I have the HD steering upgrade from rugged ridge and my tie rod end boots seem to just keep shredding. replaced one recently because I thought maybe it was from not using my sway bar and the torque on the steering components but the boot I replaced is all torn up again. Seemed to be my OEM tie rod ends were always bad too, just wondering if anyone had any thoughts...

 

the rigged ridge is an inverted T setup correct? If so you could replace them with the JCR poly bushings, they reduce the roll in the tierod before you start turning. Should tighten up the steering a bit and solve your problem.

http://www.jcroffroad.com/Merchant2/...tegory_Code=S6

 

would these work on stock steering as well? and what are they made out of???

 

All those bushings do is get rid of the dead spot that you get from t setups.

 

I know they're pretty much just dust boots but I'm wondering why also I get a subtle popping noise when turning the wheel at slow speeds. This upgrade has certainly yet to pay off.

 

make sure your knuckles dont have any burrs on them. If so take and file them down and make sure they are smooth

 

housew - thanks for the link, we'll see how these work out

 

Just wait till you have to replace the tre's. The spacers from jcr only limit/keep the "dead spot" to a minimum. I had the rr setup for over 2 years on my dd w 4.5" lift and made my own spacers. I always had the dead spot no matter how thick the spacer. My tre boots tore apart after install. Then when it came time to finally replace my tre's(lots of play and noises) I just bought a v8 zj setup off ebay for 120.00 with the idea, if a tre breaks on the trail the local auto parts store is likely to have a replacement.
I really do like the inverted "T" setup (little to no bump steer), I didn't like driving around as if I was drunk.

 

Did you buy the rugged ridge setup because it was cheap?

 

Not sure if this is to me... but I bought it for 160ish(iirc) delivered because it was inexpensive and i was Not thinking about availability of replacement parts. Either way I do like the inverted "T" steering more just not the dead spot. And the delrin spacers would help alot for alittle while.