steering problems

[dariscj7]

I have a 1976 CJ7 with a small lift and 33 x 12.50 tires. the steering sucks ***. the jeep wanders all over the road. it is veryyy over reactive. its very touchy. when you try to correct it, it just over corrects. it is very hard to drive especially with me being a new driver and still young with manual Transmission . I need help.

 

[Old Dog]

Have you read this yet..http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f99/troubleshooting-correcting-your-steering-4106/

 

[BusaDave9]

the jeep wanders all over the road. it is veryyy over reactive. its very touchy. when you try to correct it, it just over corrects.

This tells me you have free play in the steering. It could also be caster angle. Is the jeep lifted? If so how? Long shackles would cause this.
Check out the link Old Dog Posted. It's a great help.
Another test is to have someone sit in the drivers seat and turn the steering wheel back and forth. You may find you can move the steering wheel a ways before the wheels start to turn. Look for the free play.
Grabbing on the tie rod ends and pulling may help you find bad steering linkage. That is covered in the above link.
Another place there could be free play is the front shackle bushings. In that case it is very possible that you could move the steering wheel back and forth and find that it moves the front axle back and forth before the tires turn. I've seen that before. It won't move the axle much so look carefully. Long shackles or bad shackle bushings may be your problem.

 

[zackstheking]

four things need to check
1. worm gear in steering gearbox (is the gearbox reacting quickly to the steering wheel)
2. spring bushings cannot stress that enough
3. if your running a stabilizer make sure its not worn out
4 shocks not as important as the other three but does make a significant difference

just went through the same problem on mine and im runnin 33 12.50s with no power steering on my 73

only other step after that is if it doesnt have swaybars get some will help with the wondering