Need Help...Very low speed sharp turns.

xraydave

xraydave

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Dec 8, 2015
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Location
East Texas
I have an '04 stock TJ. It has always driven fantastic, I can cruise at 80mph on the highway.
I am running 31" tires on stock rims with 28-30psi.
I recently put 1 1/4' hub centric wheel spacers on.
Now when I'm backing out of the garage and turning the steering wheel almost all the way to the stops, the steering wheel bounces and feels like I'm driving on oblong shaped wheels. The tires also squeal on the concrete like one of them is sliding. Does that make since? This is also happens if pulling into parking space and turning wheel sharp at low speed.
I'm hoping I just need an alignment.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
 
1.25" was more than you needed for 31x10.50 tires, you really don't need any spacer at all for a 10.5" wide tire.

The garage floor squeal you're hearing is caused by the wheel spacers which substantially increased the "scrub radius" of the wheel and thus the tire. That means the tire is no longer centered around where the knuckle pivots around the ball joints. Aka steering axis inclination. Instead of the tire pivoting about the knuckle's pivot point when you turn left or right, the tire is instead swung in an arc located 1.25" further out from where the natural pivot point is.

The bigger the spacer, the more it increases the scrub radius.

A decent thread on scrub radius is at http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15370

The distance between where the two red lines touch the ground below is the scrub radius.

Scrub%20Radius.gif


The bouncing you're feeling could be the tire rubbing on the fenderwell from it being positioned further out via the spacers. Or an axleshaft u-joint may have decided to go bad coincidentally at the same time the spacers were installed.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
1.25" was more than you needed for 31x10.50 tires, you really don't need any spacer at all for a 10.5" wide tire.

The garage floor squeal you're hearing is caused by the wheel spacers which substantially increased the "scrub radius" of the wheel and thus the tire. That means the tire is no longer centered around where the knuckle pivots around the ball joints. Aka steering axis inclination. Instead of the tire pivoting about the knuckle's pivot point when you turn left or right, the tire is instead swung in an arc located 1.25" further out from where the natural pivot point is.

The bigger the spacer, the more it increases the scrub radius.

A decent thread on scrub radius is at http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15370

The distance between where the two red lines touch the ground below is the scrub radius.

View attachment 5595

The bouncing you're feeling could be the tire rubbing on the fenderwell from it being positioned further out via the spacers. Or an axleshaft u-joint may have decided to go bad coincidentally at the same time the spacers were installed.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Jerry,
That makes a lot of since.
I thought I had done all my research before I put the wheel spacers on.
So I quess my next question is...
How do I fix it?
 
Sure they will. I used to take mine off regularly. Breaker bar works every time. However if you run into problems a bit of heat from something like a propane torch will loosen loctite every time. Don't get carried away. I think about 300 degrees does the trick. I never needed heat with mine
Good luck and please tell us how it went!
 
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Yep X2, most likely it was blue Loctite that the nuts were put on with which only takes more force with a breaker bar. It is unlikely they used red Locktite but if they did, red Loctite only requires heat to loosen as described by Stinger.
 
Just curious David, why did you install the spacers to begin with?

I drive a 2006 X 6 speed with stock steelies and 31 X 10.5s . I installed 6" flares and I wanted to fill out the fenders a bit so on went a set of 1 1/2" spacers. Lock to lock I have none of the symptoms you describe. Mostly I'm in 2WD. The TJ has always, even before the spacers, hopped around in 4WD.
 
OK...So I've been out in the Texas heat taking off the spacers.:confused: And actually, they were easier than I thought to get them off. A quick test drive and I noticed that it is still doing the same thing. So it wasn't the spacers after all. Maybe it is the axle shaft U-Joint after all. Any other ideas?

Mexi Jeeper: I was just wanting a wider stance and wasn't ready for new wheels and tires just yet.
 
davidnliz said:
OK...So I've been out in the Texas heat taking off the spacers.:confused: And actually, they were easier than I thought to get them off. A quick test drive and I noticed that it is still doing the same thing. So it wasn't the spacers after all. Maybe it is the axle shaft U-Joint after all. Any other ideas?

Mexi Jeeper: I was just wanting a wider stance and wasn't ready for new wheels and tires just yet.
Click to expand...
You said you had two problems.... the tires started squealing after the wheel spacers were installed. You also mentioned the steering got "bouncy" when the wheel was turned all the way which is where the possibility of a bad u-joint was suggested. Don't replace the u-joints to cure that tire squealing if that's what you're talking about.
 
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davidnliz said:
OK...So I've been out in the Texas heat taking off the spacers.:confused: And actually, they were easier than I thought to get them off. A quick test drive and I noticed that it is still doing the same thing. So it wasn't the spacers after all. Maybe it is the axle shaft U-Joint after all. Any other ideas?

Mexi Jeeper: I was just wanting a wider stance and wasn't ready for new wheels and tires just yet.
Click to expand...

David that was my motive as well.
 
That was indeed a good video, that kid knows his stuff.

Here's another good video from the same guy. This video shows how to change a u-joint on the trail, it's a good one to watch before you find yourself with a broken u-joint 50 miles from nowhere.

The only thing I'd add after he got the new u-joint seated was how to eliminate the binding that can result if you seat the bearing caps too deeply. That of course is done with judicious use of a BFH against both sides of the yoke to help drive the bearing caps outward towards the clips using their inertia. Done properly, that eliminates the binding.

 
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