[MikeMTJ]

So,

My steering is super screwed up. I had to drive 45 minutes on the highway to take an exam with while it was pretty windy. My jeep got to the point of being almost uncontrollable. I have a ton of play in my steering wheel (mainly to the left). I tightened my steering box to rule things out, and I don't believe that's it. I just installed a 4 inch RC lift, with a new steering stabilizer, and pitman arm. I'm assuming it's my tie rod ends and possibly my ball joints. Could this cause that much play in my steering? I can't express enough how scary the situation was, and I ended up going 50 in the slow lane. The unfortunate part is, I have to drive 45 minutes back home tomorrow...

I'm writing this to get your opinions on what else it could be. I want to make sure the shop gets it right the first time. This has to be fixed, because I'll be driving back from my parents house to my place in cleveland a couple times next week. The tie rod ends and ball joints are original with 56k miles on them. They have been greased recently, but I'm afraid the previous owner never took care of them. Part of me wants to say it's something else too, because I've never seen this much slop in a steering wheel before from bad tie rod ends. It was absolutely terrifying.


Oh, one more thing. I don't have the track bar up front, but the one in the rear is still in. I haven't had time to take out the rear one. It's pretty rusted in there, so it will have to take some extra persuasion.

Please help!

 

[turdhurdler]

I would suspect your ball joints. Also, you don't state if you have your sway bars installed. Did you do the lift install yourlelf? I know that the new pitman arm needs to be torqued to like 150 ft. lbs. If it is not that tight, it can cause a sloppy steering situation. Has a alignment been done after the lift?

I hope this helps you out with your situation. Good luck on the fix.

Jeff

 

[b67cuda]

Mike - Just today I got my front end straightened out and it took alot of work. My Jeep had Death wobble and Death wonder it was crazy. I thought it was wheel balance and alignment but it was much more. I ended up replacing both hub/bearing assemblies all upper and lower ball joints also sway bar bushings and axle u-joints. I also had to replace hardware and tighten up a bunch of crappy work done by the former owner that installed a 2.5 lift. The tie rod ends were still in good shape. The track bar is still installed. Today I took my Jeep with all its new parts in for wheel alignment and rotate balance. On my way 2 the shop with all the wind 2day I was ALL over the place - but - the wind was crazy to the point of blowing my half doors like 2 inched out from my door. Well after the alignment,rotate,balance I found 1 of my rims on the front was bent. That rim was balanced and moved 2 the back for now. The ride home was WONDERFUL!! no shakes, no wonder, goes strait down the road - BEST ride in my Jeep yet!!! All this 2 say you have 2 inspect EVERYTHING as a system!! If you cant do it yourself you need 2 find a shop you can trust and have them inspect everything. Then fix it all. Its a PITA but there is no easy way. Hope that helps. See Ya, Bill

 

[MikeMTJ]

I would suspect your ball joints. Also, you don't state if you have your sway bars installed. Did you do the lift install yourlelf? I know that the new pitman arm needs to be torqued to like 150 ft. lbs. If it is not that tight, it can cause a sloppy steering situation. Has a alignment been done after the lift?

I hope this helps you out with your situation. Good luck on the fix.

Jeff

Jeff-
Sway bar is installed

Yes, I installed it myself

Pitman arm is torqued to spec

Was aligned after lift


b67cuda- Looks like those ball joints might be more of a culprit than I though. I have to take it into a shop because I have exams. No time to do it myself.

 

[MikeMTJ]

Shop is telling me it's the lack of a track bar, which I find stupid. They were comparing it to grand cherokees and dodge rams. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't their track bars completely different?

He also said my pitman arm seemed loose on the sector shaft. He said the nut for it was torqued to spec though.


I don't know what to do. My car is pretty much undrivable past 40 mph.

 

[MikeMTJ]

Finally found a mechanic who knows his stuff. Shops have been refusing my jeep because it doesn't have a track bar. The mechanic is at the the other location of the shop that I go to. I called him up, and the first thing he says is you don't need track bars on a YJ. Looks like things are gonna work out.

 

[hannahuffster]

I have no track bar (front or back), no sway bar, 5 inches of lift and I can take my hands off the wheel doin 55 to light a cigarette. Though this is after a total front end rebuild. --You dont need track or sway bars with leafs, especially stiffer than stock lift springs--