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XJ wanders on Highway

TAGreen

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Virginia
I’m new to the forum. I have a 2001 XJ that I’ve put 7” lift under everything under the front end is new except the ring and pinion. I have 285/75/16 general grabber at I just put on. I just removed the factory steering linkage and installed a rugged ridge HD crossover linkage. It has a 1/4” tow I and the steering wheel is straight. The caster is at 8 degrees. With a 2” drop on the transfer case cross member. It drives good under 50mph but on the highway it wants to wander bad. Any help please.


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Wandering is normally caused by alignment, normally lack of caster, especially when related to speed. Sometimes you can have a bad tire, but that is not normal.

What tire pressure are you running? Too high or too low can also be the problem.

8 degrees of caster with a 7" lift means you either have a horrible pinion angle or your rotated the knuckles. Which is it?
 
The tire pressure is 36 psi and with the 2” drop on the transfer case I have almost no vibration. What would you suggest on caster?


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You'll want to make sure that everything at the rear is new too, but even with that, wander seems unavoidable on a lifted XJ. If the rear of the vehicle has any ability to shift laterally, then the thrust angle will shift as well. I suspect that a typical culprit on many lifted XJs is a lift shackle, and well, the extreme distance of the rear axle away from the spring pivot points on the body. This creates a leverage arm on those pivot points Anything that moves the weight of the vehicle side to side will apply a lateral torque to the bushings, the bushings will flex, and the vehicle body will move sideways relative to the axle. Its not a lot of movement, but I'm reasonably certain that this is one cause of drift.
 
Measure from the top of the front axle to the bottom of the uni-body frame. Now subtract 6" from that measurement and that is how much lift you have in the front. 7" sounds excessive for 33" tires.

Are you running the front sway bar? No sway bar can make the Jeep feel sloppy at higher speeds.
 
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