TJ jolts left and right very easily

Let's make sure we are properly diagnosing his problem. Since twitchy steering and bump steer are not the same animal, I would hate to tell him to go buy things that wouldn't help alleviate his problem.

John, does the jeep wander all over a smooth road and you struggle to keep it going in a straight line? Or does it veer off course after you hit a bump or step on the brake? We need some more info.
 
Troutbum said:
Let's make sure we are properly diagnosing his problem. Since twitchy steering and bump steer are not the same animal, I would hate to tell him to go buy things that wouldn't help alleviate his problem.

John, does the jeep wander all over a smooth road and you struggle to keep it going in a straight line? Or does it veer off course after you hit a bump or step on the brake? We need some more info.
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He said it "jolts" which, to me at least, sounds pretty dramatic.
 
Troutbum said:
Let's make sure we are properly diagnosing his problem. Since twitchy steering and bump steer are not the same animal, I would hate to tell him to go buy things that wouldn't help alleviate his problem.

John, does the jeep wander all over a smooth road and you struggle to keep it going in a straight line? Or does it veer off course after you hit a bump or step on the brake? We need some more info.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say it wanders, it more wants to jolt you right or left when you hit a bump. put it this way, on a smooth road i feel comfortable steering with one hand, if it a bumpy road, i will be holding on with two and paying attention. As mentioned, I'm a noob for sure so maybe I'm not explaining it correctly.
 
JAM said:
I wouldn't say it wanders, it more wants to jolt you right or left when you hit a bump. put it this way, on a smooth road i feel comfortable steering with one hand, if it a bumpy road, i will be holding on with two and paying attention.
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Your explanation was clear, and what you just said further points to your dropped Pitman arm as being the cause of your steering issue.
 
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My mechanic looked it over tonight and said I had several issues including needing a new rear drive shaft. To clarify, my mechanic has been working on jeeps for 19 years and has a couple of his own and rides about every weekend.

So below is what I just purchased from Amazon to be here the 10th.
MT MTZP3 tires,
RC Adjustable track bar,
synthetic rope for winch,
oil seal for slip yoke,
RC steering stabilizer,
RC N3 shocks,
short speedometer gear,
RC lower adjustable control arms,
RC rear drive shaft

$2000 for all parts....and he says there is some rust that I didn’t see.
 
I can't see a rear driveshaft causing what you describe. I can't even image it needing a whole drive shaft unless it was bent, or you are doing an SYE. U joints maybe, but a whole new drive shaft?

I wouldn't have purchased the RC stuff that you did, as RC isn't really all that great generally speaking. The tires are fine, the RC adjustable track bar, I don't know anything about, but probably wouldn't use one, synthetic rope seems fine, oil seal seems fine, RC steering stabilizer probably wasn't necessary, but ok I guess, the RC shocks probably aren't every good, should have went with the proven Rancho RS5000x, speedometer gear? RC adjustable arms could be bested quite easily I'd image, the RC driveshaft...I don't even know why you needed it, but if I needed one, it would have been a stock one, or maybe a Tom Woods.
 
JAM said:
So below is what I just purchased from Amazon to be here the 10th.
MT MTZP3 tires,
RC Adjustable track bar,
synthetic rope for winch,
oil seal for slip yoke,
RC steering stabilizer,
RC N3 shocks,
short speedometer gear,
RC lower adjustable control arms,
RC rear drive shaft
Click to expand...

Pretty much none of these address your original left-to-right steering issue (bump steer). Why buy all this stuff, is it solving a specific problem?
 
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rasband said:
Pretty much none of these address your original left-to-right steering issue (bump steer). Why buy all this stuff, is it solving a specific problem?
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I just figured most of the stuff he bought was for some reason or another, but yeah, none of that has anything to do with his crappy steering.
 
89grand said:
It make me wonder why so many lift kits come with those dropped pitman arms. Makes you question the manufacturer if they don't know you shouldn't use one with a stock track bar mount.
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It a one size fits all mentality in the bargain 4-6 inch lift manufacturing world, as well as a bad lack of knowledge ...or refusal to alter packaging for a vehicle that’s 13 plus years out of production.

There is liability if a 6 inch kit doesn’t have what is generally considered needed for vehicle stability , so they think it’s a good idea across the board .. it isn’t . It creates dangerous bumpsteer .

What is good for 6” of lift just doesn’t translate to 4” or less in steering geometry.

My 06 had one , it was a mess .
 
It’s clearly sounds like bumpsteer , and the parts list indicates it needs freshened up.

The market is full of vehicles like this...both mine were .

My 06 had bumpsteer , a history of death wobble, a bent control arm , 2 stabilizers , tires that weren’t rotated , just drove like junk....I went through it and recently my son got a speeding ticket at 74 mph...I’m thinking about putting the dropped pitman arm back on and trying to figure out how to get death wobble. ...it wii save me money.

He is going to get it driving great if he stays on here and keeps at it...I did .
 
I wouldn't trust any shop/mechanic pushing Rough Country parts. And it'd make me suspicious why he's pushing all those parts unless he has a big RV payment due soon.

Definitely avoid ANY Rough Country shocks, a real favorite here is the Rancho RS5000x which has a great ride on the street with very good offroad control. They surprised me how good they were when I installed a set several years ago to replace some old blown-out very high quality shocks. I didn't expect them to be as good but they were.
 
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JAM said:
My mechanic looked it over tonight and said I had several issues including needing a new rear drive shaft. To clarify, my mechanic has been working on jeeps for 19 years and has a couple of his own and rides about every weekend.

So below is what I just purchased from Amazon to be here the 10th.
MT MTZP3 tires,
RC Adjustable track bar,
synthetic rope for winch,
oil seal for slip yoke,
RC steering stabilizer,
RC N3 shocks,
short speedometer gear,
RC lower adjustable control arms,
RC rear drive shaft

$2000 for all parts....and he says there is some rust that I didn’t see.
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IMHO you just wasted 2K, send that shit back and do some reading on here and see what others recommend. Rough country joints wear out fast, their shocks ride like shit, keep the winch rope and speedo gear. Look at Rancho RS5000X shocks and some good control arms like Currie or savvy, Track bars like a currie, and a Tom woods drive shaft. IF you do this, you will only spend the money once. If you stick with the RC shit, you will do it again because you will not like the way your jeep rides and will want to change it or just sell the jeep.
 
I already ordered the shit everyone is talking about and will give it a try. If it last 2/3 years I did ok in my book.

As for the Mechanic, I think he discovered it was a different issue, I have only driven it once and then to the shop. I trust the mechanic because he has worked on my vehicles for close to 15 years. 2006 Lifted Mega Cab, 2011 Leveled Mega Cab and my 2017 2500, and put the lift on my sons GMC. I don’t mind putting some new parts on that are needed, I got the Jeep for a real good price and it was only supposed to be a replacement for my Side by side UTV that I use for hunting. I just decided to turn it into a little more fun time. Let’s see where this goes and I will send better pics when I can.
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That's a good-looking tj.

I've got a rough country lift... Rancho shocks... And a TJ that drives so good it is spooky with a 4 inch lift and 33 inch tires...

I'm not saying that the quality and brand don't matter... But if the tires are of good quality and the alignment is correct, everything is tight and there are no geometry issues like with the dropped pitman arm or tracking issues from lift mistakes , you have rancho shocks , it has the potential to drive and ride really well.

Just remember, regardless of anything you've ever owned, this is a very small wheel base light vehicle with full size tires, and it has a coil spring / track bar front end so everything has to be spot on
 
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astjp2 said:
IMHO you just wasted 2K, send that shit back and do some reading on here and see what others recommend. Rough country joints wear out fast, their shocks ride like shit, keep the winch rope and speedo gear. Look at Rancho RS5000X shocks and some good control arms like Currie or savvy, Track bars like a currie, and a Tom woods drive shaft. IF you do this, you will only spend the money once. If you stick with the RC shit, you will do it again because you will not like the way your jeep rides and will want to change it or just sell the jeep.
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Half of the spend was on tires....
 
While not related to any of your problems, but I'd remove that hi lift jack off of the cowl panel. I have no idea why people put those there. I don't even know why most people even have that jack in the first place. I guess to look cool or hard core. I see them on Jeeps that clearly have never even seen a gravel road. They have some uses, but very limited ones.
 
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