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Help me Troubleshoot my steering. with pic

dgrigorenko

dgrigorenko

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Big Rapids MI
I just did a Heim steering setup and i am having some problems with bumpsteer... its not super severe, but enough to notice it and be annoying, and question whether or not i should let the girl drive it. here is a pic of some angles, let me know if you need more specific shots.

to me the trac-bar and draglink are pretty close.... i ran a string from bolt to bolt on the tracbar to see what it looked like, and its not like its out of whack by a crazy amount. i did some pretty interesting shenanigens with my swaybar mount: i raised my passenger side mount compressing the disco, while extended the driverside disco. would this cause issues?


let me know what the xj masters think


G

iPhoneUpload.jpg
 
here is MS paint line showing the tracbar angle

iPhoneUpload-1.jpg
 
if you have created a pressure difference between the two sway bar mounts (meaning tention on one and not the other) then i could see some issues. although maybe not with steering, but i would imagine it would tend to want to pitch hard / roll when turning ? ?
 
mojojojo said:
if you have created a pressure difference between the two sway bar mounts (meaning tention on one and not the other) then i could see some issues. although maybe not with steering, but i would imagine it would tend to want to pitch hard / roll when turning ? ?
Click to expand...


i havnt noticed anything weird with sway... just the steering wheel turning itself when i hit bumps :banghead:
 
id try running the drag link under the pitman arm, the angle up top is off because of that, and also you might wanna try raising the track bar a bot more. the flatter the angles are the happier your steering is
 
redneckboarder said:
id try running the drag link under the pitman arm, the angle up top is off because of that, and also you might wanna try raising the track bar a bot more. the flatter the angles are the happier your steering is
Click to expand...


i ran the draglink on top to mantain the paralelledness(new word?) with the tracbar. i am aware that optimally i should run the tracbar ota, and flip the draglink, but that would require more fabrication and $$ than i have of either... plus i would either have to dump or cut my newish RE tracbar... maybe i could sell just the bar and score an offset tracbar mount from ruffstuff (i think... or maybe it was ballistic), and fab up my own tracbar.
 
If you feel lucky... just kidding. Try driving with the trac bar disco'ed.. See how that responds.

Just do not try any slalom manuvers or you will hate me.

(Stand by for potential flaming)
 
Last edited:
just for giggles try it under the pitman arm so they pivot on the same radius and see how that turns out, its only gonna take a few min to switch around. and if you raise the track bar to the same height as the drag link you should have enough adjustment in the RE bar to get it short enough...at least i did. i would put pix up but i just ditched that setup for a WJ high steer conversion
 
Man, I didn't even see that and if it was said before , I missed it... DOH!
Looks like you can ditch the drop pitman now.
 
muddyrocks said:
If you feel lucky... just kidding. Try driving with the trac bar disco'ed.. See how that responds.

Just do not try any slalom manuvers or you will hate me.

(Stand by for potential flaming)
Click to expand...

eh? i'm lost on this one

redneckboarder said:
just for giggles try it under the pitman arm so they pivot on the same radius and see how that turns out, its only gonna take a few min to switch around. and if you raise the track bar to the same height as the drag link you should have enough adjustment in the RE bar to get it short enough...at least i did. i would put pix up but i just ditched that setup for a WJ high steer conversion
Click to expand...

yeah i suppose i will do that just to see how it goes... one of my thoughts is that maybe i am not used to any sort of responsiveness in my steering so it just feels weird...

muddyrocks said:
Man, I didn't even see that and if it was said before , I missed it... DOH!
Looks like you can ditch the drop pitman now.
Click to expand...

yeah i had the drop on before and it really put the angles out of whack and had some pretty severe bumpaction... the one in the picture is a OEM
 
do you get full lock to lock with the heim on top of the pitman arm like that? i would think it would hit the frame
 
No issues with hitting as far as the pitman arm goes, I do have contact on the tierod and lower tracbar bolt.... I had this issue with my jcr steering as well.
 
Dang it was late when I posted that. No I really didn't mean track bar, I meant the anti swaybar. Oops. Glad you were on your toes and not asleep reading my post. Sorry.
 
I just did a hiem setup on mine but moved the track bar above the axle to get may angles correct. Yours looks to be alright. The steering is more responsive now and i can definitly feel bumps on the tires more. The fimsily stock tierod isn't there to flex and cushion it. I think that is what you are noticing. Bump steer usually happens when you hit a bump that both your tires go over like a speed bump. It will cause your track bar to push your axle father or shorter then your draglink. Try going over a speed bump or a transition in the road with more speed and try to see if the front end feels like it jerks to the left or right and then back. If it does then your angles need to be looked at again. If not then your most likely just feeling the extra input a beefy hiem joint setup can give. Maybe try a good steering stabilizer. Hope this helps.
 
98xjjeeper said:
I just did a hiem setup on mine but moved the track bar above the axle to get may angles correct. Yours looks to be alright. The steering is more responsive now and i can definitly feel bumps on the tires more. The fimsily stock tierod isn't there to flex and cushion it. I think that is what you are noticing. Bump steer usually happens when you hit a bump that both your tires go over like a speed bump. It will cause your track bar to push your axle father or shorter then your draglink. Try going over a speed bump or a transition in the road with more speed and try to see if the front end feels like it jerks to the left or right and then back. If it does then your angles need to be looked at again. If not then your most likely just feeling the extra input a beefy hiem joint setup can give. Maybe try a good steering stabilizer. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...


Yeah i definatly beleive that the new solid feel could be part of it. although i didnt have stock steering before, i had the JCR one ton setup, which had a rediculous amount of play in it. at any rate....

UPDATE: i drove it about 12 hours total up to Big Rapids michigan from mid ohio, and i have a few observations...

Its not so much standard bumpsteer as much as it is if i hit a pothole with one tire it will jerk the steering wheel in corresponding direction... again, its not super severe, but still enough to wonder. i think this may be caused by the difference in length of the draglink and tracbar? maybe someone with more knowledge can chime in...

G
 
Move the trackbar above the axle. Get the mount from JKS and make it right. if the drag link goes over the knuckle, the track bar needs to do the same.
 
xjjeeper19 said:
Move the trackbar above the axle. Get the mount from JKS and make it right. if the drag link goes over the knuckle, the track bar needs to do the same.
Click to expand...

any info to substantiate this claim? Not that I am saying you are wrong, I just like to know the data behind it for learning sake. Also: would the jks bracket be useable with my RE HD tracbar? Or would I have to ditch it(not my favorite idea)
 
Double post..........
 
any more input on this? i am looking at the JKS ota bracket, and by just looking at it i am not sure it will clear the upper control arm bracket... because i cut and rotated my knuckles. so now my pinion is rotated up and with it everything else... rotating the UCA into the would be path of the tracbar.

xjjeeper19 said:
if the drag link goes over the knuckle, the track bar needs to do the same.
Click to expand...


i am still curious about this claim. any info or reasoning behind this, other than just flattening out my angles?
 
The only rule of thumb that I know of is that the draglink and track bar should be parallel and have equal lengths. The closer you get these measurements to each other, the less bumpsteer you will have.

Also, the flatter they are the better your steering will perform as well since all the force is being directed towards the tire instead of over an angle.
 
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