Warning..check your steering bolts !

[awg]

or you will find yourself on the side of the road with steering box detached...or worse

Even though I was aware of this issue and there is a "sticky" thread on this forum, you dont get much warning

I heard a bang about 2 weeks ago, and my steering seemed a bit more vague, one of my sons borrowed the car and came running back to say that it had no steering, apparently the 2nd bolt let go with another bang, and the 3rd one within 5 minutes

flush with the lugs on the box, work hardened grade 8, blue loctite holding them

You should get a 16mm spanner and see if any spin, or even just replace them..I used 7/16 14 UNC x 4-1/2" (originals are 4"long)

Upon examination, you can see that once one of the 3 bolts snap, the other 2 are under immense stress, its a bad design

I pulled the box and took it home, spent nearly all day drilling out the stubs, you will need HS steel or cobalt bits x 3 for each bolt
(I tried welding a nut to the stub, but even though its clean shiny metal, and I used a hot mig, the weld just kept breaking, wouldnt stick to the metal in the high tensile bolts

Instead, once I drilled out to the depth of the lug, use a file or grinder to make a flat on the stub, then whack the hell out of the heated stub with a prick punch until I could get it rotating just a bit each way, then using multigrips and 8mm spanner, work it back and forth until I could twist them out

This was a very nasty job indeed, the box is also heavy enough that you really need an assistant to hold it while you line up the bolts, or risk having your face smashed

Pain wasnt over as the HP power steer hose cross threaded, so I had to grab the one of my spare XJ, and also the auto cooler line had been punctured, so replace that

( today I very carefully took a small triangular file and tidied up the hose thread, and miraculously was able to install it back into my spare XJ)

These hoses are available from Rock Auto for $50, are different for 96 and before to 97 & later, and are a bit of a rare item from wreckers

[eksjay]

Hi awg, thanks for the warning, and glad you and your family are ok.

Can I ask if your XJ was subject to the recall that strengthened the connection of the steering box to the chassis rail (steel plate)? Was this work done on your car? I know my 95 was recalled by C-J in 1996 and corrected. If so, is Fiat Chrysler (Stellantis?) liable to fix it again? The recall work, one would assume, is guaranteed for the life of the vehicle.

They never figured the XJ would last this long.

[Billnick]

Before anyone goes into a mad panic, this affliction only applies to pre-updates. But a timely warning nonetheless.

[layback40]

Originally Posted by Billnick

Before anyone goes into a mad panic, this affliction only applies to pre-updates. But a timely warning nonetheless.

Not so!
I had this happen to my update.
All bolts broke in quick succession. Ended up driving the jeep for about 20km with little or no steering. The steering box was just moving around so I tied it in place with some fencing wire.
The ends of the bolts had locating section and as they had all broken flush with the end of the threaded section in the frame, I was able to screw them through using vice grips. The spacer was lost.
Happened at about 280,000km.
I would recomend that the bolts should be changed out at ay 200,000km even if not broken.

[Billnick]

Originally Posted by Billnick

Before anyone goes into a mad panic, this affliction only applies to pre-updates. But a timely warning nonetheless.

WRONG. I was trusting my memory from 10 yrs back but it failed me. Onward.

[awg]

Originally Posted by eksjay

Hi awg, thanks for the warning, and glad you and your family are ok.

Can I ask if your XJ was subject to the recall that strengthened the connection of the steering box to the chassis rail (steel plate)? Was this work done on your car? I know my 95 was recalled by C-J in 1996 and corrected. If so, is Fiat Chrysler (Stellantis?) liable to fix it again? The recall work, one would assume, is guaranteed for the life of the vehicle.

They never figured the XJ would last this long.

I thought it had a sticker, my 1st XJ did, thing is, after 25 years, the problem would certainly recur.

I know many steering boxes have only 3 bolts, but once one breaks, the strength of a triangle is utterly lost, as the other two are in a straight line, and will break in short order

Saw a dude crashed into a ditch cause of this

I had it in my mind to replace these bolts a few times, but worried one might snap, and be difficult to remove

After this, I would say 100% for certain that you MUST do this job asap

I would like to think if it was me driving, I may have picked up the 2nd one snapping, as I sort of did when the 1st one went.

I made mine 4-1/2" long and intend to add nuts, but need spring washers, as
the bolts protrude in a recessed position

This can only have resulted from flexing of the box on frame rail, stubs all tight, no other damaged parts

Its worth checking the bolts on the alternate frame rail that hold a big bracket are all tight

I may add a 1/4" steel plate on the outside of the frame rail, I added much larger washers to help spread the load (but they break flush with the box), its really bad and I wouldnt advise anyone to ignore this issue, its almost enough to have these vehicles taken off the road imo (replacing them will fix it though)

[Sobek]

What do people buy as a replacement these days for the crappy factory triangle bracket? I was looking at one from the US about 10 years ago and it never really eventuated.

Mine has had the factory recall back in... 98? I think it was. Sadly, they just looked at it and clearly went "Nothing's broken, send it back" because there was no modifications or improvements made. I found this out the hard way many years back when I got talking to my local dealer around where it was bought from, and they just said too bad so sad it's been in for the recall. Shame.