New lift.. Need help w/ strange noises, unibody reinforcement, and steering upgrades

OK as some of you may remember my thread a few days ago about the shop who did a poor job installing my lift. RE6300 5.5" Long Arms, w/ Truxs 33" MTs, SYE, ARB front, LSD rear, 4:56 gears.

Today I went into a third party shop to have them hopefully take care of the following problems:

Long arms misaligned
Loud creaking noise from the passenger side rear when braking or accelerating from a stop
A loud squeak noise when the passenger front wheel goes over a speed bump

They reinstalled the long arms correctly, and did an alignment.. drives straight now and my long arm isn't crooked anymore...

They said they got about 3/4ths of a turn on my rear U bolts, and now the creaking noise is gone. But unfortunately it has now turned into a loud "pop" noise. It happens mostly when there is a weight transfer in the vehicle towards the rear (IE turning). The creak noise has been driving me crazy the past few days, but the "pop" noise is even worse.

For the speed bump squeak, they couldn't figure it out, and said it was normal. Only happsn on the passenger front wheel Any ideas here?

After I was leaving the shop, I noticed a new creaking noise coming from my steering, but only when you turned the wheel just right. So I had someone wiggle it while I looked under. One thing I noticed is I can see my unibody flexing like a motherf*cker where the upper arms mount.

What can I do to strengthen the unibody, specifically this area?

The creaking noise I determined to be coming from my steering shaft. I questioned the shop on this, and they said it was fairly common on jeeps, since the shaft is weak? They also told me that my "steering gear" is worn, has a bit of play, and should be replaced reasonably soon. Stupid question, but what exactly is the steering gear? Overall my steering feels tight in general. I have an ARB front bumper, which should reinforce the steering box, or at least that is my understanding.

Is there anything I can do, besides the bumper, that will reinforce my steering box (steering gear and box the same thing???)? Anything I can upgrade to? And what should I do about that noise the steering shaft is making? I should mention that the steering shaft noise did not occur until I got the jeep back from the 3rd party shop today.

Thanks for all the help, this site is great!

Re: New lift.. Need help w/ strange noises, unibody reinforcement, and steering upgrades

My first thought would be that you buy a torque wrench and get very familiar with your XJ,youve already spent about $3k more than you should have,that you could have spent on tools!

i'll try to be a bit more helpful...

seems like most "noises" which appear to be coming from steering are usually track bar related...
i'd definitely check the track bar mount to make sure everything is nice and tight. get back under there
and have someone turn the wheel back & forth while you're underneath (just watch where your fingers are).

get a third opinion if necessary. i'd be wary of anyone trying to tell you "oh that's normal". sure, it's a built
jeep and not gonna ride like a lexus, but there's plenty of us running lifted rigs w/o these problems.

good luck.

Re: New lift.. Need help w/ strange noises, unibody reinforcement, and steering upgrades

Your gonna have to expect some new "squeaks", "rattles" and the like, while your new stuff settles in. Get under there and see how it all works together. It won't take long for you to see if something just dosen't look right. Anyway, it sounds like you might want to look into a steering box brace.

Re: New lift.. Need help w/ strange noises, unibody reinforcement, and steering upgrades

AZ XJ said:

Your gonna have to expect some new "squeaks", "rattles" and the like, while your new stuff settles in. Get under there and see how it all works together. It won't take long for you to see if something just dosen't look right. Anyway, it sounds like you might want to look into a steering box brace.

Click to expand...

Looky looky, This should help, XJ's are know to have a weak point in this area.
Here's a like to C-Rok: http://www.c-rok.com/sb.html
Their things are kinda pricey .... but real high end quality.

Re: New lift.. Need help w/ strange noises, unibody reinforcement, and steering upgrades

your jeep has gone through a lot of changes in the last few months. I would expect a few noises that seem a little new and funny. Not to say they can be fixed but you might be more sensitive to them than most of us who make changes over months or years instead of overnight.

RCP, has a good point. You need to understand that there are alot of components that need the torque checked on the bolts and then re-checked, etc, etc. I would go over every bolt that was installed and re-torque. They should be done after a lift and again shortly after again.

I would also lube all of the grease points very regularly. You have changed all of the operating angles and points of wear on your bearings and such. They need to be re-lubed regularly for a while.

TB and and any other flex or movement when you are stearing need to be looked at. If you bumper supports the steering box, you might want to look at a inside frame rail steering box support (sorry can not remember who makes it).

Have no idea about this pop sound? It is coming from the rear of the vehicle?

Best of luck,
Michael

Re: New lift.. Need help w/ strange noises, unibody reinforcement, and steering upgrades

Thanks for the advice so far. The popping noise is coming from the rear, almost sounds like the leafs are shifting against eachother. It only happens when weight is transfered to the back, like if you're going through a sharp corner kind of fast.

Re: New lift.. Need help w/ strange noises, unibody reinforcement, and steering upgrades

90Pioneer said:

Thanks for the advice so far. The popping noise is coming from the rear, almost sounds like the leafs are shifting against eachother. It only happens when weight is transfered to the back, like if you're going through a sharp corner kind of fast.

Click to expand...

If you think its the rear,
1-check your leaf spring and shackle bolts for torque(also RE has had issues with bushings wandering)
2-check for pass. side shackle clearance from the exhaust pipe hanger
3-check your shackles for clearance from the bumper bolts
4-check your drivehaft/replace u-joints