Gorillaxj

Looks good man! I wish I had the IRO kit.

Super clean!

fritzthekatt

Thanks! I need to get it dirty but want to wait until the gears and parts are broken in and all the bolts are tightened up. Some recovery points would be nice also but I'll just have to be smart about where I go.

mikeXJ1020

Well it looks like the alignment helped with your truck and your post beat my response to your PM! A professional alignment is always a must after big modifications! Thats what I should have done in the first place when I did my truck over. When I was trying to figure out my "Scary Unstable Steering" ...which really was f***ing scary! I tried to set my alignment by self with a tape measure, which has had success in the past. Since it never helped my problem, I would measure and adjust again and again to the point where I would toe-in or toe-out blindly just to see if it would make a difference -- which it never did.

So after deciding it wasn't my alignment I made a huge list of unnecessary adjustments and bolt over tightening which evidently did nothing. So I put my tail between my legs and said "oh alright Ill bring it to a shop" ...$100 later my problem was fixed. When I brought it to the shop I had the steering set with extra toe-in (since I cranked on the tie-rod and never set it back to what I thought was a decent setting) thinking the tech would have to toe it out a bit -- well it turned out he had to toe it IN more. I guess with 35" muds you need some serious toe-in.

My truck drives pretty good now, but its still a lifted jeep with no sway bars and clunky mud tires. Cant ask for a Caddy.

Goodluck with your truck man! It looks great I love the color! Any questions just shoot

-Mike

fritzthekatt

Spent the last week breaking her in. Still not convinced the steering is 100% correct. Certainly feels like I have play in the responsiveness when I turn the wheel. I'm no expert so I'd be interested in hearing what sort of handling characteristics others running similar setups have.

So far a quick look hasn't produced any smoking guns and all the steering parts do appear tight except I did see this when testing the turning radius lock to lock.

Gorillaxj

That is loose! I would tighten it down asap! they should have cotter pins threw them as well to keep them from backing off (looks like the tight one has it)

89limitedxj

Sweet rig!

mikeXJ1020

OMG Tighten that tie rod down! and put a cotter pin in that asap! Did you install the steering yourself or did a shop do it? That could have been fatal.

Take a picture of your steering and trac bar (wide view of everything going on down there) so we can get an idea of your drag link - trac bar angle. they must be parallel, if not you will experience some bump steer

fritzthekatt

I saw a cotter pin on it the other day looks cross threaded.

fritzthekatt

A shop here in the area installed the steering setup for me. Going to address this first thing tomorrow.

I'll snap a few wide angle's of the setup tomorrow and post them up.

gvns8

I ran frankz's steering for a few weeks before I put a new axle in. It's well built, but if that poly spacer you have in there isn't compressed then the tie rod can roll, and cause you to feel like you are loosing control. My poly spacer completely split in half due to unknowingly cuting the spacer when installing it. You should try to tighten it, but the thing is, the hole on your knuckle for the tre is tapered, so there is a chance that you have the nut completely tightened, and that the poly spacer is not thick enough to fill the gap and prevent the tie rod from rolling. If that is the case, I would try to get a thicker spacer or add some washers in there or something so that the spacer is compressed. This is just based off what I figured out myself when my steering felt super loose...but I also had bad upper control arm joints which I didn't realize at the time were causing most of my issue.

I never quite got that steering perfectly set up due to my new axle already having steering...so I can't confirm that compressing the spacer will help for sure... call frank though he will help you troubleshoot it.

fritzthekatt

I confirmed there is a cotter pin securing the nut, then took it over to the guys who did the alignment this morning. Turns out the nut is cross threaded Ordered a replacement TRE.

Gorillaxj

Hope they are covering it if they put it on.... either way glad its getting fixed!

fritzthekatt

Here are some quick shots of the Steering angle.

fritzthekatt

another one from a little lower angle

fritzthekatt

No kidding right. What a mess.