Road manners on a 6" lifted XJ

I have a '89 XJ with a 6" Rubicon Express SuperFlex lift kit (which I'm using with 33" tires) with OME shocks. I rarely drive this rig on the street but when I do it's downright scarry, even with the swaybar connected.

The vehicle wanders a bit, as does the steering. In addition, the steering center position always changes. There is a ton of front end dive under braking as well but that's to be expected with the shock package.

I usually tow the XJ on a flatbed but I have a trip coming up where driving it would be better. It's about 200 miles each way of the highway, which would be a bit uncomfortable.

Is there any way to improve the road manners or am I stuck?

Thanks!

Replacing your worn parts is a start.

CanMan said:

Replacing your worn parts is a start.

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X2

The steering position always changing would be your trackbar and frame side bracket. The bracket probably has wallowed out holes, and should be replaced, and the bushings are probably shot.

If your running short arms and no drop brackets on your kit. Then its understandable why its scary. What steering components are on it? What trac bar?

RE doenst even make a 6" Super-flex kit. They make a 4.5" SF and a 5.5" Extreme Duty.

I would start by looking at your steering components, your trac bar setup, getting drop brackets, or going to long arms for that much lift.

If you're running short arms in the stock location at that lift height, you're going to get odd steering and a harsh ride as your geometry is all screwed up. The cheapest option might be adding some control arm drop brackets.

If you already have these, then it does sound like a combination of loose trackbar or bracket, your toe is screwed up and it needs to be aligned, other parts are worn and loose, your control arm bushings have taken a dump, you need balljoints or all of the above.

Ive got a Clayton Long Arm 6.5" lift with Bilsteins and 33's, and my Jeep drives like dream.

Like the others have mentioned, make sure everything is as it should be, and you shouldnt have any trouble. I have done 4,000 km rounds trips easily and comfortably. get it aligned properly,and it could help with the steering if everything else is in order. The wrong caster and toe will definitely make the steering scary, no matter how much lift you have.

Get it alig

~James

They put together a special kit for me. I have the drop control arms brackets, adjustable upper arms and SuperFlex lower arms. The kit came with a new track bar and track bar bracket. I also installed a new OME steering damper.

The new suspension has been on a several years but has less than 1,000 miles on it. It is not worn and it's been aligned according to RE's specs. The vehicle had a 3" lift on it before and did not exhibit any of these symtoms before changing to the RE lift.

i have a 6inch tomken and i dont have none of ur symptoms. Must be the kit.

projectTK said:

i have a 6inch tomken and i dont have none of ur symptoms. Must be the kit.

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That's a double negative, and its not the kit, something else is wrong. I have RE 7.5" coils, RE arms and drop brackets, with a trackbar that currently has a loose joint, and I can drive on the highway alright.

I would check to make sure all the jam nuts are tightened correctly. Also check your steering box, could have some slop from in there.

Do you have a drop pitman arm? Do you have stock steering that has been on the vehicle for 20 years? Those are two things you will have to change.

Am I that drunk right now, seems like every sentence is spelled wrong.

I might beeeeeeeee

hmm...the steering box worm gear could be a little lose. loosen the nut on it, and then tighten the screw in the middle. when your done. tighten the nut back when your done. but be carfull how much you tighten. and your steering is gonna be wayyyy tighter. so just be cautious.

I'll look things over when I get home and see what I find. RE suggested adding a little caster by shortening the upper arms so I may try that as well. First I'm going to look to see if I have the alignment specs so I don't go overboard.

Well, there's your problem!

Just took a look. The right upper control arm was hanging down, the bolt where it connects to the axle gone. I also noticed that the left upper control arm locking nut was loose. After pulling the arm off the axle, I see that the bushing is deformed as well. It seems the suspension shop that did the alignment a few years ago really jacked it up. Everything they didn't mess with looks fine.

The scary thing is that the control arm must have dropped off not too long ago and I never noticed any difference in the handling. That's the part that really worries me. So, I have to get new bolts. I'm guessing that bushing needs to be replaced too so I'm going to have to take it to a shop (I have no way to press out or the new one in).

Does anyone know any good Jeep shops in San Diego? It would be nice to have a shop that knows what they're doing go over the suspension.

1911Shooter said:

Well, there's your problem!

Just took a look. The right upper control arm was hanging down, the bolt where it connects to the axle gone. I also noticed that the left upper control arm locking nut was loose. After pulling the arm off the axle, I see that the bushing is deformed as well. It seems the suspension shop that did the alignment a few years ago really jacked it up. Everything they didn't mess with looks fine.

The scary thing is that the control arm must have dropped off not too long ago and I never noticed any difference in the handling. That's the part that really worries me. So, I have to get new bolts. I'm guessing that bushing needs to be replaced too so I'm going to have to take it to a shop (I have no way to press out or the new one in).

Does anyone know any good Jeep shops in San Diego? It would be nice to have a shop that knows what they're doing go over the suspension.

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WOW!!!! No wonder it's all over the place. I have the 5.5" XDLA and it drives better than factory. With all of that wrong I'd have the toe-in checked as well. And with the steering wheel changing center all the time, either the adjustment sleeve is messed up, or your steering box could've been damaged at some point.

I have basically the same setup as you, except my lift is the RE 4.5" superflex with ACOS...right about six inches high though. I had the same problem even after I installed drop brackets. Have you tried adjusting your upper control arms at all? I have fixed uppers, and adjustable lowers and when I got the lowers adjusted where I wanted it fixed my problem.

I did have to replace my steering box and shaft though too...you might want to check that also.

Look at my avatar pic. This was taken before I put the adjustable lowers on...you can see how far back my axle is.

1911Shooter said:

Well, there's your problem!

Just took a look. The right upper control arm was hanging down, the bolt where it connects to the axle gone. I also noticed that the left upper control arm locking nut was loose. After pulling the arm off the axle, I see that the bushing is deformed as well. It seems the suspension shop that did the alignment a few years ago really jacked it up. Everything they didn't mess with looks fine.

The scary thing is that the control arm must have dropped off not too long ago and I never noticed any difference in the handling. That's the part that really worries me. So, I have to get new bolts. I'm guessing that bushing needs to be replaced too so I'm going to have to take it to a shop (I have no way to press out or the new one in).

Does anyone know any good Jeep shops in San Diego? It would be nice to have a shop that knows what they're doing go over the suspension.

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If you want to bring the parts up to Temecula, I can press them out and the new ones in for you. PM me if that's what you want to do.

Glad you found the loose components before you died or killed someone.....reaffirming why I wrench on my own rigs. If you have more than 100K miles on your XJ (it's an 89, in SoCal.....I'm thinking more like 175K-200k?) then you should seriously consider replacing the steering box. Adjusting the gear is a short term solution and if there is internal slop due to wear, this is the equivelent of applying a band-aid to a broken arm.
I swapped out the steering box in my 89 at about 130K and should have done it at 100k. I recently replaced the box in my 2000 at 132K and should have done it at 100k. It now drives straight and smooth on the freeway with 1 finger on the wheel and I no longer get tossed by the semi ruts, light crosswinds or semi bow wake. I'm at 6" TNT YLink, 33" tires, Currie modified OTK steering, new ball joints and proper alignment, btw.

Bite the bullet, replace the box. I'm firmly convinced that many XJers with modified, high mile rigs spend lots of time and money chasing steering issues and completely ignore the slop that comes from a worn box. Mine had not visible play at the pitman arm, but there was a clunk-clunk when moving the wheel side-to-side. All gone and tight now.
Good luck.

I hate letting other people work on my vehicles but I'm not setup to do alignments. I do have a lift and other essentials that makes life a lot easier for most things.

I rarely drive it on the street. It hasn't been on the highway since a desert trip last spring. On surface streets, it felt the same with the dropped upper arm as it did with it attached.

It only has 89,000 miles on it. Once I get the arms setup I'll evaluate how it drives and go from there. I would like to improve it's road manners so I will be pursuing this now that I know that it's possible. I assumed before that the bad handling was just a fact of life with a big lift.

Thanks for the offer JeeperJohn! I think I'll have it done here since it's likely going to need a new alignment anyway. I know a good shop I work with all the time and the owner will take care of me and that bushing.

It'll be interesting to see how it feels tomorrow with the arms back up and tight (despite the torn busing). I have a bad feeling that it won't feel much different!

1911Shooter said:

I hate letting other people work on my vehicles but I'm not setup to do alignments. I do have a lift and other essentials that makes life a lot easier for most things.

I rarely drive it on the street. It hasn't been on the highway since a desert trip last spring. On surface streets, it felt the same with the dropped upper arm as it did with it attached.

It only has 89,000 miles on it. Once I get the arms setup I'll evaluate how it drives and go from there. I would like to improve it's road manners so I will be pursuing this now that I know that it's possible. I assumed before that the bad handling was just a fact of life with a big lift.

Thanks for the offer JeeperJohn! I think I'll have it done here since it's likely going to need a new alignment anyway. I know a good shop I work with all the time and the owner will take care of me and that bushing.

It'll be interesting to see how it feels tomorrow with the arms back up and tight (despite the torn busing). I have a bad feeling that it won't feel much different!

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Get a Craftsman digital level and you can use it to measure caster, pinion angle and more. That with a good tape measure to set toe in. Way cheaper then an alignment too. Use the extra money for beer and some good food if jeeperjohn helps you out.

This is how I have been aligning my junk, I took it to work and put it on the alignment machine to double check it the first time. It was a waste of time because my done at home alignment was perfect.

I've align about 10 XJ's now and they all work great,no tire wear or handling issues. I did put balljoints in most of them a few were offset ones.

If you drove on the street more some offset ball joints would be a good choice. Since you stay mainly offroad stock ones are fine.

Many alignment shops miss balljoints that are just bad enough to need replacing. They have to be totally gone before they find them.

I'm sure jeeperjohn would get you set up right.

This may be irrelevant. but I run a 6.5 in lift and it handles great, but not too long ago it started handling similar to what your talking about.
and while I didn't have a UCA hanging off, my steering center seemed to keep changing. I had a bad wheel bearing. I have had bad ones before, but it didn't act that way until I put the 33's and back spaced wheels on it.
just for what its worth.