CJ Steering question

family xj

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2006
Location
Jacksonville NC
I don't own this but my buddy does. He can't figure out why his jeep is all over the road when he tries to go straight and there are low spots in the asphault. All new front end parts. As I was trying to figure out what he did and when it started the one thing he said caught my attention. He has 2.5" springs in it and was running 33's. I added some 2" shackles and 35's and that is when it started wandering all over the road. My thought was that his Castor is now off due to the longer shackles. Does that sound right to you guys? He went from 2.5 " of lift to 4.5" of lift. He said he has some kind of castor adjustment on it but I have never heard of that. I know of offset ball joints but that is for camber. I need to get the castor measurement but I gave my abgle finder to someone else. He thinks that if he does a shackle reversal on it that will fix the problem. Is that even an option to sure his problem? I truly believe his castor is way off. Thought please.
 
Most likely the problem. You can probably adjust the castor with degree shims. What year CJ? My 62 CJ5 had lots of slop in the steering linkages.
 
Before you go shackle reverse, invest $25 in a set of shorter shackles and see what happens. I was in the same boat, worked for me.
 
My steering problem was in the steering shaft (the ujoints were shot), and in the steering box mount (three pieces of 1/8" pressed sheet metal). Both are substandard for big meats, and lifts. Big Daddy steering box mount is what I'm using, and a Flaming River steering shaft. Works great. May also need to check into a dropped pitman arm, front-end geometry is probably off, which creates 'bump-steer'. My Heep is a 79 CJ 5 with 32's and a 3 inch lift.
 
2" shackles are waaaay too long. The max shackle lift you should use is 1/2" lift. Otherwise you will mes up your castor.

:beer:
 
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