Hey everyone first time posting so sorry for anything I might get wrong in advance, still learning. 1991 XJ on OME 3.5” lift with 35x12.5r15 tires I just put on (first pic below for reference). It is so difficult to control on the road I don’t even know where to start. Steering feels like it is lagging and I get what feels like slow motion death wobble. Here is everything I just changed this past month…

Swapped out my dana 30 stock gears 3:55 for a hp dana 30 regeared to 4:56 with chromoly shafts and ball joints

Swapped out my Chrysler 8.25 stock gears 3:55 for a dana 44 regeared to 4:56

Changed steering linkage from budget ZJ upgrade to a used currectlync rockjock setup

Moved up from 31x10.5 to 35x12.5 tires

That’s all I just recently swapped. Everything stayed the same. Suspension, adjustable ucas and lcas, adjustable track bar, driveshafts, etc.

Went to alignment shop and they said it scared them to drive it down the street, even after getting everything in spec. Caster is about +6.0°, toe is +0.02° on both sides. The guy that owns the shop says I have bump steer and a blown tie rod end to the pitman arm but I didn’t have bump steer before and the tie rod end looks fine to me and holds grease. I checked to make sure everything is tight and I believe my Y link and track bar are as parallel as I can make them (second pic below). At about 40mph is when it starts wandering on its own. On the highway at about 70mph there is a delay which ever way I steer.

Also not sure if it’s related but the front end dips about 2” lower on the driver side when tires are straight and levels out only when they are turned full left. Whoever can shed some light on all this thank you in advance.

 

My eye is gravitateing to track bar. What kind of joint is at the pitman arm.
on left side is that bolt tight and not wobbling out the mounting bracket hole,

If you slightly saw steering at a stand still does jeep move body side to side instead of turning tires.?

a tierod boot intact doesnt mean the tire rod is good. Have some one steer left to right and watch for play in all steering and track bar joints.

The curie steering is basically stock so steering angles should still match track bar. Usualy youl see play as it transitions from left to right steering wherr joint changes direction.

If it is actually positive 6deg of castor it should drive straight and return to center on its own when exiting a turn.

The bump steer might indicate track bar and steering arent parralell. Like maybe it has a zj or some kind of dropped pitman arm installed.

Also looks like sway bar brackets are cut off the axle.
without it attaxged over the counter shocks probly feel mushy and body leans pretty good in turn or even just road forces whike driving a straight line.

Constant steering corrections to drive sraight plus body leaning each time can definitely be scarey.

Youl get it. i might lean towards tge tierod or whatever tge shop says is bad.

However i would wonder if it does actually have positive castor since it seems to drive like it doesnt.

Reread and you say used currie steering. Id now be looking very close at all of it. I see nOthing remotely similar to what i picture rock jock stuff. Seller feeding you a line of ****.

Do rockjock and xj dana30 even go in the same sentence? i may have to look that up.

 

Control arm mount on the passenger side looks beat up? Is it bent out of place or previously bent and hammered back into place?

Is your upper control arm mount on the passenger side callapsed?

Track bar mount tight to frame? Frame cracked behind track bar mount? Steering box bolts tight? Frame cracked around steering box?

As mentioned above mounting holes for track bar still round or have they egg'd out?

 

Hey sorry for the late reply just got service again. The joint going to the pitman arm is just a tie rod, how would I tell that it needs to be replaced? I watched all joints as wheels were turned full left then full right but I’m not sure what if I’m missing something that I should be noticing.

All the bolts for the track bar and steering linkage are tight. Sawing the steering wheel makes the body sway slightly but wheels turn after about a second delay. And as far as bump steer goes I didn’t have a problem before, and since I only swapped bigger tires I wouldn’t think I would have it now. Pitman arm is stock from what I can tell.

And yes I’m going to weld brackets back on for sway bar. I have driven without it enough to try and be mindful when comparing how that feels to how everything is handling right now.



Also here is a pic of steering linkage brand new. I got it a lot cheaper so figured I’d run it but while now that I’m back in town I’m going to swap in my old linkage and see how everything feels. Will hopefully have an update tomorrow, thanks again for all the advice.

 

Have someone saw steering wheel. You look at suspension.

 

Move the steering wheel side to side just enough to almost steer the tires button stopping short if actually moving the tires.

As this is done watch all joints for movent.
bassicly all you are moving is the free play in the joints.