Hi all,
Looking for a little guidance on a steering/suspension issue.
98 TJ Sport 104,xxx miles
4.88 gears Dana 35/30
35 x 12.5 Patagonia M/T tires
3” OME lift (shocks, coils & steering stabilizers)
All core 4x4 adjustable control arms
Both track bars are JXS adjustable
As far as I can tell, stock steering components
I bought the Jeep used about a month ago. I don’t remember it having steering issues particularly, though I didn’t drive it a whole lot so could be wrong.
I took it into a 4x4 shop and had the following done:
Regeared to 4.88
1541 axle shafts in rear (Ten Factory)
Upper and lower ball joints (O’Reilly as far as I can tell)
U-joints on front axles
From axle hub bearings
SYE & Woods rear driveshaft’s
When it came out of the shop it had steering issues, almost no return to center, seemingly large dead spot and wandering, bordering a little dangerous on the freeway. The owner of the shop said the heavy duty ball joints take a while to loosen up and that it shouldn’t need an alignment as they didn’t touch anything on the alignment, they dont have an alignment rack in that shop. They left the transfer case leaking after the SYE and didn’t change the speedo gear as they were supposed to. I changed the Speedo gear today and found the O-ring in 4 pieces… after a new o-ring no more leak.
I took it to a different 4x4 shop a week or so later to have it aligned, which helped a fair amount. They said the axles Cs were tight and that the ball joints may have been over pressed. But they also said I had a bent control arm, I sent them the stock photo (which shows the same bend) from Core4x4 and never heard about it again. They said the caster was set to about 6 degrees which I measured (from the top of the upper ball joint) and came up with the same number. The shop also, reportedly, balance the tires. The shop also adjusted the rear track bar so the axle is now only 1/2” off-center instead of 1”.
This weekend I replaced all 4 tie rod ends (not shown in pictures) and aligned it in my driveway using a couple of the tutorials on this forum. It now drives straight, doesn’t seem to wander. The issues I have remaining are a slight wobble at about 68mph and I still have very little return to center and (what I think) is too much play/dead area in the steering wheel. It now has about 500 miles on everything except the tie rods which I just finished. When I had it apart (wheels off and tie rods disconnected) I tested the movement of the axle Cs and they seemed even.
I think the only suspension/steering component that has not been replaced is the steering box, though from dry testing it I’m not sure it’s the problem.
The return to center and the wobble at 68+ are the two things I’d really like to fix. Any ideas?
Looking for a little guidance on a steering/suspension issue.
98 TJ Sport 104,xxx miles
4.88 gears Dana 35/30
35 x 12.5 Patagonia M/T tires
3” OME lift (shocks, coils & steering stabilizers)
All core 4x4 adjustable control arms
Both track bars are JXS adjustable
As far as I can tell, stock steering components
I bought the Jeep used about a month ago. I don’t remember it having steering issues particularly, though I didn’t drive it a whole lot so could be wrong.
I took it into a 4x4 shop and had the following done:
Regeared to 4.88
1541 axle shafts in rear (Ten Factory)
Upper and lower ball joints (O’Reilly as far as I can tell)
U-joints on front axles
From axle hub bearings
SYE & Woods rear driveshaft’s
When it came out of the shop it had steering issues, almost no return to center, seemingly large dead spot and wandering, bordering a little dangerous on the freeway. The owner of the shop said the heavy duty ball joints take a while to loosen up and that it shouldn’t need an alignment as they didn’t touch anything on the alignment, they dont have an alignment rack in that shop. They left the transfer case leaking after the SYE and didn’t change the speedo gear as they were supposed to. I changed the Speedo gear today and found the O-ring in 4 pieces… after a new o-ring no more leak.
I took it to a different 4x4 shop a week or so later to have it aligned, which helped a fair amount. They said the axles Cs were tight and that the ball joints may have been over pressed. But they also said I had a bent control arm, I sent them the stock photo (which shows the same bend) from Core4x4 and never heard about it again. They said the caster was set to about 6 degrees which I measured (from the top of the upper ball joint) and came up with the same number. The shop also, reportedly, balance the tires. The shop also adjusted the rear track bar so the axle is now only 1/2” off-center instead of 1”.
This weekend I replaced all 4 tie rod ends (not shown in pictures) and aligned it in my driveway using a couple of the tutorials on this forum. It now drives straight, doesn’t seem to wander. The issues I have remaining are a slight wobble at about 68mph and I still have very little return to center and (what I think) is too much play/dead area in the steering wheel. It now has about 500 miles on everything except the tie rods which I just finished. When I had it apart (wheels off and tie rods disconnected) I tested the movement of the axle Cs and they seemed even.
I think the only suspension/steering component that has not been replaced is the steering box, though from dry testing it I’m not sure it’s the problem.
The return to center and the wobble at 68+ are the two things I’d really like to fix. Any ideas?
