real_tree_camo_redneck

ok guys i gotta 99 jeep xj sport 2dr its gotta 6.5" rough country lift short arm with the xflex joints , sye kit , i have 285/75r16 bfg km2's on factory 16x7 limited wheels with 1.25" wheel spacers , when i first got it bout a month ago the steering seemed really sensitive and tight like barely touch the wheel it would try to swap lanes with me well i put two new wheel bearings on the front and it had a stock steering stablizer i put a new rough country one on it didnt help any last few days almost seems like its got worse it wants to fallow every lil groove and line in the road it wants to wonder out and back and seems like now when it wonders and i turn the wheel to correct it i gotta turn it bout 1/8th of a turn then its like it grabs and jerks over been pulled over twice cops behind me thing im drunk drivein gettin hard to keep it between the lines i drive it daily so it needs to be fixed everything is good and tight in the front end all the bushings still look good no play i can see when turnin the wheel out and back ....had a friend tell me her jeep start wondering after she put a set of the xflex control arms on hers but idk why they would cause it ? any ideas or help would be great thanx guys

johnydoe

same happens with mine...its in the shop now, getting it back tomorrow....heres what i did...

i started by getting a new adjustable trackbar because i still had the oem...that helped for a day until i took my winter tires off and put my 33"...then the loosenes came back, basicly like a 2" play in the steering wheel so whe wheels would follow the road and the steering wheel would stay still and when the steering finally "catches" the wheels it jerks back...also get death wobble on highway between 70-90 kmh

so after an inspection at the garage....this is what they came back with....

swaybar bushings
4 ball joints
2 bearings
2 u joints
drag link tierod
steering box frame bolts loose
bad alignment


much other stuff but this was just for the directional stuff...

so what im getting them to do(cause i cant get it all done right now cuz of $$) is the 4 ball joints, the steering box frame bolts tightened/fixed, and an alignment...total cost 550$

the other reason im not fond of investing in this axle is im swapin 1tons on in august and feel its wasted money to invest more than i need in this one, but i want it to drive straight til then and dont wanna loose a wheel due to a bad ball joint...


ill let you know tomorrow how it drives, if any better, it def should...


on another note, your jeep looks like mine except the tires, lol

here it is when i got it on 31"


and here it was last year on 35"


and this year its on some finished 33's just till i get the body done and axles swapped, then im going big, lol

real_tree_camo_redneck

Thanx man im gona check what i can tomarow again if it will quit raining long nuff ...good lookin jeep btw

caged

check ball joints by lifting up each tire a couple inches and use a pry bar or jack handle under the tire and lift up to feel for any play/knocking.

check wheel bearings by grabbing that lifted wheel at 3 and 9 and feel for any play.

u-joints won't matter for this, but you can check them anyways. grab the shaft on each side of the joint and twist for any play.

check your control arm bushings by holding your foot on the brake and shift from reverse to drive and drive to reverse while having someone look at the bushings for any play. you should be able to feel/hear this from inside.

check track bar mounts/bushings on both ends.
check tie rod ends at every end.
you can check the tie rod ends and track bar by having someone turn the steering wheel back and forth through the dead cycle without actually turning the wheels and look under the front for any of these loose parts.

or it's just simply your tires. bad belts or over inflated tires (crowning) may cause your steering to feel light.

VTJeep

I'll bet an alignment would temporarily make a huge difference. It sounds like a combo of worn parts and bad alignment, though, so ya gotta deal with it all... And I don't think the x flex arms are the culprit. Yes, they may feel different, but your front end need some attention, no ifs, ands, buts or coconuts!

BotakBeng

You might wanna look at your caster angle.
Try extending your lower control arms by 2 turns...that will help with the jeep wandering. Bear in mind that when you increase your caster angle, you will reduce your pinion angle and might cause some vibration on your front end (HP30 are more tolerable to low pinion angle).

Just need to find a sweet spot in between caster and pinion angle.

GL.

77olds

Maybe your Jeep is just trying to tell you that it doesn't WANT to be on the road?

real_tree_camo_redneck

jeep has no choice but to be on the road its my DD lol

but so far what i have figured out is i gotta bad ball joint where it connects to the pitman arm .... gear box aint moveing any track bar is good everything looks good so ill get to fixin that ball joint and check and re torque everything and see what happends after that maybe get an alinement and hopefully some new wheels soon get rid of these damn wheel spacers i hate so much lol

real_tree_camo_redneck

well new tie rod end and new gear box fixed it
tie rod was shot and had play in it and the bearing in the gear box was shot and was lettin the shaft move out and back so glad to have it fixed

thanx everybody who replyed for the ideas and info

caged

good to see that fixed it.

you can check alignment with a tape measure.
measure across the front of the front wheels by placing the tape on the center tread block at the highest point of the wheel and do the same at the rear of the front wheels.

difference should be 0-1/8 inch toe in at the front of the wheels.

real_tree_camo_redneck

Yea i gotta do that it still wonders a lil but nothing like it did friend of mine said his tj did that when he had wheelspacers on his factory wheels so that maybe one if my problems cant wait to get some wider more off set wheels get these wheel spacers off mine

freegdr

on the toe measurements set as close to dead zero as possible when running 33s and bigger

CPLSeraphim

Definatley keep an eye on those steering box bolts. Mine were also loose, and just tightening that up removed a lot of play because it was doing a lot of jumping. After that I replaced the bad ball joints, and replaced all the steering components below the pitman arm. This lead to a very small amount of play I am concluding is from wear in the steering box. But it was finally safe enough for me to feel comfortable taking it to work delivering pizzas 1 night.

Best thing to do to check if the steering box is just loose or if it is cracked is to lift the front end, and have someone steer it before tightening the bolts. This will allow you to see how it moves. Tighten, and drop to the ground, and, as much as I hate this, dry steer left and right a few times, so there is force to counteracts the fluid steering, then jack it up, and have the other person steer and see if it is loose. If it does not appear loose, try to tighten the bolt more to see if it became just a little loose.

Took me forever, and a shop visit to find out that the 1 bolt was loose. kinda pissed me off, lol. but the shop was a great help, all around.

Well, I skipped the last 2 posts, and saw it was fixed. Glad to hear. Leaving the above info in case someone else finds this thread, like me 3 months ago.. haha

OttawaXJ

Best response so far.

All of this is stuff you can do in a walmart parking lot so theres no reason to go to a shop for this stuff.

real_tree_camo_redneck

when money allows im gona replace everything all new tie rod ends and ball joints in the whole front end

also gona get the rebuild kits from rough country for my xflex joints the lift was on the jeep when i got it so i have no idea how old they are

also gona get wider wheels and drop air pressure in my tires a lil these 7" wide wheels & wheel spacers just aint cutting it for me

but at least the steering box got it fixed for most part so i can keep it in the road so u guess now i can take it on the poker run may 19th with clemson4wheel center without worrying bout running others outa the road haha