TheMayer

My journey to a decent riding/steering highway DD has been an annoying one so far so I am finally coming to you guys for some help! apologies in advance if this has been covered, believe me i have searched and searched for some answers but have been out of luck so far.

I installed OME shocks/springs and threw in some spacers and extended shackles to net around 4" of lift. I wanted to see if i could get away with just the OME parts without problems as others have done in the past, wow was i wrong

I took it for a drive and was impressed at first with how smooth it rode and thought i was in the clear, until about 5 miles down the road when i hit a pothole on the highway, first experience with DW is an interesting experience.

Installed:
IRO Double Shear TB
IRO Adjustable arms
IRO Tie Rod/TREs
IRO Extended Sway Links
new sway bar bushings
New Tenneco SS
I even went with the IRO second stabilizer setup between the track bar and tie rod. (tease away, i know its unnecessary, but i just wanted it to stop wobbling)
^ listed in order of install.

Anyway, as far as i can tell the DW is gone, but now it rides insanely rough, and still wanders, it just doesn't feel right.

Sorry for such a long post, hopefully someone will read it all haha.
Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong at this point?

holycaveman

Toe out an 1/8th of an inch. Make certain ball joints and bearings are good.

A 4in suspension lift is going to ride like a truck. Especially when its new.

mr white

If it rides real rough, possibly your LCAs are set too short and axle is pulled too far back. That's about the only thing I can think of that would change the ride to a pos after just messing with the steering.

TheMayer

The axle looks to be perfectly centered in the wheel well, but ill measure it tomorrow and make sure. Is it possible that the 8* caster is causing it? Maybe back it down to 7*? Im sure it will help with the slight vibes that are happening now. The coils do seem to bow inward at the bottom if that is unusual.

sreeb

Maybe your sway bar now works.

I don't think the rest of the changes should effect ride.

96blackxj

good luck with yours im having the same problems with only a rough country 3 inch lift my front end shakes only on the right side though and it gets mad dw when i brake while turning left also it feels like my front end is shifting side to side when i turn sharp in a parking lot at low speeds ..

TheMayer

Ive heard that DW when braking could mean a warped rotor, that might be worth checking out

mr white

That's just a shimmy. You know when you have death wobble.

tfsmith8

I hope I don't have this issue I'm in the middle of putting the 3 inch lift on mine as well. It'll be interesting to see what it is! Possibly the track bar?

Barrelmaker

I've had dw because of tires.

96blackxj

sometimes when it does it, it shakes soo bad i have to let off the brakes because it feels like the tire is going to fall off

freegdr

Toe and caster......

XJRed96

Toe out is going to make it want to wander more. Toe in will allow for better straight forward tracking. Jeep calls for zero inches on toe in. Considering tires will be pulled out slightly while driving i suggest setting it ever so slightly toed in so that while driving it is set at zero. also Old unbalanced tires can make a huge difference in ride quality. one may have a pull causing you to feel like it veers. over inflation (if you have larger tires you dont necessarily need to run them at 35psi. 29psi will offer the required pressure (more inches of tire contacting the ground thus less pressure needed per inch i know for a fact that the grave digger Monster truck tires run between 9 and 11 psi.)) try rotating the tires having the tires that are to be mounted up front balanced. and test drive and let us know if there is ANY difference at all. and one more fyi. i don't remember the exact number for caster angle but there is a note from jeep in the service manual that "propeller shaft angle takes precedent over steering caster when setting the caster angle" slightly paraphrased but the important stuff is there

RkyMtnH

Go back and check all the nuts and bolts for tightness. One loose one could/would be the issue.
If they are all tight, then go get a front end alignment.

alpine.adrenaline

X2, you want to adjust your caster only as long as you're not getting vibrations from your front driveshaft's u-joints. If your ride quality only suffers when you tag a pothole I'd be willing to bet your caster is causing your problems. Where are you measuring your caster from?

Worn ball joints can also play a part in DW. Get a jack on one side of your axle and lift a tire all the way off the ground. Get a 4-5ft 2x4 or something similar to use as a lever. Put one end under your tire, a brick or something as a fulcrum, and try to move the wheel up and down in the wheel well. You'll notice some play right away if your ball joints are worn enough that they're throwing your alignment off.