have this problem?

I have to turn the steering knuckle to reset steering wheel center after wheeling.

Is my steering box stripped or damaged?

 

more than likely you have bent your tie-rod a bit. this is very common and it will change the position of your steering wheel. if you hit a rock exceptionally hard with one tire, you may have spun your sector shaft a bit but, i'd still be willing to bet it's your tie-rod.

 

thanks WOL

thought it may be the steering box since the 1st time it happened was after i hit a tree around 25 mph with my right front Mickey T. thinking something may have stripped a bit in the box, added with the extra stress of wheeling and torquing things around a bit?

i'll check the tie rod though

 

well, if that's what happend, you may have spun the splines on and/or bent your sector shaft. i have done this before and enough so that even after adjusting my draglink as far as i could, my steering wheel was still upside down and i could barely make a left turn. check your steering box at the pitman arm to see if it's leaking at all. a hit hard enough to do damage to your sector shaft would be enough to cause a seal damage too. needless to say, you will see a leak here.

 

It's also common to knock the steering damper loose or even bend it as well. This will also get the steering wheel off center. Ask me how I know.

 

SO how do you know Redneck?

 

no leaks - so did you have to replace the steering box to fix?

glad to hear i'm not the only one who likes to have 'fun' (aka break something) on the trails.

 

hmmm, if you don't have any leaks, it might be okay. how far off is your steering wheel? if it's not too far off, i would still bet your tie-rod is bent or that your steering stabilizer is like redneckjeep suggested. i have had that happen to me before too. if it isoff just a bit and it is your tie rod, setting your toe back to what it should be should fix your problem.

as far as breaks go, yeah, you can say that i have had a few. as for my steering box, yup again, i had to replace it and to be perfectly honest, i am on my 3rd now.

 

3rd steering box - hope it's covered under warranty? if not, may be time for hydraulic (sp.)?

 

Every time I off road her my wheel is off not a lot but I don't bother adjusting it my esp is dumb and lazy so I just leave untill it is off enough to need adjusting