Turning radius?

I did a search and didn't find anything helpful. If this has been covered already, sorry, I'm not on here that often.

Completely stock, turning radius was fine. After a 4.5" lift and 32" BFG M/Ts on AR767s my turning radius is horrible. I had the lift installed by a highly recommended local shop (Sky's Extreme), I've double checked and the steering stops have not been changed, I had discount tire, where I bought the wheels/tires, double check the front end and verify alignment etc. and it looks fine to them. I was prepared for a little larger turning radius, but this is horrible. I had gotten somewhat used to it then a week ago I bought a fullsized longbed truck ('93 Silverado). After driving it around I got back in my XJ and realized how much worse the turning radius is in the XJ than the truck.

Can this be normal, or is something not quite right?

my turning radius in my 4.5" lifted jeep on 33's is tighter than my wifes stock cherokee.

I'd venture to say something isn't quite right if its that bad.

I just finished putting a 5.5" lift on my XJ and can't notice any diffrence in my turning radius. If yours is as bad as you say I would agree that there is probably something wrong.

Pretty much what I expected to hear. Now the harder question, what should I look for as a cause?

i just put my jeep to 5 inches from 3 and i have not got an alignment or anything like that done YET. but my turning to the left is great and my turning to the right stops way before it should as it is terrible. i kno damn well that my trac bar is too long and that may be A reason. so theres some food for thought.

im sure whatever it is it is fixable and you will figure it out.. good luck

what is the backspace on your rims?

15x8 AR767. Pretty sure they are 4" backspacing. No documentation came with them but that's the size I remember, and a quick check on AR's website shows 4" BS as the only option.

edit: I found a large empty cul-de-sac and ran circles in both directions, the TR is the same each way.

I'm beginning to wonder if my pittman arm is too short?? Does this even make sense?

i do not believe that it is your pitman arm because you said that it is at 4.5 and i think that pretty much everyone that has that lift is on the stock arm with no trouble... i could be wrong tho. but i dont think that it is that.

Are you hitting the steering stops?

goodburbon said:

Are you hitting the steering stops?

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That's what I was trying to check before I asked about the pittman arm. Unfortunately there is nobody here to hold the steering wheel while I took a quick look, so when I turn the wheel all the way then let go to look underneath, it turns back a little. It might be hitting, but I'm not sure. It kinda seems like it isn't. As SourApple mentioned, I haven't heard of an issue with a stock pittman on a 4.5" lift.

On thing is sure though, the turning radius is at least as bad, if not worse, than my TJ was when I had to put a couple washers on the stops before I replaced the stock wheels. In fact, when I first got it back after the lift that's what I thought happened, I thought the shop had to adjust the steering stops because of rubbing.

Fixed! I took it back to the shop that did the lift to have them look at it. Turns out they had swapped in a pittman arm when doing the lift. They have since switched to a different company for pittmans for cost reasons. They held the new one to the one on my XJ, and noticed it was about a 1/2" different as well as much beefier. They swapped it out right there, no charge, and my turning radius is great again.

I did have to adjust the drag link when I got home to get my steering wheel straight. Can anyone think of a reason why I should also get the wheel alignment checked?

One other unexpected but nice change. I had a minor to medium amount of wheel wobble (death wobble) when going over bumps or potholes, and after changing the pittman arm it's all but gone.

after my 3.5" lift, my XJ's steering radius was shortened. But not too drastic. Somewhat related, lately when I turn sharply like in a parking spot, there is a loud "pop" or "snap" noise. Maybe another bad u-joint? I seem to replace front axle u-joints every year. Is that normal.

XJsqared said:

when I turn sharply like in a parking spot, there is a loud "pop" or "snap" noise

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Ive got that too. From what I gather, its the trac bar mount. The hole is wallowed out. You can weld a plate with the right size hole on the mount and that should fix it. Or get the Rustys trac bar and then you'll have to drill out the mount for the larger bolt that the Rustys trac bar uses. I found this out by searching.