Steering wander (floating) after front end work *** FIXED ***

[98TxTJ]

My 98 has a 3.5 inch Rock Krawler lift with a Rugged Ridge Heavy Duty steering upgrade with stock Pitman arm. Since installation, the thing has been a highway warrior, handling 80 MPH easily with no pull, wander, or wobble. It felt solid on the road.

Took it in for an engine leak and during inspection found the ball joints and tie rod ends needed replacement. Once this was done, the shop aligned it. (This is not the offroad shop that installed the lift and steering kit, but is a professional place that installed the long block 4.0)

Now the front end "floats" and wanders at highway speeds. Here's a pic of the alignment results. From what I've read here, the caster needs to increase. I'm taking it in tomorrow for them to put it back on the rack and would like to be armed with good information.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Your total toe-in is .10 it should be .15.

Your caster is 4.5, it should be closer to 5.5 degrees with 35's. Raising the caster up to 5.5 degrees should make a nice improvement.

 

[98TxTJ]

Your total toe-in is .10 it should be .15.

Your caster is 4.5, it should be closer to 5.5 degrees with 35's. Raising the caster up to 5.5 degrees should make a nice improvement.

@Jerry Bransford I'm on 33s. Is 5.5 caster still good?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

@Jerry Bransford I'm on 33s. Is 5.5 caster still good?

Yes.

 

[AndyG]

Your total toe-in is .10 it should be .15.

Your caster is 4.5, it should be closer to 5.5 degrees with 35's. Raising the caster up to 5.5 degrees should make a nice improvement.

Jerry is exactly right... If you don't have sufficient caster you will have a very vague and floating steering feel....I know I'm probably not using the right words and somebody like Blaine could explain it a lot better...but caster gives your steering a heavier feel and it seems to me that the same forces that do that have a play in making the vehicle track better. Everything is important in the steering equation... But lifted TJ's tend to need caster dialed because the lift rolls the front axle forward, and Tjs work off negative caster. (Axle rolled back)

 

[98TxTJ]

Jerry is exactly right... If you don't have sufficient Castor you will have a very vague and floating steering feel....I know I'm probably not using the right words and somebody like Blaine could explain it a lot better...but caster gives your steering a heavier feel and it seems to me that the same forces that do that have a play in making the vehicle track better. Everything is important in the steering equation... But lifted TJ's tend to need Caster because the lift rolls and consequently pulls the axles toward each other.

@Jerry Bransford @AndyG Thanks to both of you!

 

[AndyG]

@Jerry Bransford @AndyG Thanks to both of you!

Slap a JK owner for us.

Basically caster helps give your tires force to track... If I'm wrong on that somebody correct me.

 

[Goatman]

Both caster and toe in can cause you to float around on the road. Having both set wrong will certainly be felt. Have then (if they will) set toe the old fashioned way. With a tape measure across the brake rotors spaced out to the size of your tires.
Also be sure the steering wheel is centered 100%. If it is slightly off then the steering box hydraulics will want to make the front axle drift a bit.

 

[98TxTJ]

Shop did the alignment with my requested values of 5.5 to 6 on caster and 0.15" on toe-in, They ended up at 6.1 caster and 0.13" toe-in.

If it's not as good as it was before the repairs, my buttometer that measures road interaction can't tell the difference.

Thanks for the info that led to this resolution!

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Those are good numbers!

 

[98TxTJ]

Those are good numbers!

They didn't charge for the 2nd alignment and put a quarter-tank of gas in to boot!

 

[AndyG]

A short TJ needs the stability those settings help produce.

Good job gang.

Meanwhile back on the JK forum....."can someone tell me how long to microwave popcorn "

 

[NDSpeed]

Finally took my Jeep on the Highway. And experienced the “float”

Not a good feeling. Steering wheel is either at 11 or 1. And swtitching to the opposite clock position has that weird when’s it gonna catch feeling.

I’m thinking I have a bad castor setting. So thanks for putting those numbers up

 

[TRevs]

Finally took my Jeep on the Highway. And experienced the “float”

Not a good feeling. Steering wheel is either at 11 or 1. And swtitching to the opposite clock position has that weird when’s it gonna catch feeling.

I’m thinking I have a bad castor setting. So thanks for putting those numbers up

FWIW, I had a similar steering issue on a Ford van; it turned out to be a bad wheel bearing.

 

[AndyG]

FWIW, I had a similar steering issue on a Ford van; it turned out to be a bad wheel bearing.

I believe it.

I had a TJ that had good caster and floated bad- so I went to set the toe- and set it , and set it, and set it ....turned out it had worn front unit bearings and had so much slop the toe varied 3/8”.

Good ol’ 35” mud tires and mud killed em at 89,000 miles.

 

[NDSpeed]

FWIW, I had a similar steering issue on a Ford van; it turned out to be a bad wheel bearing.

Thanks I will check that. It has 80k on the front axle.