a whole slew of problems

problem #1: i have got some horrible body roll. i removed my rear sway bar years ago with no ill effects. i then went to a softer spring pack from OME. Then i added a tire carrier to the rear. never noticed any bad rolling until i moved to the new house and now drive on winding roads. I've read though the archives and found some stuff but not a direct answer to my questions. does anyone out there have any experience going from a light weight or worn out leaf spring to a heavy duty spring? did you get better stability?

Problem #2: Ball joints. has anyone had problems with omix ada ball joints? my old ball joints were pretty tight and took some working to get out and now my new joints fall in without a press. not really loose, but just dont need to be pressed. i installed them anyway and kept an eye on them, sure enough the uppers have worked them selves out within a week.

i need to get the rig back on the road soon and would like some advice if anyone has it. this is my daily driver and i need it back so my wife will stop hollering at me for taking her car. Thanks Guys!

Heavier duty springs (or more correctly higher spring rate springs) have less sway.

I have found most OmixAda and Crown Automotive Jeep parts to have a poor fit and short service life.

try spicer ball joints. from alljeep.com.

as for the body roll, you need to stiffen up the rear leaves, and maybe run some stiffer front coils and make sure your shocks arent shot, or run better shocks.
make sure leaf bushings are good, did you install really long shackles or drop boxes? something to lower the roll center in the rear? whats your exact setup ?

X2 on the Spicers. I got mine from RWK Haus, ordered them at the same time I ordered an install kit for my front axle. Got them the next day too. If your rear leafs are shot that will definitely let the body roll excessively.

blondejoncherokee said:

try spicer ball joints. from alljeep.com.

as for the body roll, you need to stiffen up the rear leaves, and maybe run some stiffer front coils and make sure your shocks arent shot, or run better shocks.
make sure leaf bushings are good, did you install really long shackles or drop boxes? something to lower the roll center in the rear? whats your exact setup ?

Click to expand...

Exact setup:
Front: 3" rough country coils, stock sway bar with JKS disco
Rear: 2" OME light duty leafs w/ 1" shackles, no sway bar.
Shocks are rough country 2.0 nitro
All Springs and shocks are 1 year or less old with minimal to no off road abuse. I should note the mount nuts for the rear sway bar sheared off during removal so reattachment would be difficult. I will be installing all new moog ball joints and tie rods and plan to use OMU 2" heavy duty springs in the rear. Hope to solve all my issues with that.

Won't let me edit that damn post, hmmm. Wanted to state I'm changing ball joints and tie rods due to a wandering steering and all around wear on components. Not to fix the sway.

the components for you front sway bar are they in good shape? Is anything loose?

Outlander560 said:

the components for you front sway bar are they in good shape? Is anything loose?

Click to expand...

The plastic bushings in the discos are good and so is the link hardware. I will take a look at the frame mount bushings when I get home.

I've been talking to Marc at ARB/OME looking for some advice on which of their springs to use to get a good spring rate. He suggested to install the OME Extra Leaf. Stated it would probably gain me about 1/2 or 3/4 inch and increase spring rate by 15%. Sounds like it might do the trick but i can not find one place that has them in stock or anyone who knows when they will be back in stock.

As for the Frame bushings on the front sway bar, they look good and tight.

i dont run sway bars and have pretty soft springs and long arms and i feel like my body roll is minimal. I think the body roll term must be subjective. From the sounds of your setup, on only 3" of lift and new shocks, being low with new suspension, its hard to believe. do you have a roof rack full of 50 pound weights perhaps?

my other guess is the rear leaves are too soft to support the tire carrier bumper and tire, and not cause body roll. stiffen up the rear with the add a leaf. Not sure on the RC nitro shocks, ive never had a problem with edelbrock, RE, or bisltien monotubes though .

blondejoncherokee said:

i dont run sway bars and have pretty soft springs and long arms and i feel like my body roll is minimal. I think the body roll term must be subjective. From the sounds of your setup, on only 3" of lift and new shocks, being low with new suspension, its hard to believe. do you have a roof rack full of 50 pound weights perhaps?

my other guess is the rear leaves are too soft to support the tire carrier bumper and tire, and not cause body roll. stiffen up the rear with the add a leaf. Not sure on the RC nitro shocks, ive never had a problem with edelbrock, RE, or bisltien monotubes though .

Click to expand...

I do not run a roof rack. But the springs are definitely soft. That's originally why I installed them, I needed the flex while driving the local trails. I got tired of splashing fuel for the chainsaw and other fluids all over the cargo area. Worked great for that but now I need the highway drivability back. The rough country nitros (aka 2.2) are just a run of the mill twin tube gas charged with a larger piston, rod and tube
Anyway, I ordered a pair of OME extra leafs (leaves?) from Sierra Expeditions this morning. I'll let y'all know how it works out.

Additionally, I was told by a skeptical source; running stock control arms with three inches of lift will cause body roll on curvy roads. Anybody confirm this?

Edit: added information

So, I got all my parts in anout a week or so ago and got them installed.

First: Moog balls, upper and lower. Lower joints pressed in as they should. Uppers fell in about half way then had to be pressed in the rest. Good to go.
Second: Moog tie rod ends. All replaced from pitman arm end to left outer (ZJ left) alignment complete and drives strait with little yo no wander. Good to go.
Third: OME extra leafs (pn: D22XL). One for each side. Installed with new u bolts and hardware. Rear end lifted about 1/2 to 3/4 in. took it for a spin and still handles bumps and potholes like a champ. Sway reduced significantly. Good to go.

Jump to two nights ago. Took a look at the new parts underneath and saw the upper Moog ball joint had also popped itself out. Not happy. Did done more searching and digging in the forums and finally found someone experiencing the same problem. Apparently duralast (autozone) ball joints are manufactured a few thousandths if an inch larger than others. .005 to be exact. This is just enough to not properly seat a new ball joint if not replaced with another duralast joint. So, regrettably, I bought two duralast joints and once again tore my front axle apart to install new bj's. For a little added security, I staked the inner c's with a punch. New ball joints went in with major pressing. Those joints will not be coming out anytime soon.

Omix-Ada ball joint

Moog ball joint

Link to OutcastBoss's post back in August. Thanks Boss, was going a little crazy replacing the same part over and over.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1088282

so stiffening up the rear packs helped alot? Now you can consider replacing the front coils with a higher rate coil if the sway is still not within your standards.

I'm still waiting to hear back from you on when you're coming down to get all the parts-- Mr. Duralast user.......

I guess I'll go ahead and send them back to the warehouse......:wave1:

I too had a similar problem with the upper ball joint slipping out(Moog). I just tacked them in and on my new axle build I plan on going with synergy's balljoint kit.

I hope you have better experience with Moog ball joints, mine only last 30k miles before they were destroyed again.

I put in XRF ball joints after hearing the cummins guys having great luck over the other brands out there. So far so good, from what I'm told moog just isn't the company that it used to be.

Good luck with the duralast joints, I haven't heard much of many people using them.

Yes the rear add a leaf helped out a lot. She is pretty stable now Good timing too cuz my daily driver got hit on the way to work yesterday morning. I probably won't increase spring rate in the front. I like the smooth ride and I think I found a happy medium.

Shorty: I'll be down sometime soon I hope, but yeah go ahead and send those parts back.