99 xj ...Have about 5-6"of lift on 35's,jks track bar(both installed in February ) 1 ton steering installed about a month ago. Trying to figure out where to throw my money at next. First, Is there any acceptable amount of play allowed in the steering gear box or is supposed to be tight as he ll. Second, hub bearings are toast, could this be the cause. And i still have stock control arms. My ball joints seem good,there was no movement from them when I jacked the front end up...any help would be great

 

How in the flying **** did you get 5-6" of lift on stock arms? Replace those.

As for "play," no, there really shouldn't be any significant play. You said you jacked up the front? Last time i encountered DW on my TJ I jacked up the front and the wheels turned with the steering wheel in that situation, but once I set it back down there was a lot of play before the wheels turned.

Issue ended up being where the trackbar mounted to the frame (also JKS trackbar). I couldn't get any of my regular hand tools to crank it down enough, took it to a shop and had them loctite and crank it down HARD with new hardware. No issue since.

But really, those stock arms need to go, too.

 

See how far back your axle is?



Fix with something like these:

http://www.rokmen.com/tj-lj-xj-mj-fr...trol-arms.html
http://www.rokmen.com/tj-lj-xj-mj-fr...trol-arms.html

 

Ha.. That was some good detective work with the pic. Also, to keep it relevant, you might want to look into upper arms as well.

 

I linked to both upper and lowers! OP, I have long arms on the XJ, but use these arms on my TJ.

 

You need Adj. U/LCA's with that much lift period. I hope you used a Dbl. Shear Track Bar on that.


You didn't say but I'm sure you re-geared and installed lockers haven't you? If not that would be a priority for sure with 35" tires. I can stand back and see about $3.5-4k easy into your XJ. But I would go with a long arm setup first off on the suspension.

 

Yeah, I would go with LA too, but even SA are going to vastly improve his current situation if cost is an issue.

Hopefully he regeared. I have 33in ATs with the 3.55s and it's terrible. Collecting ARBs, gears, and shafts for next time I see it. Probably move to 35's next set of tires, should be fine as I don't beat it like my Wrangler. More of a camping/hiking/back country ski rig than serious beat on it off-road. The gears will save my tranny for sure though.

 

Holy bad caster batman. Your alignment is probably garbage. Get new control arms.

 

I've got a similar setup, Serious 1 Ton steering, 6" lift, & 35's. I had bad death wobble till I added a drop pitman arm. I don't even have a steering stabilizer anymore. Pitman arm was a cheap fix, add that, get it re aligned and see what you've got.

 

What tierod ends does Serious use for his 1 ton kit? I'm currently shopping around for a kit but I want to stay with a kit which has easily obtainable tierod ends.

 

I believe they are Chevy 1 ton ends but if you pm serious he can confirm.

 

Thanks I went to his website right after posting and fount that the are indeed chevy 1 tons.

thanks

 

I have serious 1 ton kit on there, was planning on changing the control arms next but there was always that slight moment of "yeah i need them but is it gonna fix the problem or should I change this instead to possibly fix it"

 

Besides fixing the death wobble, regearing is the next thing im doing

 

I got lucky with the suspension, leaf springs and coils i got for 60, extended shackles i got for free and i swapped roof racks with a buddy....besides the Jeep and tires the most expensive thing is the 1 ton steering. ...but long arms are on the to-do list