Has anyone upgraded their TJ with this heavy duty steering kit?

[SteveBarrus]

RT OFF-ROAD HEAVY DUTY STEERING KIT WITH HD STEERING STABILIZER

Has anyone upgraded their TJ with this Heavy Duty steering kit?

Somehow during my ordering of the Moog heavy duty steering I ordered this. Looks the same but is RT not Moog.

Problem the jeep is very erratic when over 60 mph. Violent pulls left then right then left… I assume this is the death wobble. Scared the devil out of me and did not stop until I had slowed to 30.

What I did. I have a 4” lift with Rocky Road Outfitters upper and lower Johnny Joint adjustable control arms and track bars. All was very stable with OEM steering.
I changed the 2” drop pitman to the OEM pitman, installed RT Off Road HD steering Kit and front adjustable track bar. Now the jeep is out of control after 60MPH.

What gives? What is the best course of troubleshooting?

I am thinking of easiest first replace the stock pitman back with the 2” drop test drive. Change back the adjustable track bar with OEM track bar test drive. Change the steering kit back to stock test drive.

Any other suggestions?

 

[SteveBarrus]

Just found this. https://www.wranglerforum.com/f210/...dw-shimmies-and-wobbles-tj-version-78090.html
I will work through this and see what i can find.

 

[liquidfluidity]

How are the ball joints and wheel bearings?

 

[SteveBarrus]

How are the ball joints and wheel bearings?

Brand new. Front axle is completely rebuilt.

 

[jjvw]

Is the front frame side track bar mount still in the stock location?

 

[SteveBarrus]

Is the front frame side track bar mount still in the stock location?

Yes same location with a tie rod type similar to original.

 

[tworley]

Did you adjust toe in correctly afterwards?

 

[MaloStapalo]

Mine was out of balance tires with a not torqued axle side track bar bolt.

 

[SteveBarrus]

Did you adjust toe in correctly afterwards?

No toe in has not been adjusted. I will need to look up a how to for that.

 

[tworley]

No toe in has not been adjusted. I will need to look up a how to for that.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/how-to-align-your-jeep-wrangler-tj.85/

 

[liquidfluidity]

Jerry's method works excellent! I have used multiple times

 

[SteveBarrus]

Thank you for all your input.

 

[SteveBarrus]

I finally got back to the Jeep. The toe in was out by 1.5 inches front. I adjusted it to 1/8. I will test drive when new drive lines arrive.

1.5 “ is probably why it got squirrelly at 65 and over.

 

[Lou]

So you put a complete new steering linkage on and didn’t adjust anything?

This kind of stuff scares me.

 

[SteveBarrus]

So you put a complete new steering linkage on and didn’t adjust anything?

This kind of stuff scares me.

Quite an assumption. I followed all install instructions. No were did it mention toe in. Hence the test drive and questions to the group.

 

[Lou]

It’s not something that needs to be in the instructions. It’s common sense for anyone who should be installing/working on the steering system.

 

[mrblaine]

It’s not something that needs to be in the instructions. It’s common sense for anyone who should be installing/working on the steering system.

That part may not be as common as it should be. The part where you ask on some forum if you don't know exactly what you are doing is very common and accessible which is obvious by the questions in the very first post.

 

[Goatman]

In the future try to make a single change and then test drive it. If ok then the next change. If not ok then you know exactly where the problem is. Plus you get more seat time. And that's what we all really want.

 

[Rollin20z]

I can see all points in these posts, I think. The guy is trying to fix/improve his own vehicle and do it himself. Then because a key point was left out of instructions being needing "alignment needed after install" he pretty much gets told he has no common sense. I mean they put a big sticker on a hairdryer warning you not to use in tub for gods sake but there's nothing telling someone about realigning after parts are installed. Can go either way, yes most of us just know or it just clicks what is needed after something is changed some don't and never will until they are showed or make a mistake and learn from it. I doubt very seriously anyone on here can say that they have always read, learned and understood every aspect of doing something before they did it. Because if they did there wouldn't be so many forums full of questions asking " I did, I changed, I added blah blah blah and now this is happening, why is this now happening". Could he have read on it a little more of course, would you if you didn't know and the instructions never said anything about doing it and YOU didn't know? Probably not. You would have did it how it instructed and gone to test check out the payoff for your hard work.

Also yes, I agree with replacing 1 thing at a time when possible in case of problem for easier diagnosis. I guess my point is most people will learn/understand something a lot easier if you inform them once about how to do something correctly instead of making them feel dumb or telling them how they did it wrong about same thing 10 times.

sorry for the kinda rant, just when I read it's common sense all I heard was this older guy talking to his 20 something yr old helper on a job where I was at the other day here the kid kept making a mistake on the steps of doing something and would ask what is he doing wrong but all the old guy kept doing was cussing and saying gd it's common sense. I stepped over and showed him a very simple 5 second step he could do that he understood and didn't have any problems rest of day, old man didn't seem to like it but oh well. Young guy thanked me before they left and said it was so nice not having to hear his mouth like that at least for that day.

Sometimes a small simple correction can solve a big problem.

 

[mrblaine]

I can see all points in these posts, I think. The guy is trying to fix/improve his own vehicle and do it himself. Then because a key point was left out of instructions being needing "alignment needed after install" he pretty much gets told he has no common sense. I mean they put a big sticker on a hairdryer warning you not to use in tub for gods sake but there's nothing telling someone about realigning after parts are installed. Can go either way, yes most of us just know or it just clicks what is needed after something is changed some don't and never will until they are showed or make a mistake and learn from it. I doubt very seriously anyone on here can say that they have always read, learned and understood every aspect of doing something before they did it. Because if they did there wouldn't be so many forums full of questions asking " I did, I changed, I added blah blah blah and now this is happening, why is this now happening". Could he have read on it a little more of course, would you if you didn't know and the instructions never said anything about doing it and YOU didn't know? Probably not. You would have did it how it instructed and gone to test check out the payoff for your hard work.

Also yes, I agree with replacing 1 thing at a time when possible in case of problem for easier diagnosis. I guess my point is most people will learn/understand something a lot easier if you inform them once about how to do something correctly instead of making them feel dumb or telling them how they did it wrong about same thing 10 times.

sorry for the kinda rant, just when I read it's common sense all I heard was this older guy talking to his 20 something yr old helper on a job where I was at the other day here the kid kept making a mistake on the steps of doing something and would ask what is he doing wrong but all the old guy kept doing was cussing and saying gd it's common sense. I stepped over and showed him a very simple 5 second step he could do that he understood and didn't have any problems rest of day, old man didn't seem to like it but oh well. Young guy thanked me before they left and said it was so nice not having to hear his mouth like that at least for that day.

Sometimes a small simple correction can solve a big problem.

If that is a kinda rant, I don't think I can stay awake long enough to read the novel of a real rant you would write. That said, the common sense part is due to just how many posts there are daily on steering, DW, wobble, toe, caster, where to set what, why to set what where, and just like you showed the simple 5 second step, it would not take much longer than that to check any Jeep specific forum about steering and figure out a whole bunch of what you didn't know. Even if it didn't tell you the answer, only the most willfully ignorant would not discover in very short order that something needs to be adjusted.

Not only that but who looks at that pile of tubes and links with the funny looking threaded ends and no less than 4 threaded sections with large amounts of adjustment and thinks to themselves, "yep, just randomly screw them together and bolt it on and it will be fine". Seriously, how does one arrive at that thought process and not have even just an inkling that maybe, just maybe, something other than it is good to go right out of the box might be in order?

I would offer that a simple litmus test for the common sense part is to ask Steve where he found the info for Moog steering part numbers. If some divine action somehow whisked them into his phone, I take it all back and I'm entirely wrong about everything. If on the other hand, he snagged them out of some thread on a forum somewhere about steering and steering parts, I may not be that far off base and not only is he capable of finding numbers, but also capable of finding the bit about how it ain't good right out of the box.