New 4” lift kit

[hanger]

So I put a skyjacker softride 4” lift with new 31” BF Goodrich tires and took it in for an alignment and the dealer tells me he can’t adjust the castor anymore than 1.9 degrees or it’s gonna put the the driveshaft in a bind at the Ujoint. It’s an 87 GW and right now I have to fight it to keep it in my lane going down the highway and it won’t pull itself out of a turn. I’m going to regret this bad if It can’t be fixed cause I dumped about $2300.00 in the kit, installation and tires. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

[will e]

You too it to a 'dealer' or a shop? I did not have this issue with my 4" lift (Rusty's).

Did you get a drop pitman arm? That might help a bit with the handling and possible bump steer.

When you say it won't 'pull itself out of a turn', do you mean it doesn't straighten itself?

I don't think, in the long run, you will regret the lift. It's a popular swap and if everyone had these issues it wouldn't be so popular.

[hanger]

It came with a drop pitman arm. I’m having to herd the truck down the road. It doesn’t want to stay in it’s lane and I have to fight it. And yes, it will not straighten itself out in a turn. I realize they are popular lift kit and I like the look and ride but driving it sucks. I’m not experiencing any bump steer by the way. I took it too a dealer for the alignment.

[ferrum]

I have installed skyjacker 4” lift kit on my Cherokee. I didn’t have any issues with drivability. Make sure your front springs are not installed backwards.

[hanger]

I have installed skyjacker 4” lift kit on my Cherokee. I didn’t have any issues with drivability. Make sure your front springs are not installed backwards.

Do you know what you caster is. The drivability of this is dangerous. It actually wanders back and forth in the lane and I have to fight it to keep it in my lane. As it is I wouldn’t dare let my wife drive it.

[MReno]

Interested in knowing outcome as I have a '89 GW that has 31's and I was considering a 4" lift as well. I would love the Skyjacker, but since I don't plan to use the vehicle as a daily driver, I'm not sure I can justify the cost over say a Rough Country 4" lift of other.

[hanger]

Interested in knowing outcome as I have a '89 GW that has 31's and I was considering a 4" lift as well. I would love the Skyjacker, but since I don't plan to use the vehicle as a daily driver, I'm not sure I can justify the cost over say a Rough Country 4" lift of other.

I’ll let you know in a week. I’ve got it in a 4X4 shop now.

[REDONE]

I get the feeling that the front springs are backward (or the wrong springs) to put the caster that far out of whack. As others have said, your experience isn't normal for that lift kit.

[will e]

Shoot us a pic of the truck from the side. And maybe a few pics of the install too. That might help.

We will get this fixed! Well, you will. But we will help!

[hanger]

Shoot us a pic of the truck from the side. And maybe a few pics of the install too. That might help.

We will get this fixed! Well, you will. But we will help!

I’m gonna pick it up tomorrow and I’ll post some pics.

[rocklaurence]

Your Caster should be 7-4 degrees with the top of the knuckles leaning back. It sounds as the tops are leaning forward of Zero. When I was a kid I rotated my axle to turn the pinion up to the transfer case [reduce drive shaft bind on a big lift]. It followed every rut and divit in the road and you had to force the steering out of a turn. Im not sure how'd it get to that point on your lift.?

[hanger]

Your Caster should be 7-4 degrees with the top of the knuckles leaning back. It sounds as the tops are leaning forward of Zero. When I was a kid I rotated my axle to turn the pinion up to the transfer case [reduce drive shaft bind on a big lift]. It followed every rut and divit in the road and you had to force the steering out of a turn. Im not sure how'd it get to that point on your lift.?

It’s at a positive 1.9 degrees now. I think rotating it back a 2 more degrees it will be fine putting it back in spec. It will make the U-joint work more but something has to become a weak link when modifying. I’ll post pics when I get it back home.

[hanger]

So I got my Jeep back from the off road shop and they adjusted the caster to 4 degrees what the spec called for on an 87 GW but It’s still wandering a bit on the road enough I have to pay attention it doesn’t get away from me. I checked it with an angle finder on the top knuckle and it’s at 4 degrees.
The shim was placed to rotate the axle forward to get the 4 degrees. It’s not much of a shim and I wonder if I shouldn’t just remove it.

I’ve tried posting some photos from my IPhone but I keep getting an error the files are to big.

[hanger]

So, just got off the phone with Tim at Skyjacker who’s says he’s been selling and installing lift kits for 30 years told me I should no caster at all on this front end. Said it should be 0 degrees and the only shim that should be installed is if the OG springs had a shim installed in them.

[78 WIDETRAC]

I would do a quick driveway alignment check. measure the center of the front of the tires and center of the rear of the front tires and compare. The front side measurement should be less than the rear measurement. I only bring this up because my xj acted the same way on our rutted freeways. it would just bound from lane to lane. this fixed that for me. I think the front of my tire was 1/2" or 3/4" wider than the rear of the tire. easy adjustments with tie rods and steering linkage.

[hanger]

I would do a quick driveway alignment check. measure the center of the front of the tires and center of the rear of the front tires and compare. The front side measurement should be less than the rear measurement. I only bring this up because my xj acted the same way on our rutted freeways. it would just bound from lane to lane. this fixed that for me. I think the front of my tire was 1/2" or 3/4" wider than the rear of the tire. easy adjustments with tie rods and steering linkage.

Thanks. I’ll check it out. I do now the dodge dealer set the toe at .07 degrees on each tire from the digital printout they gave me. Yesterday Ryan at BJ’s Off-road emailed me alignment specs for the SJ and it called for 17 degrees toe on each tire.

[hanger]

So here’s the latest and greatest update. I took another caster reading cleaning off the knuckle really good and knocking a safety pin out of the way on the crown nut and what-a-you know, I’ve got zero degrees of caster since they put the shims in backwards rotating my axle and steering axis forward. I took the Jeep back down to the shop and made them put them in correctly and now it trails down the highway like it should. I still have a lot of steering wheel resistance so either the pump, steering gearbox or both need replaced but at least it’s trailing like it should. And I’m going to need to replace the front driveshaft U-joints as there is vibration now with the pinion and driveshaft at a sharper angle. Thanks for the help and responses from everyone.

[Simba]

I realize this post has been idle for a few days and it sounds like you may have found somewhat of a resolution but...thought I would chime in here since I fought the same thing on my 76. As noted above, 4 or 5 deg of positive caster is important. After installing a 4" lift on mine, caster was at 0 deg and drivability was as you described. Put in a 4 deg shim, helped the steering but mine was a quadratrack and there was a vibration above 55 mph due to the shaft angle. Tried lessor shims but was not satisfied with the steering. Had a new front shaft made with a double cardin at BOTH ends. Vibration was better but not good. Ended up putting a part time kit in so we could drive to Ouray. Shaft doesn't spin going down the road, Waggoneer doesn't waggey. When in 4X, speeds are slower and the vibration isn't an issue. In regard to the drivability, I have also added urethane spring and shackle bushings and this disc from Rough Stuff called the "cure". I would say the steering is now pretty darn good for a leaf sprung solid axel unit.
However, I would not say that I am satisfied with the set up as a whole. I would love the quadratrack back. I have talked to several FSJ guys and several 4x shops/vendors about it and many are surprised to hear of the issue. Some even note going to a 6" lift with no vibration issues. Even thought of having an axel built as no one around here is equipped to cut and rotate the inner C's.
Any way, not sure if yours is a quadratrack too or if my rant was of any help but it got it off my chest and confirmed some of what you encountered.

[hanger]

I have a little vibration but more noise from the shaft angle than vibration. I’m sure a new drive shaft like what you did would improve it. How much did a new shaft cost?

[Simba]

I think it was around $400. Worked with Tom Woods. They do awesome work.