Jeep wanders after WJ steering.

So I installed wj steering and brakes on the jeep, steering is solid and responsive, but on the freeway the jeep tends to wonder, And can get a little scary over 70. I'm moving to CT here in about 2 weeks and I am pulling a small trailer there and defiantly don't want to wondering all over the road with a trailer.

The new steering came with All new 1 ton TREs Ball joints, track bar. Also, I have brand new tires and wheels, and I'm running a new TNT long arm kit. So basically there's not really anywhere I could put new parts.

I aligned it with a tape measure, I put the toe at 1/8th toe in, caster is about 6.3* and axle is centered under the jeep. So I'm kinda scratching my head, I would go get an alignment but I'm worried that it won't help any.

Just wondering if anyone has some insight on the subject.

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

Hmm, you positive on your caster measurement? That's what gives you a solid road feel at speed and your in a good range.. You could try to get some more before drive shaft vibes. What size lift and tires are you running? A stabilizer may help a little if your not all ready running one.

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

t style steering or y style?
The t style is known for having the tie rod roll around center. Get a poly spacer to stiffen t up.

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

87manche said:

t style steering or y style?
The t style is known for having the tie rod roll around center. Get a poly spacer to stiffen t up.

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*WJ conversion

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

I don't know who does off-road stuff in SLC but I'd take it to a shop. If you're moving, you don't need to be screwing around spending time on it. Get it to a shop that knows off-road stuff is my advice.

Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

I can't way in other than ball joints good? How's the tres?

Where in ct?

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

Yeah the caster is 6 degrees. I don't have a DL in it right now so I'm not too concerned about vibes. But I thought as you've said that 6 degrees would be in a good zone. I'm not running a stabilizer because my steering is made from 1/4" DOM and hopefully I shouldn't need one.

I guess I'll have to see about a shop. Teraflex doesn't do alignments anymore and 4 wheel parts charges an arm and a leg for one.

Here's my set up

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

whitexj98 said:

*WJ conversion

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derp.

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

Luke95 said:

I can't way in other than ball joints good? How's the tres?

Where in ct?

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Brand new ball joints and TREs. My tires are new 255/75/r17 BFG mud terrains. Just had them balanced and I went and checked the air pressure to make sure they were all the same. (28.5psi)

I'll be movin into Windsor. Just off the the 20 (I think that's what it's called haha)

Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

You'll be 20 miles from me. Pm me when you move in. Sis Offroad is a good site for local wheeling events.
Try chalk testing your tires. My swampers do that bad if they are over 24 psi. 28 is terrifying!!!

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

Nice, I was worried there wasn't going to be any jeeps out there!

I'll try a little less pressure in the tires, when I checked it first one was at 35 and the other at 30! I'll try 27 or so, but I can't see it making a huge difference. I've seen crazier things though.

Tomorrow I'm going to recheck all the bolts and nuts to make sure none of them have loosened. If nothing improves, I'll have to breakdown and spend the dough for a shop to look at it.

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

Jeepedo129 said:

Nice, I was worried there wasn't going to be any jeeps out there!

I'll try a little less pressure in the tires, when I checked it first one was at 35 and the other at 30! I'll try 27 or so, but I can't see it making a huge difference. I've seen crazier things though.

Tomorrow I'm going to recheck all the bolts and nuts to make sure none of them have loosened. If nothing improves, I'll have to breakdown and spend the dough for a shop to look at it.

Click to expand...

Ya post up in the north east section when you arrive and ready to wheel i live only 15 min from windsor.

Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

I'm a half hour away so it ain't bad.
But yeah that may be swampers just being swampersuckish

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

x2 on the PSI, I run my MTRs at 20 PSI and it actually should still be lower... Mark the chalk across the entire tread and deflate until the chalk wears off all the way to the outer lugs (you only need to drive if 100 feet or so between each test).

If you want to keep messing with it I would check tow and caster again just to be sure. But, there are shops that will do an alignment on your rig. I have had good luck with Les Schwab in Kaysville - the kid that does them has a lifted something-or-other. (I have all right-hand thread heims so he LOVES me! haha) In SLC I've had good luck with our cars at Russ's Alignmenton 1915 S Redwood Rd and I'm pretty sure they do lifted rigs. Shoot, any F250 has tires as bigger than yours! And its stock WJ steering so I wouldn't even mention it... As long as they can accomodate the tire width on their machine it won't be an issue. (They have to inflate mine up to 37ish psi to make it work, then I deflate them back to 20...)

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

Awesome! I'm going to be broke for a couple months just from the move but I'll hit you up.



I've done Schwab before and they did a good job, I just didn't know how experienced they were with lifted jeeps, but maybe I'll try that shop you mentioned in slc. And I'll try the chalk test see where I need to be.

Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

Updates?

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

So, I took the Jeep to Les Schwab and let's just say they don't know so much about lifted vehicles. I walked in an told them my symptoms and they put it on the rack. 4.6* of caster in the red, but everything else in the green. They towed it in and said that should fix it. I told them toe wouldn't effect wonder and they needed to adjust the caster, but they wanted to charge me 90$/hr plus the 65 I already spent on the pointless alignment. :rtm:So after a long talk I got my money back and went home.

I pulled the whole axle back about 3/4" to put the tire centered in the wheel well, This really wasn't really a huge issue, I just wanted the tire centered. I then added about another 1.5* of caster, totaling about 6ish. I also rechecked all of my bolts, for tightness, and added some grease to the brake pad guides. The jeep handles better on the freeway, I can go 70 with out griping the wheel. I could probably add a little more caster to have the wheel return to center a little better, but where it's at feels good enough for what I need. My HF degree finder is finicky so that's the best I can do.

Once I get to CT I'll figure out what I'm going to do about my front driveline, since right now I don't have it in.

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

Just out of curiosity where's you Trac bar located, top or bottom of axle?

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

Yeah thats what I figured, but you will have drive shaft vibe with that much caster but you can worry about that later!

Re: Jeep wonders after WJ steering.

To be honest, my rig has never driven the same since I did the conversion in 2006. I love the bigger brakes and stronger steering but the conversion ruined my freeway driveability. Caster is the problem on mine since I have it set for proper pinion angle to keep the vibes down. I'm ready to ditch the whole set up.