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Stiff steering after ball joint / u-joint / tie rod install

19K views 20 replies 15 participants last post by  Jerry Bransford 
#1 ·
I recently replaced my u-joints, ball joints and tie rod / drag link setup. After the install and alignment my steering is pretty stiff and does not return to center. I had another thread about the alignment specs and the consensus was everything is within spec for the 4 inches of lift.

I've heard some people saying there's a break in period for new joints and after 500 miles or so they will be back to normal. Any thoughts?
 
#2 · (Edited)
There's no break-in period for u-joints, they should be free and easily turned from the moment they are properly seated. My bet is the u-joint bearing caps were pressed in too far and the u-joint is binding. About the only thing you can do is to remove the axle shaft and use a BFH to smack the ears where the bearing caps seat. First on one side, then on the other. Inertial force will cause each of the two bearing caps to move outward toward the clip and away from the u-joint body to free them up if you do it right/hard enough. If the u-joints are tight before you try this, they should immediately loosen up if you do this procedure properly. I use a small 2 lb. sledgehammer to do this.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Exactly what I did first time doing a joint Pressed in a cap too far. The joint was super tight. Smacking the yoke right behind the caps seated (or is it sat?) the caps.

What ball joints did you use. My Jeep was a little Squirrely after installing synergy joints. A couple hundred miles, they loosened up
 
#5 ·
I did grease everything during the install, tie rods ball joints and u-joints. Everything was torqued to spec as far as I know... 75lbs for the upper and 80lbs for the lower ball joints and all tie rod ends to 55lbs.

I'll try taking the axles out again and giving them the BFH treatment. When I installed the u-joints they went in pretty easy with a couple taps using a normal hammer. They seemed a little stiffer than the old worn out ones, but didn't seem like enough to cause an issue. I assumed new ones would be slightly stiffer being new and all.
 
#9 ·
He's talking about the U-joints that are connected to the end of the axle to the knuckle. In another thread the OP showed excessive wear on the joint which is why he replaced all of this. When he's turning the steering wheel the joints still have to rotate/move with the knuckle.

Gladead If everything is greased and tightened up then maybe when you fixed something another issue came up due to the restoration your currently doing. My guess is another issue arose, something is too tight, or they gave you a bad set of something...
 
#20 ·
That's not how the ball joints work. You could tighten them all day long until the stud snaps and it wouldn't make a difference in the ability of the ball joints/knuckles to rotate. The ball joints use tapered studs, so when you tighten the nut the knuckle is "tightening" against the taper of the stud, nothing else.
 
#14 ·
Tie Rod ends replaced; stiff steering after alignment.


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I as well, just had new moog tie rods replaced upper and lower, then an alignment, and now my steering is pretty stiff, and does not return to center.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this...

Kelly
 
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