steering issues

ok so heres some background.. 10 inch lifted mj with a dana 30 front axle on 37s.. rustys hd tack bar, rugged ridge steering, and drop pitman arm.. after we finished lifting it and putting everything back together we took it to a shop to have it properly aligned. problem is it is very sloppy steering wise... front sway bars are mounted correctly and im not sure if its just the steering geometry or something silly i will try to get a picture of the whole setup tomorrow when its light out

get a new steering system. i have never heard anything good about rugged ridge

it was used when it had 4.5 inches of lift.. no issues then i think its just the angles of the steering are too extreme idk though

You have too much lift :eeks1:

That is a pretty steep angle your drag link is on. When you say the steering is sloppy, what do you mean specifically?

You are on the right track in suspecting the angles. Since they are steeper than before, it will move the axle side to side more than it used to when the suspension is going up and down. The drag link joint on the pitman arm is probably also getting close to maxed at ride height, which could get rough. The fact that your track bar is at a steeper angle (draw a straight line between the frame mount and the axle mount and compare to the drag link) than the drag link can also be an issue. All of these things will contribute to bump steer on the road. Is that the sloppiness in question, or are you feeling something else?

its more of a wandering feeling.. not so much bump steer.. its just hard to get it to track straight.. i mean its aligned but when doing like 40mph+ its just wanders around back and forth no matter if you hit a bump or not.. the jeep actually isnt mine its my buddys that we built.. i just dont want to see him spend a shit-ton of money on steering (again) and it may or may not fix it.. i guess im asking if a high steer kit would fix it or if there is a cheaper alternative we can fabricate and weld no problem.. and how come people are swapping the wj knuckles into there dana 30s?

drp that thing down to 6" then come back, dont matter what sttering you have its gonna suck balls with 10"

The tracbar and draglink are pretty steep in that picture. That can cause wandering and sloppy steering. Getting less of an angle would help alot, but with 10" of lift that is gonna be hard to do.

xjphil18 said:

and how come people are swapping the wj knuckles into there dana 30s?

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Bigger brakes, 12" vs 11" rotors, 2 piston vs 1 piston calipers, and crossover steering with an upper arm for the draglink. Heres a pic... XJ D30 with 6" lift and WJ knuckles with the tierod and draglink flipped OTK.

It looks like inverted T steering design, where the drag link attaches to the tie rod. This design only works when the angles are fairly flat, when the angles are severe like you have the drag link continually rolls the tie rod before it pushes the knuckles and you end up with a big dead spot.

There are too many things wrong with your steering set up.......excessive angles causing dead spots, extreme side to side movement, maxed out joints. If you're going to keep that height (don't know why you want it, don't need it for performance, only looks), then you need to move the steering links and track bar way up to lesson the angles, and get rid of the inverted T design steering.

hmm thanks goatman that was exactly what i was looking for.. so what your saying is an otk system wont work either?

xjphil18 said:

hmm thanks goatman that was exactly what i was looking for.. so what your saying is an otk system wont work either?

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It won't change much. You need some serious high steer. I would recommend the Tera knuckle, and run the draglink OTK, if your wheels can clear it.

Here is it UTK @ about 7.5"

alright that seems like the only way it will help... thanks man