So after checking under the hood tonight, it appears my bushing is in the right place. I might need the shaft repalced, after all. Fortunately, I am still under warranty. Until 2016!

 

An inch out is normal.

 

Pretty much whats happening is the heat is causing it to expand and w/ larger tires, it may be putting more pressure on it. I guess it might also depend on the weather as some stated if you are in really heat then it shows up but not during the colder days? But I might be wrong as some people are claiming this issue from the get go.

Do you guys think if the steering wheel stabilizer is messed up, it'd cause vibration on larger tires? Say 33x12.5x16?

 

I was unable to get this bushing pushed back in. Another poster said that about 1" or so showing was normal. I guess that's as good as mine is going to get. Maybe I'll take it in to get it looked at.

 

look for old threads on this,had same problem removed lower intermediate shaft,took apart filled with a "tacky"grease no more clunk(tried to take in for warranty explained exactly what was happening got bill for $165 for some idiot flate rate auto mechanic to inspect all of my aftermarket parts and say they must be responsible,to hell with chrysler,do all my own work now,have fixed quite a few problems on my JK mostly due to info found on this site,thanx JK forum,all chysler and the punk @ssed rookie techs that work there have done is give me bills and a headache(they have not been able to TS or repair anything)

 

I just had the same thing start happening to my Jeep. I have 1000 miles on it and the only off roading I've done on it was some light trails. MIne is an 09 i bought new. Could this be something that every new JK is having problems with?

 

took delivery of my 07 rubi mar 21 07(built feb 18 07)noticed this 'clunk" very early,were alot of posts on this in regards to both the bushing at the firewall and the excess play in slipyoke of lower int.column(from joint at firewall to input of steering box)more noticable when vehicle hot(2 different metals used in column slip joint,more play when underhood temp high).
Were some good posts on taking the column apart filling the slip joint with "high tack"style grease which does work quite well to reduce the excess play and clunk in JK steering.I thought this problem would have been addressed by now as numerous warranty claims have been filed on lower intermediate shaft part#55351281AB

PS sorry about the venting in last post just had yet another frustrating dealership experience

 

I also have this clunk in my steering. I have been to the dealer this morning and had the mechanic test drive my jeep with me. He felt the clunk and said that he needs to order an intermmediate joint (shaft)

 

I have an 08 with about 18k on it. I had noticed a very slight steering wheel chatter on some road ripples. I, like others, used a chunk of wood and hammer and pushed the firewall bushing in further. I noticed with a few k of normal driving it would come back down a 1/4 inch and the slight rattle would come back. Push it up and it stops. Last night I added a hose clamp around the shaft butting up against the plastic bushing to stop it from coming out. I will see how that goes. At this point I think its that vs the slip joint in the intermediate shaft. I was also quite surprised at the amount of heat in that area from the headers! After driving it was almost too hot to even install the clamp...including the steering shaft. Perhaps its the heat and expansion and contraction of rubber, plastic and metal that is causing the bushing to slide down.

 

guess were going to half to fix it ourselves
got this reply from Borgenson Universal Co. (they make steering components for those who don't know)

We have had other requests and we tried prototype shafts in a couple of JK's and it actually made the problem worse. It may be that there is another steering or suspension problem and our tighter shaft accentuated it. We have suspended development at least for the time being.

Thanks,