Track bar bolt question

Thor

Thor

TJ Enthusiast
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Joined
Nov 20, 2019
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206
Location
Central Florida
Good morning gentlemen. I have an ‘06 LJ and replaced the track bar because it had some shimmy in the steering wheel around the 45-55 range. After replacing the track bar with and oem style, I still have the shimmy. Yesterday I had all the tires rebalance and still have shimmy. I got to researching this morning and saw that the factory bolt setup is intended for a one time use. Also, when I installed the new track bar, I noticed the shank diameter is smaller than the sleeve in the bushing but didn’t think to much of it since that was the way it was engineered. Do you have any suggestions on possible solutions? Thanks!
 
If both ends of the track bar are properly torqued, then something else is loose. Do a steer test. With the engine running, have a helper turn the steering wheel side to side repeatedly between 10-2. You will grab any and all steering and suspension connections with your hand and feel for movement.

Also, give the driveshaft a hard shake and look/listen for movement on either end and in the middle.

The difference in the bolt size and the bushing sleeve does not matter because it is the clamping force of the bolt that holds the bushing sleeve and the mount together. Your Jeep has dozens of these same connections.
 
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someguysjeep said:
what exactly does this mean ? upper end or lower end? and the bar you replaced was OE?
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The unthreaded portion of the factory bolt is smaller than the portion of the bushing sleeve it goes through which in my option would cause play in the connection but according to what jjvw says, it’s the clamping force to draw the brackets together that holds this connection together properly.
 
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Thor said:
The unthreaded portion of the factory bolt is smaller than the portion of the bushing sleeve it goes through which in my option would cause play in the connection but according to what jjvw says, it’s the clamping force to draw the brackets together that holds this connection together properly.
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I assume we are referring to the axle end and not the frame side, correct?
 
This is a video I just took of the track bar.. I can see a slight back and forth movement .. any thoughts?
 
And that’s exactly what I see out of it.. i don’t see it as the track bar moving excessively but the bushing dampening the movement as it’s designed to. I wish I could post this video
 
Thor said:
And that’s exactly what I see out of it.. i don’t see it as the track bar moving excessively but the bushing dampening the movement as it’s designed to. I wish I could post this video
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Do the steer test
 
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When I was under there, I did place my hand on different components and couldn’t feel anything out of the norm with the steering wheel being turned.. is that the steering test you are talking about?
 
Thor said:
When I was under there, I did place my hand on different components and couldn’t feel anything out of the norm with the steering wheel being turned.. is that the steering test you are talking about?
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Was the engine running? You'll find more if the power steering is shoving everything around
 
jjvw said:
Was the engine running? You'll find more if the power steering is shoving everything around
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Yes engine was running..
bobthetj03 said:
Have you tried rotating the tires front to back?
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Yes we have done that as well. That is actually how we found this problem was when the tires got rotated.

I am going to retorque the axel bolt and go from there..

I know it will be due for all new ball joints soon so that might be on the docket sooner rather than later.
 
I'm betting your tires were not balanced well enough. Not many tire shops give their guys enough time to get the tires perfectly balanced which is far more important to big tires than it is small tires. They likely only balanced them to what they considered "good enough" which is not good enough for big tires. Perfect is what you're after, not "good enough".

I have had my tires balanced 3X in one day before they finally figured out they needed to spend more time on them to get them perfect. The previous two times I was still getting a shimmy which is why I returned a third time.
 
We had the tires rebalanced yesterday but we obviously don’t know if they are “good enough” or “perfect” but we told them we would drive it for a couple days and see how it reacts. They seem to be willing to work with us on this issue. I also don’t know what type of balancing machine they use but I’ve seen where it’s best to have them balanced on a road force machine.
 
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