The TJ was designed to do what Jeeps had never done- drive well.
I can bring mine to give you a baseline,
@Hog ,
@John Cooper ,
@SamwiseGamJeep @Claybirdd have all driven it after it was resurrected. It could not be driven safely over 50 when I got it. This forum changed that.
Here is the deal- you have 2 straight axles, 4 big coil springs suspend the frame and body, shocks dampen that. Sway bars control roll front and rear. Sway bar links connect them to the frame.
You have 8 control arms...these control the movement of the axle the springs allow. They have bushings on each end. These factor in as well.
Track bars(panhard bars) control the axle left to right movement, and essentially keep them centered while every thing else does its’ job.
You have the pitman arm, the drag link, the tie rod and its’ ends then a stabilizer to dampen that ...plus you have front unit bearings that need to be good and 4 ball joints .
Basically, there is a lot going on under these, and you have 44 bushings counting the shock bushings that interface most of this to the chassis.
It doesn’t mean you have to drop a ton of cash...i’ve seen a 29.00 end and a tape measure do magic...but you have to start with sizing it all up and a steering dry test, diagnose then go from there.
Being a Mustang guy you will be familiar with a lot of the components.
We aren’t the average forum, we are all mostly lifetime Jeep and car lovers, and we know when something comes along that is good, you need to work to keep it good and help the other guy as well, so it comes back around.
We are also very model specific, so we know what works on these and what doesn’t. We aren’t guessing much.
All the best,
Andy