Eagle564

Ok so I finally got around to checking out my front end at work. My Right front doesn't drop down as low as my left front and it doesn't seem to drop down a whole lot like I would expect it to. I know the short arms limit it but they dont seem to be near their max angles. Best thing I can guess is my track bar seems to be catching the axle side bracket and stopping the droop. My steering altogether an issue? Any help and ideas? Thanks for any help

(Ignore the oil everywhere lol, bad power steering hose that was fixed now)

4.5" RE super flex and 33s. ZJ Tie rod.

XJmike0122

Here is a good list of what limits flex.

1- stock front swaybar. get swaybar disconnects or remove it for the trails.
2- stock shocks (when you do this remember to lengthen your brake hoses as well)
3-lower control arms. it's not the bushings that always hurt the flex, but the fact that they hit the shock mounts on the stock dana30 front end will limit your suspension droop. most aftermarket arms will either have a bend in them or an offset bushing to compensate for this.
4- stock trackbar, there is a certain point where it will either bind at the frame end tie rod end, or the bracket at the axle end.
5- shortarms. time to go to longarms or a well built midarm setup if you want more flex.
6-stock steering, it isnt adequate for any wheeling anyway and should have been ditched before the longarms.
7- driveshaft, although most people should never have to worry about this.

94XjSport94

Track bar first of all.

How close are the LCA's to the shock mount brackets and how much shock down travel is left?

highmileage

From what I see you are spot on about the track bar. But you have your ball joints on you rod ends about tapped out, and the steering box/pitman arm don't look to good either.

Eagle564

1) Sway bar disconnected long ago
2) Bilstein shocks
3) I believe I am not touching the mounts with my arms. Although they are straight ones.
4) RE adjustable Tbar
5) Roger that, long arms eventually
6) New steering yes, what steering though is the question for me.
7) No issues with the driveshaft

What should I do with the track bar? Its an RE adjustable one that came with the kit.
And I didnt really pay much attention to it, but I don't believe my LCAs are hitting my shock mounts, not sure on the distance to the mounts though. The shocks still have quite a bit of travel to go, hard to tell without measuring or taking off the boot but I got the longest ones that would work at the time of buying them.(supposedly, according to 4wheelparts atleast)

XJmike0122

While you do have an after market TB you would get more flex from a double shear TB.

xjmarc

I run that exact same track bar and it hasn't limited mine any, double sheer would be better and I've got one just haven't put it on. You aren't going to know exactly how much flex and or droop you have lifting the whole front. Most people do one side at a time and that forces the other side to drop more. The track bar will limit you when both tires are off the ground because it's hitting on the axle mount. This wouldn't happen in a real world situation when only one side is up or down. I'd also check the shock length.

Eagle564

Ahh I see, I thought about that but I wasn't too sure about lifting it all at once instead of just one side. Ill try and check it that was tomorrow then and see.

I dont think the flex is too bad, I just tend to get into situations where I would like it to drop down more. And steering bind I get relatively often.

xjmarc

You won't get much more than what you are showing in those pics. You could trim the shock mounts and get a little more but that's really good for short arms. In the last one you unseated the coil and that doesn't happen often with short arms. You have the exact same kit I started out with and I still run the arms, track bar and rear leaves, although I had them ship me 4.5" leaves instead of 3.5".

Eagle564

Ya I am impressed by the flex of short arms still. So I guess I'm looking for Long arms and Steering upgrade eventually. I've been trying to find a good place for a complete new steering set-up for awhile. found a few but none that make me want to do it immediately. Thanks for the help man

SeriousOffroad

Looks like you need to grind some of the metal odd the spring buckets where the LCA's are hitting. You'll get a little more droop that way.

elkwagn

What I do is start unbolting things until I see what's causing it, start with the shocks, maybe they don't have enough travel, then try the trac-bar ( maybe get a flex joint end and double shear frame mount for the bar you have), then steering, etc. when that baby drops you'll have your answer. I had the same RE short arm, same trac bar, with bilstien shocks and it flexed crazy good, would limit out ten inch travel bilstien shocks.

Demo8Man

I'm having the same problem. I get 3" less on the passenger side. 6" lift with upgraded trac-bar, upper and lower Control arms, shocks, ZJ steering. Only thing I see is maybe the pitmen arm ball join doesn't have enough flex?? Did you find out what was your problem?

EvanM

Stock xj wont flex much because arms are already pointing at the ground.
track bar, control arms, drag link. All travel in a arc. The closer they are to horizontal at ride height the better ride and suspension travel you will have.

If track is pretty steep it pulls axle to drivers side under droop and pushes away under compression

But yeah pull shocks off. Make sure control arms arent hitting coil bucket.
Articulate with coil springs removed to figure out shock length. Then fab lower shock mount to accommodate this length
5" up and 7" down for a overall shock travel of 12" is a pretty good place to be. I see xj with shocks with 2-6" up travel
They seem to have tons of droop or tons of compression rarely do they have a good amount on each end.
5" of up travel is a good length for hitting things like knareley pot holes in the street.
Then 7" of droop really is more than a trail rig needs

Good luck getting this to happen with oem shock brackets. I really do feel for the xj crowd that has to fit stuff together that has a hard time working together to actually tune a set up a solid performing rig.