Steering wanders and memory steer after ball joint replacement

[Shawn B]

I have an 04 Wrangler with a 4" Rough Country lift I had installed 4 years ago and has worked great for me. A couple weeks ago I brought it in to balance and rotate the tires and immediately it had a Death Wobble. Later we found out the aftermarket wheels had no centric rings and the technician just didn't get one in the front centered properly on a front hub. Yesterday we rebalanced the tires which were right on and we also did another alignment. After getting the centering rings for the wheels the death wobble went away immediately. The tech also noticed there was a slight amount of play in the 2 upper OE ball joints and some play in one of the front axle joints. I decided at that time to replace all 4 ball joints and both axle joints....................... So here is the problem, immediately after replacing the ball joints and axle joints and realigning again the Jeep had a bad wander all over the road at 60 mph+ driving home. Wanders so bad its really not drive-able and I had to turn off the freeway and drive 40 mhp side streets the rest of my 30 miles home. It darts back and forth significantly over 60 so much that you cant drive with a car in the lane next to you without the risk of hitting it. I found it now also has memory steer. I can now turn a pretty tight turn and let go of the wheel and it continues to turn indefinitely.

I'm hesitant to believe like I've read in other threads that the issue is an inferior lift kit, pitman, control arm bushings, and others because before replacing the ball joints and axle joints yesterday it tracked straight down the highway easily without issue daily. It never had the memory steer or wandering ever. ZERO. It drove great! We don't use it for any off road use. We didn't use adjustable caster ball joints but i don't believe the OE ball joints we removed were adjustable caster either.

Since all of this didn't start until after replacing the ball joints and axle joints what do you think could be the cause and what might I do to correct the issue?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Goatman]

Sounds like your new alignment isn't what the Jeep wants. Any chance you have the original settings written down somewhere?

 

[Chris]

Sounds to me like you need to take it to a shop and have it aligned. They'll set the toe-in and caster. I'll bet that will fix it.

 

[Shawn B]

I dont have the alignment data prior to the alignment being done.

 

[Lou]

What is your caster set at? What ball joints did they use?

 

[Shawn B]

I would have to check what ball joints were used. I can find out tomorrow. I know they were not adjustable. And I'm not sure what the caster is. I'd have to check on that too. I didnt get a print out because I didnt know this was going to happen.

 

[Shawn B]

 

[Shawn B]

We installed 4 Napa ball joints and axle joints. Put it back on the rack again today and I posted a pic of the current alignment readings. I just disconnected the tie rods to move the wheels and see if the new ball joints seem to be tight or binding. The wheels pivot freely on the ball joints. I couldn't imagine them being any more free moving than they are now. We gave it a little more caster then test drove and it was slightly better, but only slightly. On Friday the caster was at 5 to 6 and now is at 7+. I just test drove it again after making a slight alignment adjustment and it still darts left and right at 50 mph+. Worst at 65+. And again, none of this started at all until after doing 4 ball joints and 2 axle joints, which all move freely. Before that it tracked straight down the highway effortlessly ? What can cause this? Still wandering at hwy speeds..... Thank you for any help you can offer.

 

[xxdabroxx]

Looks like you have a drop pitman arm on there. A lot of cheaper lifts come with these but our Jeeps don't need them. It isn't causing your issues but is causing bump steer.

You have quite a bit of castor so I'd do a dry steering test and see if your track bar or any other components are loose. Are the tie rod ends sloppy? How are the front control arm bushings, are they sloppy?

Dry steer test is basically get someone in the drivers seat to rock the steering wheel back and forth while you crawl under the jeep and look for movement. You don't need to get the wheels to turn more than a little bit.

 

[xxdabroxx]

Second thoughts, how much air is in the tires?

 

[MutantNinjaTJ]

your symptoms say not enough caster, but your readings say almost perfect caster, but then you know that already. Try removing the dropped pitman arm and redo toe. Just guessing here really since I can't crawl around under it to look at everything.

 

[Shawn B]

I appreciate any help anyone can offer I'm just hesitant to replace parts that we didnt touch last week. Before replacing the ball joints and axle joints last Friday the jeep tracked perfectly down the highway effortlessly. That was with my current pitman.

 

[bobthetj03]

Have you double checked the new ball joints to make sure they don't have play. It's not unheard of to run across a defective set. Axle ujoints shouldn't have any effect with steering.

 

[Shawn B]

I have it here in the shop today. The new ball joints are tight. The image I posted of the alignment angles are live here right now. I'm thinking of replacing the Napa uppers with Spicer/OE? I have to try something because it's barely drivable as it is over 50 mph. All over the road, and all we changed was the 4 ball joints and 2 axle joints. ??

 

[bobthetj03]

It has to be the ball joints. You changed nothing else. Did you rotate the tires to see if any change? Get some Spicer ball joints. I don't have a lot of faith in Napa chassis stuff.

 

[xxdabroxx]

Start with tire pressure. That's free.

Then do a dry steering test to see if you can find any loose components. You could find your track bar loose, etc. and fix it by tightening something.

Then sometime in the future get rid of the drop pitman arm. Your Jeep doesn't need it and it only makes the steering worse.

 

[Shawn B]

So today we replace the new Napa ball joints we installed last week with the Spicer ball joints as advised in this thread and it drives straight down the highway effortlessly again! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! I'm convinced it was the uppers that were causing the issue. Warning don't use the Napa ball joints part #NCP TXK3134T.... They looked to be the same but they are not. The wandering problem went away completely. I was shocked.

Now I just need to resolve the random highway speed wobble which starts after hitting a bump at 50 to 70 mph which is why I brought it in to begin with. The only way to get the wobble to stop after it starts is to slow way down on the highway. it does not do it constantly but at times once or twice per drive. There Isnt anything loose in the suspension (we've looked at it a lot in the last week) and the tires balance to zero. Not sure what to check for that next? Thanks again!

 

[bobthetj03]

Weird about those ball joints. Check your track bar, for excessive movement. Also check unit bearings for play(6 oclock/12 oclock wiggle). Next would be control arms.

 

[Thisoldheep]

Just wondering if you figured it out. I have same issue after replacing ball joints in my WJ.

 

[macleanflood]

What parts did you use? New parts are problematic these days... wouldn't be the first time I've had to do the job twice for shit parts.

See above...the OP used Napa brand first (probably Moog), had issues and replaced with Spicer and no issues. Either the part fixed it or they figured out how not to break it while installing. =)

-Mac