Improving steering stability after lift
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2024 10:04 am
I've been a member for a number of years now but my last post was quite a few years ago, back when I was in the midst of LS swapping my 91 Grand Wagoneer. Since then I've pretty much finished the swap and have moved to working out some drivability issues I've been having in particular with the steering, hence this post.
About 3 or 4 weeks ago I took my Jeep for it's first shake down test after having been in bits and pieces for so many years. After working out some major driveline vibrations, my next big issue to tackle was very flighty steering. The truck was all over the road. The culprit was apparent the first time I turned the steering wheel to exit the driveway. The wheel would not return to center. So I decided to take it to an alignment center to get my front toe dialed in, steering wheel centered and caster checked.
For reference, the suspension and steering has been completely rebuilt, I currently have:
- Skyjacker 4-inch lift springs all around
- Skyjacker drop pitman arm
- All new Moog tie rods, steering and drag links, upper/lower ball joints, etc
- Fully rebuilt hubs/spindles
- New Borgeson steering shaft
- Fully rebuilt steering column
- New reman Cardone steering box
- No track bars F/R
- New 33x12.5R15 AT tires
And here are the initial alignment results:
Left caster - Positive 1°34' (1.5°)
Right caster - Positive 1°08' (1.1°)
So I went home, did a whole bunch of reading and then ordered up 5° shims from Tom Woods. I went ahead and installed them as soon as I got em in the mail.
I went back for an alignment check today. Old numbers on the left, new numbers on the right.
The caster shims fixed the majority of my steering and handling issues, however I do have a couple issues that still remain:
1. Steering still feels loose/dead between 10 and 2 o'clock. I constantly have to steer within this range when driving straight to keep the steering system "loaded" if that makes sense. It's like there's a disconnect somewhere between the steering wheel and tires when driving straight but goes away when I load the system to take a turn for example.
2. At highway speeds, the steering wanders when I let off the throttle, sometimes hard enough that it almost crosses to the next lane. I haven't braked hard enough to test but I don't recall it wanders the same way when I brake. Is this related to my 1st issue?
My only guess for both problems is I have a bad reman steering box (which seems to be a common enough issue). But I need to be certain that's the case before I order another one. What can I do to verify the cause?
Appreciate any help from the FSJ gurus!
About 3 or 4 weeks ago I took my Jeep for it's first shake down test after having been in bits and pieces for so many years. After working out some major driveline vibrations, my next big issue to tackle was very flighty steering. The truck was all over the road. The culprit was apparent the first time I turned the steering wheel to exit the driveway. The wheel would not return to center. So I decided to take it to an alignment center to get my front toe dialed in, steering wheel centered and caster checked.
For reference, the suspension and steering has been completely rebuilt, I currently have:
- Skyjacker 4-inch lift springs all around
- Skyjacker drop pitman arm
- All new Moog tie rods, steering and drag links, upper/lower ball joints, etc
- Fully rebuilt hubs/spindles
- New Borgeson steering shaft
- Fully rebuilt steering column
- New reman Cardone steering box
- No track bars F/R
- New 33x12.5R15 AT tires
And here are the initial alignment results:
Left caster - Positive 1°34' (1.5°)
Right caster - Positive 1°08' (1.1°)
So I went home, did a whole bunch of reading and then ordered up 5° shims from Tom Woods. I went ahead and installed them as soon as I got em in the mail.
I went back for an alignment check today. Old numbers on the left, new numbers on the right.
The caster shims fixed the majority of my steering and handling issues, however I do have a couple issues that still remain:
1. Steering still feels loose/dead between 10 and 2 o'clock. I constantly have to steer within this range when driving straight to keep the steering system "loaded" if that makes sense. It's like there's a disconnect somewhere between the steering wheel and tires when driving straight but goes away when I load the system to take a turn for example.
2. At highway speeds, the steering wanders when I let off the throttle, sometimes hard enough that it almost crosses to the next lane. I haven't braked hard enough to test but I don't recall it wanders the same way when I brake. Is this related to my 1st issue?
My only guess for both problems is I have a bad reman steering box (which seems to be a common enough issue). But I need to be certain that's the case before I order another one. What can I do to verify the cause?
Appreciate any help from the FSJ gurus!