New lift on... got a few ?'s (long..)

Alright guys, yesterday I put on Rusty's 3" kit. I noticed two things today that bothered the hell out of me.

1. I am driving down the road... bout 55 or so and I hit this bump at the beginning of a bridge near my house. Then all of a sudden my jeep starts shaking like crazy. It felt like the front coils were wiggling around. What the hell was that!?

2. After welding some custom mounts for the rear shocks (since all of the bolts sheered off while trying to remove the old factory ones) I went out behind my friends place and started to play around a little. I flexed her a little then proceeded to go up a steep incline got to the top, didnt want to case it, and started to coast back down. Then all of a sudden the things stalls (I have an automatic.) 5 minutes later I am bouncing around a little more and it stalls again and the check engine light pops on. I put it back into park started it up and it was ok... so I got back on the pavement and it hasn't done it again. What the hell is that all about?! If I can't even offroad it without this happening..... Uh... don't get me started.

Help me out here guys. TIA

-Royce

I doubt if the lift itself caused the stalling. It's probably coincidental unless you move something that would supply gas, air, or electric to the engine.

As far as the steering wheel shaking, have you done anything with the alignment after the lift? Are you running bigger tires? the steering damper could be warn, or loose suspention components could cause this.

As for the stalling thats a stumper??? a lift isn't going to effect the motor.

235/75R15's still on it, 31's go on tomorrow morning, and then the alignment sometime this week. I replaced the stabilizer when I installed the kit, and I believe everythign was/is still tightened down. Hopefully the alingment cures that shake I had. The stalling is bugging me I was gonna head out after my tires and see if it does it again. It never did that befor. I was also thinking of checking my TB, myabe thats wicked dirty. TC (a drop for it actually) wouldnt have anything to do with it would it? I figured I wouldnt need one since I have no vibes what so ever.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Just out of curiousity, did you get the full spring pack, or the AAL?

I have the full spring pack on mine...
As far as the front end, when I hit bumps it is "jumpy" as well. I think it may be the steering geometry, and/or the slightly softer springs/shocks that come with Rusty's kit. It seems to be a little worse since I got the 31's. I have had mine aligned, and everything seems fine, but it sill does the wobbles when you hit bumps. I've been contemplating getting some heavy duty steering components to see if that helps. I also seem to have a little more play in the steering wheel. It's not bad, I think it's just a characteristic of Rusty's kit.

No clue on the stalling issue...

if you still have the stock steering set up, an alignment is a must. The more you lift the more toe-in you get, and i bet your steering wheel is not straight anymore either. Go to the gojeep site. He has a good tech article on how to do your own alignment. I personally have never paid for an aligmnent on my XJ. You will also need to put some caster back in it by shimming the lower control arms forward. If you shim the passenger side a little more than the drivers, it will track straighter down the road. This is because roads usually have a crown in them so water won't puddle so your xj needs to pull slightly to the left, so you track straight down the road.

HTH, Dan

I put on the rusty's 4.5 spring pack kit a couple weeks ago, and everything was fine after my alignment

I have a good place to get an alignment... So it's goin in this week sometime. I get my 31's on tonight. I'll check back in after the alignment. Thanks guys.

DEATH WOBBLE

What you have is a lifted jeep condition called DEATH WOBBLE~ It is curable but will probably take some time to find what EXACTLY in your front end is contributing to it the most.
Check this artical out. It will explane more than i ever could about this subject.

http://www.naxja.org/html/techarticles/bumpsteertech.htm


Also do not be discuraged by this little mishap, everyone goes through it with an Xj, and pretty soon you are gonna be addicted and be purchasing an 8" long arm kit!
Good luck

Well the stalling sounds like fuel delivery prob. Did you have an empty tank of gas? Since the pickup is in the front of the tank all the gas would not make it to the pickup.

When you were coasting I am assuming that means you were in Neutral. This would eliminate torque converter lockup and stalling.

DW is not cool. I'll read the link. And keep my eyes on the board for the biweekly DW posts.

FatXJ... Here is the thing after reading your post... I thought back to what happened... I went up... and then let off the gas, before I could pop it in neutral it started to coast back down... Then it stalled. Would that be the cause, me not slipping it into neutral in time?

Re: DEATH WOBBLE

XJeacdabnow said:

What you have is a lifted jeep condition called DEATH WOBBLE~ It is curable but will probably take some time to find what EXACTLY in your front end is contributing to it the most.
Check this artical out. It will explane more than i ever could about this subject.

http://www.naxja.org/html/techarticles/bumpsteertech.htm


Also do not be discuraged by this little mishap, everyone goes through it with an Xj, and pretty soon you are gonna be addicted and be purchasing an 8" long arm kit!
Good luck

Click to expand...

Yeah, its DW, but its almost certainly caused by not getting an alignment yet. I had DW right after I put on my lift, but it went away for good as soon as I got it aligned.

Rolling backwards in D can cause it to stall. Also the fuel thing, even at a 1/4 tank, you can stall it going up a STEEP hill.

It was most likely the leaving it in drive business that did it, I had half a tank of gas. Alignment is wednesday. I cant wait. Thanks again guys.