Hit pothole hard, now steering issue

Beautiful day, so took Matte (77 CJ7 auto/304) on errands and took the long way home. Hit a large pothole pretty hard. Suddenly noticed that the PS didn't feel right. Lots of resistance when turning at certain spots. Had this jeep since the fall. PO had lifted it, steering and alignment perfect when I got it.

Popped the hood when I got home. Nothing obvious. Pump has fluid and is not making any noise. There is so sort of fluid on the lines, but didn't see a leak.

Any tests I should do before driving it or having towed to the shop? Don't like the thought of a steering failure

Thanks

 

I would jack up the front axle so the tires are off the ground and steer it back and forth without the engine running and see if you can feel the extra resistance and in which spot. Have a helper turn the steering wheel if you can while watching all the steering linkage and components. Look for things binding and things moving in ways they should not be.
Make sure you use jack stands

 

I'd also get under the front and do a visual inspection. Could be something jarred loose and is rubbing. Like steering stabilizer.

 

Hmmm. Put it up on stands and there was no binding with motor off. So took a quick road trip and all seems normal. Maybe my brain got jiggled and there was nothing going on yesterday. But I'm sure there was. Oh well, top down and going for first ride of the season.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

I had a similar issue. I re-used one of the old brake clips that holds the hard lines in place where the lines exit the frame. The clip had popped off, most likely during a drive. This allowed my brake lines to rub up against my steering coupler. It caused the steering to feel like it was binding at certain points.

 

When I did the visual inspection from up top, I saw what appeared to be a small indent in the top of the steering stabilizer. No sure it came that way from the factory. Going to look and see if it might have hit something on frame and caused some internal damage. On a long drive this weekend, I only felt strong resistance to turning once. That was coming up our long gravel drive at a 90 degree turn. Thinking I might want to replace the stabilizer.

 

The stabilizer is like a shock absorber - the oil reservoir is on the outside, around the inner piston, so you have to dent them pretty severely to bind the piston. It is possible that you bent it. You can remove it and drive around to see if there is any difference. Really, you should not feel any difference at low speed. The earliest CJs with the Dana 30 did not come with a stabilizer, and some of them exhibited a mild shake at ca 45 mph. I expect Jeep started fitting stabilizers routinely, to avoid the possible service issue.

 

Dropped the stabilizer and it is punctured. Ordered a replacement. It appears the bracket for stop bumper was hit.

 

That's a non-standard replacement for the frame bumper. You want a 5355483 Axle Snubber which does not have the offending channel shape.

 

Thanks! Just ordered them.