steering upgrade needed....

[thebluebuffalo]

you beat me to it.

i would make fixing the DW issue a priority over upgrading the steering. alignment, adj track bar, control arm length.

i messed up the axle a while back. (i didn't even think about it...) the lower control arm bracket on the axle got all jacked up. i had a welding shop put me a beefed up bracket on. if i had to guess they didn't get it on the axle like it is susposed to be. i guess i'll have the other side done and get new lcr's. im wanting to beef up the steering anyways, so i'll go ahead and do it now. any suggestions on how esle i can "beef up" the front end?

 

[sharq]

maybe i missed this but have you had an alignment since you lifted this jeep? hows the track bar mount? any play? how much lift? short arms? drop brackets?

 

[waxer]

Oh and heims are illegal in most states.

Do you have anything to back that statement up? I see a lot of people posting that info lately, but so far no one has backed it up with anything.

 

[PacificEd]

x2 my friend bent his on 31s. bigguh is bettuh.

I'll disagree with you and xcm on the Currie being junk. I've watched a member here wheel his rig hard with the Currie system and it has done just fine.

 

[sunburned]

EricsXJ on Jeep Forum runs 35's on some pretty crazy rocks and he has the Currie setup with no complaints.

XCM, Currie must have really kicked you in the ass at some point because you don't ever hesitate to bash the hell out of them.

 

[Kittrell]

This is a bit dated, but still useful.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=67834

 

[w0mps]

I am running stock steering. Not meaning to steal the thread, but broaden it a little bit. The only two problems I have had were bending the tie rod (duh) and the grease boots. EVERY TIME I PUT ON A NEW TRE, THE GREASE BOOT EXPLODES, AND GREASE IS EVERYWHERE, WEARING OUT THE TRE. I have tried putting very little grease in, while greasing. Is it just me or are the stock TRE grease boots junk? Does the upgraded stuff offer more stronger grease boots?

 

[RCP Phx]

I am running stock steering. Not meaning to steal the thread, but broaden it a little bit. The only two problems I have had were bending the tie rod (duh) and the grease boots. EVERY TIME I PUT ON A NEW TRE, THE GREASE BOOT EXPLODES, AND GREASE IS EVERYWHERE, WEARING OUT THE TRE. I have tried putting very little grease in, while greasing. Is it just me or are the stock TRE grease boots junk? Does the upgraded stuff offer more stronger grease boots?

Im at 6" plus on both my rigs with "stock" steering.Never had an issue,I grease it before "every" run(just a little) and have never blown out any boots or replaced a tre,were talking stock(never been replaced joints).Drives better than the first day with 3.3 miles on it!

 

[thebluebuffalo]

maybe i missed this but have you had an alignment since you lifted this jeep? hows the track bar mount? any play? how much lift? short arms? drop brackets?

i messed up the axle bracket about a year ago. i've had several alignments since then. i stopped by a garage yesterday and talked to a guy about my issues... he said it could be a number of things like the track bar, tie rod, lca's, wheel bearings, wheels being bent or warpped, the tires having wear. i know it's not the tires cause i barely have 1000 miles on them and i have already rotated them once. i don't have any movement in my wheels, so it can't be the bearing. my guess is that it is a combination of the tie rod/track bar/lca's/alignment... so i'm going to upgrade all of them. i have done a little bit of research on all of the above mentioned items...if you guys could upgrade your tie rods, track bar, lower control arms, upper control arms what would you upgrade to? is there anything else i could use to "beef up" the front end with out swapping out the axle?

 

[EricsXJ]

the currie stuff is OEM sized ball joints, and pretty much junk, theres a reason why someone is allmost allways selling a currie steering setup... its not a real upgrade.

Not only is your info wrong, but I respectfully disagree 100% with your opinion about the Currie HD steering as well.

The joints are much larger than stock TREs. Both the drag link and tie rod are 1.25" solid bar compared to the hollow thin-walled stock crap. Not only that, both ends of the drag link are angled to reduce binding on lifted rigs. So to say "its not a real upgrade" you obviously don't know what you are talking about.

Is it THE best steering kit out there? probably not, but it is arguably the best bolt-on replacement kit you can find, IMO.

 

[Cherokeekid88]

I am running the RR setup and yes it is strong and beefy and very nice to look at, but its kind of scary when driving it. The roll is terrible. Now im awaiting some spacers to throw on to see if that reduces the roll, but i am on the verge of taking this kit off and throwing it in the woods and maxing out my CC and buying the Currie or at least piece together a V8 ZJ steering setup. Inverted T setups are nice, but I think they really only work well when they are OTK.

 

[thebluebuffalo]

any more help here guys........

 

[pyrotyro]

personally, id go with a direct replacement, i like the currie one.

that said, i also have a question for the steering pros.

what is the max lift height you would say the stock steering system is good till?
will it want to bind up easier and reduce flex at say 6"??

 

[Kittrell]

My personal feeling on that is that systems like the Currie are good up to about 6" of lift. Anything after that you should be looking into crossover. I run a semi custom crossover with about 7.5" of lift.

 

[pyrotyro]

what are you running? i just dont want to have to move the track bar up, run into issues with clearance of sway bars, drill out my knuckles, etc...

 

[EricsXJ]

personally, id go with a direct replacement, i like the currie one.

that said, i also have a question for the steering pros.

what is the max lift height you would say the stock steering system is good till?
will it want to bind up easier and reduce flex at say 6"??

I've got roughly 6" of lift on my rig and the Currie steering does not bind at all at full flex. Currie has stated in the past that this steering was good for 2" to 6" of lift. That being said, a friend of mine used it with 7.5" lift with no problems, and we wheeled together. Above 6" of lift may not be ideal, but it works.

 

[Kittrell]

what are you running? i just dont want to have to move the track bar up, run into issues with clearance of sway bars, drill out my knuckles, etc...

I use a Tera high steer knuckle, custom 1.25" DOM tie rod with Currie HD TREs, JKS draglink with WJ ends. Coupled with a JKS OAB and a shortened RE HD trac bar.

 

[fyrfytr1717]

I've got roughly 6" of lift on my rig and the Currie steering does not bind at all at full flex. Currie has stated in the past that this steering was good for 2" to 6" of lift. That being said, a friend of mine used it with 7.5" lift with no problems, and we wheeled together. Above 6" of lift may not be ideal, but it works.

Do you have any interference issues with your lower passenger side sway bar link, or is the Currie designed to work around that problem? My stock drag link knuckle hits it at full right lock when the passenger side droops. I was going to modify the lower sway bar mounts, but if the Currie eliminates the problem I'll just hold off until I upgrade my steering.

 

[sharq]

any more help here guys........

do you have an adjustable track bar? gotta have that axle centered.

how long are your control arms? correct length can be found here http://www.yuccaman.com/jeep/re_db.html

i hate shops. you can never trust them. make sure your jeep's alignment is correct.
http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoAlignment.htm

if you cant find a ZJV8 tie rod and ends from the junkyard just replace the ends with quality replacement parts. cheap here www.rockauto.com or your local parts store.

death wobble can mess with your head. took me a while to figure it out. a combination of drop brackets, relocating the axle side trackbar mount and alignment fixed it for me. 6.5" lift, 33's.

 

[601cherokee]

Death wobble can be a pain!! I almost sold my XJ because of it...then I got smart and spent some money. Adjustable track bar to correctly center the axle (don't even bother with a bracket or drilling), and adjustable lca's to get the caster right. Smooth as silk now. I can take it down washboard roads at 60 mph without any worries.