Frond axle slides sideways

I inatalled a three in lift on my 99 XJ 4.0 aw4 231. I knew i shouldnt have but when installing the fron lift i never removed the lower control arms as per instructions. i stood on my brake rotor and bounced up and down while a buddy stuck the coil springs in.:twak:

now when i turn i hear a popping noise and the axle slides to either side. i tightened my track bar and had an alignment done and installed swaybar links. My only guess is i screwed my control arms or bushings in them or both. let me know what you think thanks guys

What size spring did you use? I don't remove my control arms to pull my 3.5" springs, I do it pretty much as you describe. but yoes your bushing could be bad. you need to have someone turm the steering back and forth while you inspect the steering and suspension component for excess movement. you either have bad bushings or a bad trackbar.

Stock trackbar?

You did exactly what I did, worked fine for me. I was working alone though, so I pushed down on the axle with one arm as hard as I could while pushing the spring in (had it compressed a bit with some strut compressors.)

Sounds like you've got a bum trackbar or trackbar bracket, X2 on having a buddy steer while you look for looseness.

EDIT: also, be glad you did it this way. If you could screw it up with your strength, it probably would have let loose the next time you drove it! :scared:

X3 on the trackbar. Thats its job to keep the front end in place. Mine loosened up on my after installign a 3 inch ProComp. gets scary at 60 mph.

I went to my local off road store and they said that if its loose for some time you can enlarge the hole on the bracket and you will never get it tight enough. whats a rememdy for this? yes stock track bar. the springs are three inch taller than the stock ones

Weld a washer of the correct size over the hole. That'll bring it back down to the right size. Use a grade 8 or ISO property class 10.9 (if metric) washer.

Good deal i'll try that. Off the top of your head does anyone know the bolt size and where to find the nut/bracket thingy that the bolt goes into?

anyone?

Bolt size I'm not sure about, it's something around a 10 to 12mm metric. Bring the bolt to Home Depot and use their thread gauge, then buy a matching nut, make sure it's grade 8 or PC10.9... then bring it to your local muffler shop with a couple beers and get a 2-3" piece of sheetmetal or heavy steel wire tack welded to it. The tag nut is part number 3420 2463 if you want to buy OEM, it'll cost you 3-4 bucks. The bolt is 3420 2640 and you'll need washer S243 6163 as well, but those are pretty much just PC10.9 metric hardware of the proper size, you can get them at any fastener shop.

All bets are off if you have an aftermarket track bar, some of them use half-inch grade 8 hardware instead of metric.