I searched, but I just cant find the info I am looking for. Ive got an 8" long arm lift and 35's on my XJ. When I drive at any speed, the front tires feel like they over take the control of the jeep. I have to drive with both hands on the wheel at all times. When i roll to a stop light and use the brakes, the jeep goes wild sloppy on the rutted lanes near the stop light. This thing sucks to drive on trips. A new steering stabilizer didnt work. And I toed the tires in at 1/4" with a tape measure when I first installed the lift. It did this on my other XJ also with the same lift and tires. Please help me

 

Do you have aftermarket steering set up or stock?

 

whats the caster set at?

 

ah I forgot I could adjust that thing. Ive got it set wrong and totally forgot about it. Ive got the pinion lined up parallel with my driveshaft instead of my transfer case. Think that would cause the prob? Im gonna fix that either way. And I have a drop pitman arm, but that is the only aftermarket steering component.

 

so you hacked together a tall lift and expect it to work? need more info on your setup.

 

Check your ball joints and hubs. I had that problem until I changed those items... Also, does your lift have x-flex joints from Rough Country? If so, they could be causing the problem also.

 

i have the same issues at 6.5" la. i have the zj tie rod n drag link upgraded steer, 6" RC front springs 4-8" rugged ridge drop pitman arm. IRO trac bar. RC long arms. anything else you need to know to help diagnose?

 

?? No I didnt hack anything. I bought the IRO 8" critical path lift. I have bushings on the axle end of the control arms and heim joints on the frame ends. And all my ball joints are good. Does that rough country dual steering stabilizer setup fix this? Or is it just going to "mask" it? It doesnt wobble at all, just the jeep swerves carelessly on its own. Thanks for the help

 

Sounds to me to be track bar related, and don't mess with your stabilizer its only there to cover up little things

 

if you drop your pitman arm, you have to drop your track bar. these two need to be parallel.

what tires are on there, bias or radial, and if they have too much air or are crowned, they will wander all over the road.

 

Steering gear box could have alot of play. Or maybe tie rod ends are shot. Check rod ends at pitman are and tie rod drag link. All the little things add up.

 

in my case with the same lift only 5.5", the drop pitman arm I installed was to keep the drag link parallel with the tracbar. so your draglink is probably still at a steeper angle than your tracbar. also, your tie rod is probably at a bad angle too. it should be pretty close to parallel to your axle. the right side will be a little higher but if it's too high you'll get bad bump steer. these 2 things together with worn tie rod ends or like some1 else said, crowned tires will make for a horrible experience. in my opinion, save up for an otk steering kit compatible with an 8"lift. 8" is just to extreme for the stock steering setup.

 

find out what your caster is. and fix your steering/ trackbar angles. stock steering doesnt belong on tall jeeps with large tires. id look into a crossover setup or better yet an axle swap.

 

Caster (like others have mentioned) is going to be your issue going up that high. At that height, the real way to get your caster back is to remove and reweld the coil buckets, C brackets ect... Basically all the mounting points on the axle. If you have the pinion angle set up to be correct to the transfer case, the axle is pointing downwards which means the tires are also facing downwards. So while they are towed in, the are fighting each other to stay on the road straight. You can try to compensate and adjust the caster but you'll need to adjust it several times to get it just where you want it to be so you don't get vibes from the front driveshaft.

 

Put the ZJ steering set-up on, a drop pitman arm, and do the durango box and see how much of a difference it will make. These are all cheap upgrades that are going to make ALL the difference in the world. Or you could go spend close to a thousand bucks on some fancy steering set-up and that may help, just hope you have an endless supply of cash.

I did just the ZJ steering, drop pitman arm, and did a power steering fluid cooler(My fluid was boiling over) and it made a hugh improvement over the stock steering system. I am trying to find a Durango steering box now to install and I believe that it will improve even more, all for under $250.00 and a little time to install all the new parts, I am not even worried about the steering anymore!!

I had all the same symtoms you are having and just these few items changed everything the moment I got on the road after upgrading. Can't wait to get the durango bow installed!!

Oh, I am running 6.5" of lift on a '95 XJ with 33X12.5X15 MTZ's, using it as a DD and drove it for a year before doing these upgrades. Once I did the ZJ steering, drop pitman arm, and the steering fluid cooler I thought I was in a different vehicle!! Now I cruise at 70 on the highway instead of 55-60 and feel 100% safe-er!!!