Super quick steering response from 06 TJ

DUB

DUB

TJ Enthusiast
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My kids new to him 2006 on 2.5" springs... Steering was a little washy but really twitchy, quick. Did a dry steer inspection, found a steering tie rod and front trac bar bushing bad. Replaced all with new trac bar and ZJ steering, set toe and she is stable but man is the steering still twitchy. Any input on the wheel and the thing just darts, so this part hasn't really changed any. It's on narrow 33's, 10.5 wide @ 26 PSI for now. Is this a product of the tires (thinking not) or steering box issue?

There is a small clunk in the back on a bump, need to chase this down next weekend but I do not believe it is the rear trac bar.

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Well, not sure 2.5” causes a huge issue, but there are small adjustments that may help.

Have you looked at the Caster angle?

Does it have cam bolts to do a slight adjustment?

Do you have stock control arms or after market with the lift.

For a 2.5”, if I didn’t want to get adjustable control arms, I’d put cam bolts on and see if you can do a slight adjustment. When caster is too much positive you can get very heavy steering, when it’s too low you get drifting and no return to center witb the wheel. At 4”, I absolutely had to get adjustable arms and fix that, and in my experience is rhe #1 steering issue when lifting a TJ, or Jeep at all, is the steering gets off. At 2.5”, it’s right on the cusp, so not wandering, but super light.

Cost wise, Cam Bolts would be cheap, and worth a try. If you measure and it’s really low Caster, you can probably do just upper adjustable front control arms and make some adjustments to see how it effects the steering .
 
Is the front sway bar removed or replaced with a softer aftermarket one? If so, the increased body roll can give the impression of twitchy steering and takes some getting used to.
 
Tob said:
Is the front sway bar removed or replaced with a softer aftermarket one? If so, the increased body roll can give the impression of twitchy steering and takes some getting used to.
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No it is stock and in tact. Pitman arm is stock as well, I have been comparing everything with my TJ..

I also don't see any camber adjusting bolts anywhere.
 
He was talking about cam bolts that adjust caster angle, not camber-adjusting bolts. I think he is referring to adjusting the caster angle via the cam washers at the axle side of the front lower control arms. There are tabs on the lower control arm brackets that hold the washer in place, which has an off-center hole which can be rotated to effectively lengthen or shorten the lower control arms, thus adjusting caster angle.
 
Tob said:
He was talking about cam bolts that adjust caster angle, not camber-adjusting bolts. I think he is referring to adjusting the caster angle via the cam washers at the axle side of the front lower control arms. There are tabs on the lower control arm brackets that hold the washer in place, which has an off-center hole which can be rotated to effectively lengthen or shorten the lower control arms, thus adjusting caster angle.
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Understood! I said camber instead of caster by mistake, those same bolts are used for camber adjustment on IFS setups, which I have done.

I am comparing with my rig which had the same lift at one point, with stock control arms and I never had anything like this steering situation. I have since changed mine to adj. arms and changed pinion angle and caster with very minimal change in steering. This is why it makes me think something is wrong, just doesn't feel like a caster issue and could it really be that far off with the 2.5 springs?
 
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Figure out what the caster is and report back.

How many miles are on the steering box?
 
DUB said:
Will do, I have a caster/camber gauge.

I think it's rubbing 98K.
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Hmm…stock caster is 7*. With larger tires you need less caster. I like to have at least 6* with 33’s.
 
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Interesting findings.. Still haven't been able to check caster yet..

Looks like his 06 has 2.5" lift springs and 2" pucks in the front, sits level. My 2002 has 2.5" springs and a 1.25" BL. His bottom of front spring to underneath side of shock tower is almost 1" higher than mine however, my 02 sits 1" taller at top of fender/bottom of hood. I'm super confused here, only thing that makes sense is that the 2006 had an incredible amount of rake in it? Either way, I would suspect that this could create some caster issues with 4.5" of height change.?.?
 
JMT said:
Hmm…stock caster is 7*. With larger tires you need less caster. I like to have at least 6* with 33’s.
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To add some closure here.. The caster was 4.25, this blows my mind as I never had this problem with the same setup on my 02 before adjustable control arms. Anyway, got him a set of control arms and got the caster to 7 degrees. Steering is still very fast but much more stable.

Not sure if we should try adjusting the steering box a hair. I do know that the nut won't break free from the setscrew and it is an allen head uggh!
 
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DUB said:
To add some closure here.. The caster was 4.25, this blows my mind as I never had this problem with the same setup on my 02 before adjustable control arms. Anyway, got him a set of control arms and got the caster to 7 degrees. Steering is still very fast but much more stable.

Not sure if we should try adjusting the steering box a hair. I do know that the nut won't break free from the setscrew and it is an allen head uggh!
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Check everything in the steering. It could be the steering box or the splines on the steering shaft. Either way that can be frustrating. A new box is $$$
 
DUB said:
No it is stock and in tact. Pitman arm is stock as well, I have been comparing everything with my TJ..

I also don't see any camber adjusting bolts anywhere.
Click to expand...

DUB said:
To add some closure here.. The caster was 4.25, this blows my mind as I never had this problem with the same setup on my 02 before adjustable control arms. Anyway, got him a set of control arms and got the caster to 7 degrees. Steering is still very fast but much more stable.

Not sure if we should try adjusting the steering box a hair. I do know that the nut won't break free from the setscrew and it is an allen head uggh!
Click to expand...

Might be worth double checking the toe. When I first put mine together I thought I had it set at 1/8 toe in and it felt twitchy, like it was hard to use the proper amount for a given turn. I rechecked toe and found it was actually toed out about 1/32. Not sure what method you used to set toe. I used 3 FT pieces of aluminum angle clamped to the rotors. I suspect since the rotors were not new and had some minor ridges on the top the aluminum deflected when I clamped it? Just something to think about, I was glad I double checked before chasing other things.
 
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Sean B said:
Might be worth double checking the toe. When I first put mine together I thought I had it set at 1/8 toe in and it felt twitchy, like it was hard to use the proper amount for a given turn. I rechecked toe and found it was actually toed out about 1/32. Not sure what method you used to set toe. I used 3 FT pieces of aluminum angle clamped to the rotors. I suspect since the rotors were not new and had some minor ridges on the top the aluminum deflected when I clamped it? Just something to think about, I was glad I double checked before chasing other things.
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This post is valuable. Check your toe carefully. What you have is a good problem really.
 
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