Way to lay down the law. Hope the monkeys got it right this time.

 

Well, they got the alignment back to positive 7 deg. caster, but it still didn't totally fix the drifting / instability problem (did help a little though - steering seems more responsive). The trac bar's not moving anymore either (guess they tightened it down?), but on the way home from the mechanic, the bolt holding the steering stablilizer either broke or fell off, so now the stabilizer is just hanging there, rattling around! Needless to say, I'm going to another mechanic in the morning, and will be sending the bill to the morons that put me in this position. As far as the steering issue goes, the only thing I can figure is that the remanufactured steering gear box I got was a dud... I've ordered another one, which should get here next week. Jesus I hope this nightmare is over soon. If you guys know any good Jeep mechanics in Birmingham, AL please let me know!

 

Upgrade to a 99+ Durango Gearbox. Add an additional 1/4" spacer between the frame rail and the gearbox and you'll be good to go.

 

+7 degrees is optimum for caster on the 2001, you could be experiencing a problem with excessive caster, and caster will make a vehicle wander around. 2 degrees may not sound like much, but when they tell you 7, 2 more is considerable.
Before you worry much about that though, I'd recommend you look at why your track bar is moving. It should not be moving at all, if everything is tight and right.

Can I assume you DID put in a dropped Pitman arm? At 4.5 inches of lift, you probably NEED the dropped arm.

Wander problems are a bear to live with. My CJ (4inches) is all over the road, which is why the XJ is only going up 3". Good luck.

 

Most rebuilt steering boxes are not adjusted when you get them. They are ballpark only, and then not always that close. If you had the same guys install the box, that did your alignment, I'd recommend you look at adjusting the new box. It ain't fun, but it is a necessity.

 

I just put in a brand new one from AGR and had to adjust it.

 

OK, bear with me, I'm going to post a bunch of pics of what's going on (hover your cursor over the pics and the titles should show - I tried to name them appropriately). I just removed the steering stablizer since it popped off the axle mount. I'm going to the junkyard today to see if I can find the right bolt to re-connect it to the axle (still no idea why that bolt would have come off / broken). Driving without the stabilizer doesn't seem to make it any worse though.

To answer the earlier question, no I didn't use a drop pitman arm (wasn't recommended by Rusty's, and I'm totally a novice to all this). You can see in the pics. Do you think that would help the seering issue? I've got another steering gear box coming next week. The one I just put in had a warranty, so hopefully the new one will fix the issue. I'll be sure to get the mechanic to adjust it as needed, and if that one doesn't work I'll try to use one from a Durango, as suggested.

Correction to earlier post - trac bar's not moving as much now (vs. not at all), but there's still a couple of mm's of movement at the frame mount end. I've taken some close-up pics of the connection. Could it just be the ball joint, or do you think there's any possibility the frame mount bracket needs to be replaced?

Other question: I've noticed the front sway bar links are rubbing my springs - is that a problem or no big deal? You can see from the pics that the sway bar drop brackets are as far forward as I can get them...

 

More pics showing the sway bar link rubbing:

 

And one more showing the steering stablizer before I took it off (just hanging there by the drag-link mount):

 

Loosen your lower swaybar mounts (the nuts and bolts) and slide your swaybar towards the front of the vehicle, that will alleviate the rubbing on the springs.

 

Your links are hitting the springs because the dropbrackets moved the sway bar toward the springs. Loosen the hardware for the swaybar bushings and pull the swaybar forward.

 

I have a 98 classic w 5" lift and do not have sway bar at all and run 32x11.50 tires and have no probs w steering. I do have a beefy steering stabilizer installed. Sounds like the trac bar needs to be tightened or checked for proper fit in bracketry, this seems to be your prob if i were assuming anything at all.

 

Thanks. Here's the update:

1) I've now moved the swaybar drop brackets as far forward as I can get them. No more rubbing against the spring on the driver's side (but it's close), and still a little bit of rubbing on the passenger side. Not sure what else I can do to totally eliminate the rubbing except remove the swaybar or just deal with it.

2) Track bar frame mount end has now been totally replaced with Rusty's frame mount bracket and system that eliminates that tie rod end and replaces it with a screw-in loop and bushing. Cost me $89, but it fixed the issue with the track bar moving

3) Replaced the steering gearbox (again) with the '99 Durango upgrade. I bought the Durango gearbox (remanufactured) from Advance for about $215, but I got a refund for the previous re-man XJ gearbox that was having problems. The mechanic did not modify / adjust anything on the Durango box - just did a straight bolt-on swap, and it's only been on for two days, but it seems to be working fine. It feels a little tight / heavy right now even though there's still a little bit of free play in the steering, but if it doesn't work itself out in a few days, the mechanic said he'll pull it off and adjust it for free (given that this is the third one I've gone through).

4) Steering all-in-all is now behaving much better, but there's still a little bit of wandering at high speed. The only other thing I've noticed is the bushings on my upper control arms - they're not trashed, but they are a little loose. I may replace those whenever I recover from all the other $$$ I've spent

5) Just had the transmission rebuilt last week. That sucks for a Jeep that only has 46K miles, and that I just bought less than 2 months ago. It just started slipping gears on me on the interstate, and leaking burnt transmission fluid... Cost me $2700.

6) NOW I've got an oil leak, but its just minor right now. Looks like it could be the rear main seal (the transmission guys didn't replace it when they were in there), but before I go that route the mechanic says it could be a cheaper gasket replacement (up top somewhere) that may be problem. Fingers crossed, I should find out today.

Will keep you posted on further progress.

 

When I did my lift, I had the same problem with rubbing on the sway bar...I fixed that by adding quick disconnects and raising the sway bar where it was suppose to be (according to the Haynes manual). good luck.

 

good call on the track bar mount. nothing but problems from tre or heim joints