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Wandering feeling with caster set to factory specs, HELP!

M

mason_msw

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Austin, TX
I've got a 99 with a HP D30. It has 6.5" of lift, but the steering has been flipped to OTK, HD track bar, all new balljoints, and a new stabilizer. Even with the caster set at the factory 6.5, I still feel like the Jeep wanders a good bit more than it should. I'm measuring 87.5 from the flat face of the diff (based on the jeep-xj.info alignment chart), and had to drop the drive shaft to run that much. Running about 1/4" of toe in, should I run more? Or am I missing something?

Here's my steering setup, I feel like all my angles should net me better steering control than I am getting. :dunno:

k0g3so.jpg
 
Think dropping the rig would help me any? I'm tempted to lower it about 1.5 - 2". I guess it may be time to go with a knuckle swap.. I swear I feel like the one thing I'm always working on is the damn steering.
 
well lowering it can certainly help the steering feel better but I doubt that will solve your problem. A lot of us work on steering a lot because the steering is one thing that you feel every time you drive it, so sloppiness or wandering will bug a lot of us right away. When I swapped to 7/8 Heim steering like the ruffstuff kit from the inverted t setup I had before it was night and day. Now when I turn the steering wheel there is no slop, and the jeep will drive pretty much straight down the road if I hold the steering wheel straight. Best change I have made from a driving feel standpoint hands down. There are a handful of other solutions such as a WJ knuckle swap that will give you the same clean connected feel. It's key to not have a point in the steering which can roll.
 
You might be having an issue with tie rod roll, based on the inverted T steering. You could keep the steering wheel in one spot and the steering would still be able to move back and forth a bit, causing wander.

I went to this steering setup to avoid the inverted T problems:




Tie rod doesn't roll because the drag link is mounted on stop and pushes it side to side in the same plane. You may have to raise the axle side mount of your track bar a tad though to keep angles good.




That or check your toe. Something like 1/16" toe-in should help stability in your steering.
 
If you weld tabs on top, it's still inverted t and can still roll a bit. The ram assist does wonders to firm up the steering though. The tabs do limit the amount of roll possible, but you still have the misalignment in the Heims allowing some roll.
 
.. and yeah I've considered hydro assist too. I just want it to be comfortable/easy to drive, as it is I don't really feel comfortable with anyone driving it but me. I'd like for that not to be the case.
 
Also, sunburned I like where you have your license plate mounted haha. Did you see a significant improvement by moving get your drag link up top? May try that as it would be a fairly easy thing to do.
 
moving the drag link up will help fix bump steer if you have it, but it wont do anything for the wandering. It will make your steering feel better on a bumpy road and especially bumpy turns.
 
mason_msw said:
Also, sunburned I like where you have your license plate mounted haha. Did you see a significant improvement by moving get your drag link up top? May try that as it would be a fairly easy thing to do.
Click to expand...

Before the pictured setup, I was running Currie steering, so it was stock layout.

I had some wandering with that heim steering, but I think it was more because of my track bar with a worn out RE joint. That's why I swapped it to heims on both sides and put the brace on.

I hate dealing with steering on solid front axles haha. Took me forever to get the XJ steering decent and now I have issues with my WJ wandering all over the road. Never again, unless it's just for offroading.
 
Do you have your front drive shaft in? Just curious because I can't get much more then 4 degrees of caster with 4.5 inches of lift without drive shaft vibrations coming in at 65-70MPH, so wondering if your caster measurement is correct. IMO I would lower a bit and add another spacer so both knuckles resit rolling the tie rod. Other then that, not much you can do...
 
Sunburned, that looks great; nice and parallel. I think that's the first double shear pitman arm I've seen.

Tell people it's a license/skid plate.
 
Yeah, the drive shaft was taken out to get to that much caster. I'm think I'm going to try pushing the wheels out a bit further (lengthen both upper and lower control arms) to see if that changes the feel any. Might try to make some new TRE spacers out of some delrin or something...
 
IdahoEagle, you nailed it. That's what I need to do, just need to save a few dollars and a day for the knuckle swap and susp drop. But for now, I made some delrin spacers today out of some scraps I found. Hopefully I can toss those on tomorrow and see if they help.
 
Try upgrading your track bar mount on the frame I've heard the flat ones like that give just enough to make it wonder or have the death wobble. Kevinsoffroad.com
 
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