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8.5" XJ Death Wobble, Can't Keep Throwing Money At This

C

crazychris454

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Wisconsin
99 XJ, 8.5" Lift, lengthened LCA 2 inches just installed RC adj uppers currently 2 inches longer than stock, tried removing some caster but no help, new hd steering stabilizer, no sway bar, if properly toed in DW starts at around 35 mph, curruntly have it toed OUT 1 inch, seems to be the only thing that will keep it on the road, everything is tight, tires balanced on new rims, welded bracket to axle to relocate track bar, extreme drop pitman arm 1.25" inch drop. Like i said im out of money, and this Jeep is my daily driver
 
8.5" with no drop brackets or long arms and no sway bar?

Good Luck.:skull1:
 
mine was the front shocks were bad, i toed mine out for a while, kept it not that bad, then i put everything i could think of into it, and last was new shocks and it was fine since then...
 
old_man said:
8.5" with no drop brackets or long arms and no sway bar?

Good Luck.:skull1:
Click to expand...

ok ok it is his first post give him a break - hehe

this issue has been covered around here a lot and recently as well - search and you shall recieve but since i am a kinda nice guy...

the geometry of your control arms is probally your problem and is causing your caster angle and alignment of the axle (center as well as aft - forwards or backwards) to be out of wack - you need 5-7 degrees positive caster on your knuckles and your axle should be in the same place or close to stock - the springs should be pretty much up and down ie no lean - i am guessing the short arms and extreme angles with no drop brackets, etc have brought it too far inward and also your steering probally has something to do with all this - it is probally not aligned due to the placement of the axle

pics would help - the more the merrier so old_man can laugh at you but it is a learning process and it seems you might want to find a honda as a DD until you can resolve this issue - pics if you dont mind
 
springs are a lot more vertical than they were before my guess is caster should be close enough, that if that was my problem should have yielded a result, ive read a lot of DW posts but most stop at 4 or 6" lifts, i have the stock shocks in the front with homemade lengthened BPE that i was going to trim after i ordered up some new front shocks, 35" bfg at, 15x8 soft 8's. will be going to basic training in a month, need to get this thing were somebody besides me can handle it if they need it in an emergency, i dont have the money or time to do a long arm
 
lower it till the geometry works. then sawzall tll the tires fit.

or take the keys to basic with you.
 
Are the tires worn? If so that is the first thing I would mess with. Try rotating. or barrow some one elses. Worn linkages and ball joints would be next. But the hard reality is that with 8" of lift and short arms you are going to have an ongoing battle. You would be better off getting some drop brackets but that will only help marginally at best. Why is it so tall right now?
 
family TJ said:
Why is it so tall right now?
Click to expand...

i'm gonna bet it has something to do with the 35" bfg at's. i'll also bet that's where the money that should have gone to the long arms went as well.
 
8.5" shortarm lift .. .. ..

.. and you drive it?

Drop it down to about 5", or add drop brackets.

Best case scenario, add drop brackets and lower it to 6.5". You can fit 36's that way, 37's if you trim the rear a bit - and have plenty of uptravel.

What you have now is a coffin you have to hop to get into.
 
This is my 3,000th post.

I'm going to spend it on a worthy cause..

saying yet again

Drop brackets. Cut an inch and a half off the lift. Do now!

What you have isn't safe and won't be very functional. No room for real droop, and any stuff will push your axle so far forward the thought scares me.

:)
 
crazychris454 said:
springs are a lot more vertical than they were before my guess is caster should be close enough, that if that was my problem should have yielded a result, ive read a lot of DW posts but most stop at 4 or 6" lifts,
Click to expand...
Most of those DW threads stop talking about it after 4-6" because either they installed Drop Brackets, or went to long arms and a D44 up front. 8" on stock control arms is wicked crazy. Period.

crazychris454 said:
will be going to basic training in a month, need to get this thing were somebody besides me can handle it if they need it in an emergency, i dont have the money or time to do a long arm
Click to expand...
I've got a ruptured disk in my back and have a hard time walking more than 50 feet...it would have to be a hell of an emergency for me to decide to drive that thing with the mechanical shortcuts that have been taken. Good luck in boot camp.

Jim www.yuccaman.com
 
I've got the same problem with basically the same set-up as he has. Except I have LA's. and I'm running 33" BFG At's instread of 35's. I've got the 6.5" rustys springs and 2" spacer and Long arms. I've got the Over the knuckle steering conversion and sway bar axle mount relocator things with JKS Discos. I had this exact issue with the stock steering and once i had it aligned the wobble went away. After I added the steering conversion it came back-I aligned it myself with a tape measure and that didnt fix it this time. I konw you'll say have the shop align it again but its saturday and no one is open and i dont feel like waiting until monday! The trackbar is tight, the steering is tight and the wheels are exactly parallel ( I guess you're supposed to align them parallel? Would like some input on that.) The LAs are tight and the caster is set to about 5 degrees positive. The only thing i can thing of is I do not have the dropped pitman arm... but since i added the over the knuckle conversion tha angle isn't bad. I really dont understand why that small angle difference would cause such a problem.
 
crazychris454 said:
springs are a lot more vertical than they were before my guess is caster should be close enough, that if that was my problem should have yielded a result, ive read a lot of DW posts but most stop at 4 or 6" lifts, i have the stock shocks in the front with homemade lengthened BPE that i was going to trim after i ordered up some new front shocks, 35" bfg at, 15x8 soft 8's. will be going to basic training in a month, need to get this thing were somebody besides me can handle it if they need it in an emergency, i dont have the money or time to do a long arm
Click to expand...

crazychris454 said:
99 XJ, 8.5" Lift, lengthened LCA 2 inches just installed RC adj uppers currently 2 inches longer than stock, tried removing some caster but no help, new hd steering stabilizer, no sway bar, if properly toed in DW starts at around 35 mph, curruntly have it toed OUT 1 inch, seems to be the only thing that will keep it on the road, everything is tight, tires balanced on new rims, welded bracket to axle to relocate track bar, extreme drop pitman arm 1.25" inch drop. Like i said im out of money, and this Jeep is my daily driver
Click to expand...

Am I the only one that read this? :scared: Makes me wonder what the rest of this lift consists of. I'd like to see these "lengthened control arms", and you can't seriously expect this thing to handle in any kind of predictable manner on the street at this height without a sway bar! How far did you move the trackbar? Is this the stock trackbar or an adjustable one?
 
Last edited:
^I was thinking that until I scrolled to it.

What he said :wierd:


Give us some pictures...to further diagnose the problem...no other reason. :jester:
 
lowrange2 said:
I've got the same problem with basically the same set-up as he has. Except I have LA's. and I'm running 33" BFG At's instread of 35's. I've got the 6.5" rustys springs and 2" spacer and Long arms. I've got the Over the knuckle steering conversion and sway bar axle mount relocator things with JKS Discos. I had this exact issue with the stock steering and once i had it aligned the wobble went away. After I added the steering conversion it came back-I aligned it myself with a tape measure and that didnt fix it this time. I konw you'll say have the shop align it again but its saturday and no one is open and i dont feel like waiting until monday! The trackbar is tight, the steering is tight and the wheels are exactly parallel ( I guess you're supposed to align them parallel? Would like some input on that.) The LAs are tight and the caster is set to about 5 degrees positive. The only thing i can thing of is I do not have the dropped pitman arm... but since i added the over the knuckle conversion tha angle isn't bad. I really dont understand why that small angle difference would cause such a problem.
Click to expand...

why do you have spacers? 6.5 is big enough to fit 35 without spacers. i run 33's with a 4.5" coils in front. post a pic of your front end so we can see what you both have going on up there.
 
Georgia Mike said:
Am I the only one that read this? :scared: Makes me wonder what the rest of this lift consists of.
Click to expand...
Oh no - I read it as well...they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but those words described a cobbled-together piece of junk to me...I can understand wanting to save a few bucks, but DANG. :eek:
 
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