Ride Quality

[Gasman1979]

I know it’s a jeep. So caddy quality ain’t expected. And I know the 20” rims aren’t helping a lot. But the thing is really squirrley steering wise. It does have a 4” rough country lift with matching shocks and all the other things that go along. Everything under the front end seems tight. Ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings etc all seem good. Is there something I should specifically look at steering wise ? Are the rough country shocks just that stiff ? If so suggestions on a good replacement? I don’t rock crawl or anything, it’s mainly a knock around trail rig that I’ll hunt out of too. If that makes any difference on the shock choice. Thanks in advance. This forum seems to be full of extremely knowledgeable folks.

 

[Ir0nH3@d]

what is your caster angle and toe in? OEM pitman arm or drop pitman arm?

PSI in the tires?

 

[Chris]

Post a photo from the front showing your front axle, tie rod, drag link, and steering setup.

 

[TheBoogieman]

I bought a Jeep with the RC X-series 4" lift on it and I couldn't even keep it in my lane on the drive home. I removed the drop pitman arm and went back to stock. I also swapped the crap shocks to Rancho RS5000X shocks and did a DIY alignment too. Drove great afterwards.

 

[Gasman1979]

It may need an alignment. The toe looks out on the driver side. If these aren’t the pics you guys wanna see let me know. First jeep to total noob on the suspension

 

[Gasman1979]

And yeah. That’s a transmission cooler zip tied to the bottom of the radiator not my brain child. Former PO. I’m gonna relocate it to where it should be if I ever sort out the real issues.

 

[Gasman1979]

Looks OEM. No clue on the caster and toe. That’s above my pay grade. I’m running 30 psi in the tires but seems like I may need to drop that some.

what is your caster angle and toe in? OEM pitman arm or drop pitman arm?

PSI in the tires?

 

[Cooper Smith]

It does have a 4” rough country lift

You made it easy for us. Get those piss poor shocks out as soon as you can. They are the pinnacle of Chinese garbage.

 

[Ir0nH3@d]

Looks OEM. No clue on the caster and toe. That’s above my pay grade. I’m running 30 psi in the tires but seems like I may need to drop that some.

pitman arm does look like OEM. check youtube videos on how to check toe in and caster, its really easy. toe in can be done with a tape measure, caster requires a cheap angle finder

 

[Gasman1979]

You made it easy for us. Get those piss poor shocks out as soon as you can. They are the pinnacle of Chinese garbage.

So rough country shocks aren’t good ??? I assumed they were. And I was incorrect. The lift is skyjacker.

 

[Gasman1979]

pitman arm does look like OEM. check youtube videos on how to check toe in and caster, its really easy. toe in can be done with a tape measure, caster requires a cheap angle finder

I’ll give it a go

 

[Plumber1]

The angry grill may have some effect on additional weight on the front end, but I am no expert when it comes to this stuff

 

[Christian.mers]

So rough country shocks aren’t good ??? I assumed they were. And I was incorrect. The lift is skyjacker.

Rough Country is about as garbage as it gets. They have terrible quality control and cheap materials. They are what you pay for. In this thread: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/should-i-buy-a-rc-rough-country-lift.2924/ Chris talks a bit more about Rough Country.

As for Skyjacker, I've heard bad things about their quality as well. Here's a thread: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/why-do-people-dislike-skyjacker-lifts.13308/ if you want to look more into that!

 

[cpwolf]

what is your caster angle and toe in? OEM pitman arm or drop pitman arm?

PSI in the tires?

I know it’s a jeep. So caddy quality ain’t expected. And I know the 20” rims aren’t helping a lot. But the thing is really squirrley steering wise. It does have a 4” rough country lift with matching shocks and all the other things that go along. Everything under the front end seems tight. Ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings etc all seem good. Is there something I should specifically look at steering wise ? Are the rough country shocks just that stiff ? If so suggestions on a good replacement? I don’t rock crawl or anything, it’s mainly a knock around trail rig that I’ll hunt out of too. If that makes any difference on the shock choice. Thanks in advance. This forum seems to be full of extremely knowledgeable folks.

So if steering is squirrelly, I’m assuming it wanders. When you turn, it doesn’t return to center.

If that is the case, and I would bet with a RC 4” it is, I would dod a couple of things.

1. Search this site with Google for a home Toe In. It’s not hard, just get it correct.

2. Measure Caster. Do you have adjustable front control arms? I don’t know that lift in detail.

I would bet that is the #1 thing to do when you lift 4” in the front, get Caster corrected

 

[Gasman1979]

So if steering is squirrelly, I’m assuming it wanders. When you turn, it doesn’t return to center.

If that is the case, and I would bet with a RC 4” it is, I would dod a couple of things.

1. Search this site with Google for a home Toe In. It’s not hard, just get it correct.

2. Measure Caster. Do you have adjustable front control arms? I don’t know that lift in detail.

I would bet that is the #1 thing to do when you lift 4” in the front, get Caster corrected

I’ll check it. Thank you. I didn’t lift it. It came this way.

 

[Gasman1979]

Rough Country is about as garbage as it gets. They have terrible quality control and cheap materials. They are what you pay for. In this thread: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/should-i-buy-a-rc-rough-country-lift.2924/ Chris talks a bit more about Rough Country.

As for Skyjacker, I've heard bad things about their quality as well. Here's a thread: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/why-do-people-dislike-skyjacker-lifts.13308/ if you want to look more into that!

So as per my luck everything under this bitch is junk. lol

 

[Gasman1979]

The angry grill may have some effect on additional weight on the front end, but I am no expert when it comes to this stuff

I had to make it express my feels. And right now that’s pissed off. it won’t run right and it drives like a shit box

 

[bluescapegoat]

Just a couple observations.

Because it's a solid axle, toe isn't adjustable per-side. If it's off it's off an equal amount to each side, essentially. Think of the two main adjustable components of the steering being overall toe and steering wheel alignment.

Unrelated to the current conversation but you've got a transfer case drop. Just something you might not be aware of.

If those red control arms are like the lower skycrapper arms that were on my TJ when I bought it, they're poly bushings. Poly bushings fight articulation and bind up, right up until they become wallowed out garbage then they allow movement. I'd take a look at those to see what you're working with.

What's going on with the track bar? It looks like a bracket bolted to the mount at the frame. That could be the source of all sorts of trouble.

Rough County shocks are garbage, yes.

::edit::
The reason people bring up pitman arms right away is because you want the axle track bar and steering drag link to be parallel. If you move the mounting point on one and not the other and they're no longer parallel (or similar length) then they travel in different arcs and that's what people refer to as bump steer. It's hard for me to tell looking at a photo if that's a drop pitman arm but I'm wondering if that's some sort of track bar drop bracket at the frame. Different issue with the same end result.

 

[Gasman1979]

Just a couple observations.

Because it's a solid axle, toe isn't adjustable per-side. If it's off it's off an equal amount to each side, essentially. Think of the two main adjustable components of the steering being overall toe and steering wheel alignment.

Unrelated to the current conversation but you've got a transfer case drop. Just something you might not be aware of.

If those red control arms are like the lower skycrapper arms that were on my TJ when I bought it, they're poly bushings. Poly bushings fight articulation and bind up, right up until they become wallowed out garbage then they allow movement. I'd take a look at those to see what you're working with.

What's going on with the track bar? It looks like a bracket bolted to the mount at the frame. That could be the source of all sorts of trouble.

Rough County shocks are garbage, yes.

::edit::
The reason people bring up pitman arms right away is because you want the axle track bar and steering drag link to be parallel. If you move the mounting point on one and not the other and they're no longer parallel (or similar length) then they travel in different arcs and that's what people refer to as bump steer. It's hard for me to tell looking at a photo if that's a drop pitman arm but I'm wondering if that's some sort of track bar drop bracket at the frame. Different issue with the same end result.

Good eye on the drip! lol. It’s where I did a front brake job an hour or so before these pics (pulled jeep out and back in after) and didn’t clean up my mess from the brake juice I spilled changing that caliper. But thank you for pointing it out ! Could have been a drip in that location for sure. As for the drag bar I’ll have to inspect that further after work.

 

[bluescapegoat]

Good eye on the drip! lol. It’s where I did a front brake job an hour or so before these pics (pulled jeep out and back in after) and didn’t clean up my mess from the brake juice I spilled changing that caliper. But thank you for pointing it out ! Could have been a drip in that location for sure.

I said a lot of things and none of them were about a drip.

As for the drag bar I’ll have to inspect that further after work.

Drag link, track bar. Different things. Yeah I'm being pedantic but it'll help you communicate this stuff going forward, when everybody's on the same page vernacularly. The track bar is also referred to as a panhard bar in wider automotive circles.



edited for additional context