Steering all over the road

[Saicksss]

Hey all, done a lot of lurking on the forum since taking ownership of a 97 TJ that has been stored for a few months while the snow melts. Went and picked it up yesterday and drove it home on the highway and it was pretty nerve wracking, Jeep was all over the road, felt like a 40minute battle to keep it in the lane. Tires were properly inflated at 28psi. Jeep has ~3.5" susp lift and a significant body lift. I have next to zero information on anything about this jeep.

Now that its home I can start looking at things in person, noticed quite a few problems. Hoping for a little insight from the gurus on a few things.

Note: Ive already ordered a new steering damper (wet with oil and rusted up), new sway bar link (these are currently not existent) and new front rancho shocks (clearly the currents are blown out and rusted away) but really need to get the front end safer to drive.

the bolts on the drag link (red circles) are not holding anything and are fully loose... what is the purpose of these bolts? do they just hold the cover over that linkage thats behind that 'boot'?

looks like a drop pitman arm (purple circle) which from what I have read is a common culprit of the wandering so I would like to look at swapping that out for an OE spec one, but if these are such an issue im curious how they end up being put on vehicles in the first place?
2nd point of confusion on this is I have also read that the drag link and track bar should be close to parallel, and to me they look pretty close to that currently. would changing to an OE pitman arm not raise the angle of the drag link bar and throw out that geometry? (blue circle shows PO relocated the lower front track bar mounting location to a hole slightly closer to the drivers side, in my mind this is a proper move)

I will check for excess play in the suspension (track bar) later this week when a friend comes to help take a look but getting a head start on parts would be great.

hoping that my new damper, sway bar end links and shocks will help settle things down, but it was so bad I would like to address any other issues that should be looked at as there is alot of highway miles between me and any fun. Thanks!

 

[TheBoogieman]

Dropped pitman arm, broken bolt and other issues I can't see good enough in that pic. Get a stock pitman arm first off.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Yeah dropped Pitman arms are a problem 99% of the time they are installed. People assume they're needed because they were needed on the older Wrangler YJs and CJs but they are rarely right for a Wrangler TJ. When they shouldn't be installed they cause bump steer which is when the steering is forced/bumped left/right when driving over bumps/dips on the road.

To know for sure if you should swap it for the factory Pitman arm we'll need to see a better photo of the driver's side track bar mount to see if it's still stock or if someone installed a dropped driver's side track bar mount. An aftermarket dropped driver's side track bar mount would be the only reason a dropped Pitman arm would be needed.

Check your toe-in too, a bad toe-in setting can cause the TJ to wander. Here's how to check and adjust it... https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/how-to-align-your-jeep-wrangler-tj.85/

Insufficient caster angle can also cause it to wander together with poor steering return-to-center after completing a turn. Adjusting the caster angle however can only be accomplished with aftermarket adjustable length control arms.

 

[Saicksss]

Sounds good, and as far as I can tell the upper track bar mount is just the stock location. Would going back to a OE pitman not make a difference in angle from the track bar vs drag link bar though (and goal is parallel which it currently is)

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Sounds good, and as far as I can tell the upper track bar mount is just the stock location. Would going back to a OE pitman not make a difference in angle from the track bar vs drag link bar though (and goal is parallel which it currently is)

It may look parallel but if the track bar mount is at stock height it's not with that dropped Pitman arm. Not to mention it's extremely difficult to see if they're really parallel since the track bar has so many factory bends on it that change its visual angle.

Being parallel means the drag link and track bar are operating on parallel planes, which are what you'd see if you stretched strings between their respective mounting points.

 

[cpwolf]

Sounds good, and as far as I can tell the upper track bar mount is just the stock location. Would going back to a OE pitman not make a difference in angle from the track bar vs drag link bar though (and goal is parallel which it currently is)

I joined this forum, and I'll tell you personally that I had to do almost every one of these. Jeep had a 3.5" Rancho lift and was all over the road. Read and followed the forum, and I can do 80MPH with a 4" lift and 35" tires on Central Texas Tollway 1 finger (essentially no hands) on the wheel. I drove a CJ5 in college, so this wasn't as nerve wracking, because that baby was all over the road for 5 years, ha.

Take the recommendations, but I had to do, and made a huge difference:
1. get rid of Drop pitman if there's not drop on Track Bar.
2. consider an adjustable Track Bar
3. your Drag Link sleeve literally is to adjust the steering to the steering wheel, those need to be tight, you loosen them and turn, it brings the steering wheel to center, when this is dialed in, one of the last things you do, drive, see it, get out loosen and turn quarter turn and repeat until it's perfectly centered.
4. I replaced my Drag Link and and Tie Rod with the ZJ upgrade Moog, and now just put on the Currie Currectlync.
5. Steering Damper is not a huge part of it, replace with a monroe stock. It doesn't do as much as people think.
6. I replaced control arms to adjustable Savvy so that I could dial in my Caster. My control arm bushings were wasted, after that the Caster Dialed in made a MASSIVE difference for the better.
7. I got square aluminum tube from Home Depot, clamps, and marked up for 33's and 35's and measuring tapes to do the alignment that @Jerry Bransford has as a write up, use it all the time to confirm toe in, do this for sure.
8. Sway Bar links I replaced, they didn't effect much one way or the other really.

I went back and tried to document in my build thread below, but every item was something that is listed here in How To's and recommendations.

I'll say respectfully, your stuff in the pic looks jacked up, it looks like it will drive all over. It also, for me now that I've used the forum, looks "easy" to fix, literally. I would think on a long Saturday if all the parts were there....maybe less with a helper.


https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/2005-texas-jeep-tj-never-sell-build.37076/

 

[Saicksss]

Wonderful thanks for the replies gents. Luckily she's not a daily driver so just plucking away and ordering parts and trying to find all the things wrong as I go, everything so far is extremely helpful.

Shocks and sway bar links got put in and there was a noticeable difference already.

Pitman arm, cheap steering damper are on their way
Toe in adjustment will be next up, as well as figuring out wtf is going on with that adjusting sleeve

Again, really appreciate the opinions and help