Gents,
I've recently re-entered the the jeep scene with a recently acquired 98 TJ that is having some steering issues. When I drive it, it is twitchy as hell....like going around a curve at 55 mph hit a bump and takes 2 seconds to recover from swerving around. Its to the point where my wife doesn't really want to drive it.
A little about the jeep...
98 TJ-137,000 miles
4.25 Zone lift, fixed length lowers front & rear, adjustable uppers front, stock uppers rear
Bilstein 5100 series shocks
2" body lift
35" Fierce Attitude tires mounted on 17" JKU Rubicon rims w/ 2" wheel spacer adapters
Auto Trans
3.73 gears w/ Yukon Spartan lunchbox lockers, up graded axles and a few miscellaneous mods to the engine.
Lift and mods have less than 30K miles on them
Looking at the tire wear patterns, it appears to be out of alignment, which is getting remedied at the moment, but I have no faith that will work. Another issue I've noticed is when going down a straight road at speed, if i let off the gas, coast for a sec, and get back into it, the ass of the jeep wants to pull to the right....or so it feels. Like there is a noticeable shimmy to the right side... thinking rear upper control arms or track bar is shot as they are most likely factory...
I adjusted the slack in the steering box which solved most of the hunting / sawing back and forth once the suspension was upset from the wonderful Louisiana roads.
From what I can tell, the Drag link and the track bar are factory, I'm guessing its a stock pitman arm, and the tie rods were changed within the last 25K miles.
So, my initial attack is if the front end alignment doesn't fix my twitchyness, I'm going to lower tire pressure to 25-25psi (currently at 30-32) and test ride....
If it still drives like its on ice, I'm going to start changing parts....BUT what are the best budget friendly parts to buy?
Also, I have adjustable upper arms on the front, please explain if adjusting these will help...
I've recently re-entered the the jeep scene with a recently acquired 98 TJ that is having some steering issues. When I drive it, it is twitchy as hell....like going around a curve at 55 mph hit a bump and takes 2 seconds to recover from swerving around. Its to the point where my wife doesn't really want to drive it.
A little about the jeep...
98 TJ-137,000 miles
4.25 Zone lift, fixed length lowers front & rear, adjustable uppers front, stock uppers rear
Bilstein 5100 series shocks
2" body lift
35" Fierce Attitude tires mounted on 17" JKU Rubicon rims w/ 2" wheel spacer adapters
Auto Trans
3.73 gears w/ Yukon Spartan lunchbox lockers, up graded axles and a few miscellaneous mods to the engine.
Lift and mods have less than 30K miles on them
Looking at the tire wear patterns, it appears to be out of alignment, which is getting remedied at the moment, but I have no faith that will work. Another issue I've noticed is when going down a straight road at speed, if i let off the gas, coast for a sec, and get back into it, the ass of the jeep wants to pull to the right....or so it feels. Like there is a noticeable shimmy to the right side... thinking rear upper control arms or track bar is shot as they are most likely factory...
I adjusted the slack in the steering box which solved most of the hunting / sawing back and forth once the suspension was upset from the wonderful Louisiana roads.
From what I can tell, the Drag link and the track bar are factory, I'm guessing its a stock pitman arm, and the tie rods were changed within the last 25K miles.
So, my initial attack is if the front end alignment doesn't fix my twitchyness, I'm going to lower tire pressure to 25-25psi (currently at 30-32) and test ride....
If it still drives like its on ice, I'm going to start changing parts....BUT what are the best budget friendly parts to buy?
Also, I have adjustable upper arms on the front, please explain if adjusting these will help...
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