Looking for some advice/help.
New to Jeeps and having some steering issues with my 01 TJ. Best guess is that it is lifted 5". Now onto the issue, it seems to wander a bit while driving and is worse on long/sweeping turns. I had a bad leak in the steering box and swapped it for a used/salvage reman from a local part out, once the new box went in, the wander was amplified. I did a quick check of all the front end components and found the heim joint on the end of my track bar has some slop. Posted to FB about the findings and a few questions and got some responses about the drop pitman arm, caster angle, and basically every single possible front end component.
My question is, what can I do to help with the wandering? how can I check angles for accuracy and what are the angles I am looking for? I've read you either have both a drop pitman and dropped track bar mount or neither but not just one or the other?
Thanks in advance. New to jeeps and lifted suspension setups but not new to mechanics, just unfamiliar with steering angles/geometry.
Side Quest: I have a joint in the rear that needs replaced too, PO told me about it when he sold it to me, called it a crawler joint? Google turns up results that do NOT look like what I have. Mine is a "U" shaped bar that connects both frame rails to a central point on the rear axle. Connection on the axle is a heim joint as well.
New to Jeeps and having some steering issues with my 01 TJ. Best guess is that it is lifted 5". Now onto the issue, it seems to wander a bit while driving and is worse on long/sweeping turns. I had a bad leak in the steering box and swapped it for a used/salvage reman from a local part out, once the new box went in, the wander was amplified. I did a quick check of all the front end components and found the heim joint on the end of my track bar has some slop. Posted to FB about the findings and a few questions and got some responses about the drop pitman arm, caster angle, and basically every single possible front end component.
My question is, what can I do to help with the wandering? how can I check angles for accuracy and what are the angles I am looking for? I've read you either have both a drop pitman and dropped track bar mount or neither but not just one or the other?
Thanks in advance. New to jeeps and lifted suspension setups but not new to mechanics, just unfamiliar with steering angles/geometry.
Side Quest: I have a joint in the rear that needs replaced too, PO told me about it when he sold it to me, called it a crawler joint? Google turns up results that do NOT look like what I have. Mine is a "U" shaped bar that connects both frame rails to a central point on the rear axle. Connection on the axle is a heim joint as well.
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