Steering and suspension help needed

[cpwolf]

At least one of the problems was resolved today with tire balancing. The tech said one was so far out that they physically couldn’t put enough weights to correct it. They did what they could, put it on the back and the wobble is gone.

This leaves only the lack of return to center which I think may be the new ball joints. I had a shop install new u-joints, ball joints and hub bearings, as well as a couple other disrelated things and that seemed to be where the issue started. Before I go for replacing the ball joints, is there a test to see if that’s what’s causing the lack of return to center?

Again, Caster angle. Many things can be a part of it, but a lot of times with a lift, the Caster needs to be altered, more positive Caster. You can do that with adjustable control arms, the uppers are primarily used, but they are all a relationship.

Mine is about 7 with 4” and 35” BFG’s

 

[cpwolf]

At least one of the problems was resolved today with tire balancing. The tech said one was so far out that they physically couldn’t put enough weights to correct it. They did what they could, put it on the back and the wobble is gone.

This leaves only the lack of return to center which I think may be the new ball joints. I had a shop install new u-joints, ball joints and hub bearings, as well as a couple other disrelated things and that seemed to be where the issue started. Before I go for replacing the ball joints, is there a test to see if that’s what’s causing the lack of return to center?

Also worth checking without a tire the balance, it’s most likely the tire, but I’d also have them run without the tire and see if your wheel may be out of balance.

Longer odds, but you never know.

 

[SuperTramp]

Many months later, I’m finally able to get back to this. The jeep was up at my cabin for the summer and it’s finally back.

Although the balancing helped a lot, it never fully resolved the wobble. I ended up finding a cheap set of balanced 20 year old take-offs and tried them out for a couple weeks. Wobble 100% went away at all speeds so I changed the tires out to a new set of Falken WildPeaks (in a 33” tire this time rather than 35 which was on there before). Even with the upgraded rear axles, etc, I feel it’s a better fit for this Jeep as it does get wheeled moderately.

The “memory steer” still remains. At this point I’m convinced it’s the ball joints. The caster is at almost 11 degrees and the toe in is correct (see alignment sheet). I’ve removed the moog ball joints that were installed last year and unfortunately come to find that they were knurled. I already have the spicer units in hand, which are now a loose fit. I can’t quite push them all the way in by hand, but I know it’s not correct. Contemplating the ball pin and loctite method… any input?

 

[mrblaine]

Many months later, I’m finally able to get back to this. The jeep was up at my cabin for the summer and it’s finally back.

Although the balancing helped a lot, it never fully resolved the wobble. I ended up finding a cheap set of balanced 20 year old take-offs and tried them out for a couple weeks. Wobble 100% went away at all speeds so I changed the tires out to a new set of Falken WildPeaks (in a 33” tire this time rather than 35 which was on there before). Even with the upgraded rear axles, etc, I feel it’s a better fit for this Jeep as it does get wheeled moderately.

The “memory steer” still remains. At this point I’m convinced it’s the ball joints. The caster is at almost 11 degrees and the toe in is correct (see alignment sheet). I’ve removed the moog ball joints that were installed last year and unfortunately come to find that they were knurled. I already have the spicer units in hand, which are now a loose fit. I can’t quite push them all the way in by hand, but I know it’s not correct. Contemplating the ball pin and loctite method… any input?

View attachment 478271

View attachment 478272

11 degrees of caster will make the steering very heavy. The peen and Loctite 609 method has never not worked. The peens don't need to be deep, just close together.

 

[SuperTramp]

So new ball joints are in, and unfortunately it has made no difference to the memory steer, though it does require less input driving on the freeway and drives straighter. I gave it a couple weeks and about 500 miles, but it is not changing.

I’ve noticed at low speed there is zero return to center but it gets better with speed, on the freeway it’s not an issue.

At the advice of RedHead tech support I backed off the adjustment screw (counter clockwise) about half a turn. No difference.

I adjusted the caster back to about 7, in case the excessive caster was causing binding or something in the tie rod/drag assembly. No change here either.

As a note, when I changed the steering gear box and it was disconnected, I did test the steering wheel and it spun freely, very freely. So I don’t think it’s anything upstream of the steering box.

It does not look like I have a dropped pitman arm. But I am curious about which plane the tie rod is supposed to move the same as something else as it doesn’t seem like any of the components (tie rods, drag link or track bar) are in the same plane. Is it possible there is a geometry issue in the tie rod set up that the Currie correctlynk would solve?

 

[SuperTramp]

One other thing I would add, is I have no idea how well the adjustable control arms are setup and if they’re pushing the axle to far forward or back. To me, it does not seem like the top spring perch is centered over the bump stop.