Screw the haters. Square is there...my suggestion is leave it alone.  It's a dam disease. Mine is a 94, I have owned it since 95. Wheeled every weekend. Was no longer an automobile....it is now a piece of equipment Attached File

I have a 91 also, 4.0L with an AX 15, and 140k original miles with lots of work done.

Spring over axle conversion, but I don't really take this off road, so the almost 6" of total lift (spring over, probably 1" body lift, 35" tires, and 1.5" leafs) is a little too much for day to day driving.  It's a blast though, no vibration issues at all, which is actually kind of rare for this amount of lift.

Since you said you have steering slop, two things--- first, not sure if you've ever driven a YJ before, but there's ALWAYS going to be play in your steering wheel.  A new steering gear box can help, but I've replaced boxes that I know were bad with brand new ones, without a huge amount of improvement. (FYI, a Redbox gearbox is worth the money over a regular stock replacement. )  You can also upgrade your box by replacing it with a larger Durango box (can't remember which years work). The Durango box is beefier and handles bigger tires much better, but I think you lose a tiny bit of turning radius with the mod.

My 88 4.2L is an automatic without many/any drive train mods, and feels completely different.  Rides more like a tank that feels like it cannot be turned over. Boring.

My advice is to take off the doors and the top (get rid of that hard top and replace it with a soft top and drive it.   I live where the winters are cold (hits -30 to -40 degrees every year) and a soft top with a heater that works well keep you warm. Hard tops are loud and have a very 'stifling' feeling.

Start the mods with things that make your jeep easier and more comfortable to drive, then go from there. If it's your daily driver, new seats may be a much better investment than a new winch.  It all depends on what you need.

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I have nothing to add that hasn’t already been said. Good luck OP and keep the thread updated.

It’s not really steering wheel slip as much as the column is sloppy.