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Post Lift Problem

S

SFW516

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Anaheim, CA
I just finished putting a RE 4.5inch lift on my 90 Jeep Cherokee. So far everything is going well, very little to no vibes, all stock. I did drop the t-case slightly though to ease up on things.

Anyway the only real problem I am having right now is that I noticed I seem to have about a 1/2 inch of slop in my steering wheel and it likes to wander. I have had everything aligned and they didn't say anything was bad. So I looked and it seems to me like the slop is coming from the tie rod ends. So is this something that was just accented by the lift? If I replace the tie rod ends should that take care of it?

Here are some before and after pics.

img6005y.jpg



img7532s.jpg
 
Well, if the TREs are worn they should be replaced.

Have you laid under the front end, wheels on ground, and had a friend turn the steering wheel and observed how things are moving around?

As for the wandering--I would suspect CASTER, and that can be problematic as most alignment shops don't want to adjust it on lifted vehicles. Did you get a printout of the alignment specs? I run mine at 7 degrees positive, 4.5/5.5 lift. If there is a 4x4 shop in your area that does alignment, then that would be your best bet.
 
what is your trackbar set up? stock? aftermarket? drilled out & moved?
 
The trackbar is the RE1600 adjustable using the original mount, only thing I did was drill the hole out to 5/8" I believe. And yes I did lay underneath while someone turned the wheels and all I could see that was moving seemed to be the TRE's and maybe the other steering linkage joints just slightly.

They did give me a printout. For caster the have a min/max of 5.0-7.0 degrees and they have the final as 4.9 on the left and 4.6 on the right. I am not familiar with how an alignment works so I don't really know what is being adjusted but I hope that helps. Maybe I can take a picture of the whole thing if you want to see more.

Thanks for the help.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, just under minimum. I would shim it out closer to max.
 
Yeah I have been checking every once in awhile to make sure everything is tight. So what difference should I see if any at all if I change the castor? And how do I go about doing that, sorry I've never dealt with this.
 
do you have adjustable upper control arms? thats how to adjust it the easy way, if not it will take adding or removing shims in the upper mounts.
 
dellstopjeep said:
do you have adjustable upper control arms? thats how to adjust it the easy way, if not it will take adding or removing shims in the upper mounts.
Click to expand...
There are no shims in the uppers!
OP,you need to add shims behind the lower frame side control arm brackets.
 
like said, bad TRE's and a poor caster angle will cause the dead spot and wandering. did you get adjustable CA's with your lift?
 
Not I don't have the adjustable's. So I guess it will have to be the shims then. Are there any write ups or articles on this out there? I think I will start by replacing the TRE's and see where I stand from there.
 
SFW516 said:
They did give me a printout. For caster the have a min/max of 5.0-7.0 degrees and they have the final as 4.9 on the left and 4.6 on the right. I am not familiar with how an alignment works so I don't really know what is being adjusted but I hope that helps. Maybe I can take a picture of the whole thing if you want to see more.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

What does the whole print out say for your alignment? I do alignments on lifted Jeep often at work.
 
I have been looking at my steering linkage to see what might be causing the problem. It looks like a good amount of the looseness could be coming from where the pitman arm attaches, don't know the correct name for it. Are there any other likely suspects other than these joints? I don't want to be randomly replacing parts for no reason.

I think I'll try and post a video of the underneath while the steering wheel is being turned, because I don't really know what looks bad and what looks okay.
 
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