i need some steering help...

JUSTIN HARTNESS

JUSTIN HARTNESS

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2007
Location
love valley
so what should i do ? to my cj5

i pieced a drive shaft in my jeep(cj5) today and drove it for the 1st time. it has spring over and 4in springs and you can't hold it in the road we put a new steering box on and a drop arm . what can i do to make it drive better? do they make a drop arm that will put it lower or what ? never really messed with jeeps im just trying to fix it up and cruse it ... please no b.s just need some advice or links to what i need . thanks justin. well i thinkim going to lower it what do ineed to do to run 37's put it back spring under or put diff springs in it
 
steering problems

my best friend had a 95 wrangler with 4inch springs and springover. never could quite get it right. but id start with a knuckle to knuckle steering setup. if you already have a dropped pittman arm then i would suggest if your gonna drive it on the street alot. get a passenger side flat top steering knuckle. so then you can just do crossover steering that will take 90 percent of the wander away. and im guessing you did the soa swap yourself. so the swaybar most likely isnt hooked up. we never hooked his up either but its a big key in the wander and sway.
 
thanx

well its a cj5 and it has the flat top knuckle on the right side i dont know a whole lot about the cj's or the sources to get stuff just trying to learn it all
 
x2 on checking the caster on it... Also, what axles are under it? stock?

going with high steer will deff help your issues, but may not completely solve them... a pic of the current setup would help out greatly....
 
Post a pic of front axle. Is it darting from side to side? You may wanna consider lowering it some, cause with that kinda height and the length of the rig it is gonna dart.
 
I'd say post up a pic of your front axle, too. When I first built my CJ, I had spring over, 6" chevy springs on 3/4 tons with 40s. It had it's fair share of road wander, too. I later dropped to 4" springs, since my front driveshaft angle was pretty damn steep. Helped it out a good deal when I did a shackle reversal. Are your shackles still in the front of the spring? Consider doing the reversal.

I would also venture to guess you still have the old two piece steering box brackets. Have a look at them and see if they are not already cracked. Seems as if I'm speaking from experience, huh? It would be a good idea to put the 1-piece welded steering box bracket. I got the beefy one that's made from 3/8" steel.

Lastly, the sway bar isn't necessarily going to cure road wander, but it does help a lot with sway. The thing that could help a great deal with road wander would be installing a panhard bar. I was just about to put one of those on my rig before I decided to make it strictly for mud racing.

Hope this all helps.
 
Caster is critical. Was that set properly when the perches were welded on? If that is not correct it will follow every little groove in the road. A quick check is to do a slow roll across a flat hard surface, turn the wheel and then release it. It should try to return to center by itself.

If your tierod is not parallel to the ground you are gonna have bump steer. It can be really pronounced in a SWB rig. The only way to fix that is crossover or full high steer.
 
I don't know what shop to refer you to up your way. The Carolina Trailblazers are well represented around Hickory, maybe one of them will chime in.

Any alignment shop can put it on a rack and get a baseline measurement. If the caster is off you can probably get by with some angle shims between the springs and perches. Use steel (not aluminum) shims.

I can help you with the high steer. I keep most of that on hand.
 
Does the front axle have degree shims to help with the Dshaft angle? That is a lot of lift for a 5. If so, you caster is WAY off as stated. I think it is Terra that makes a D30 high steer knuckle. But you will still have to address the caster
 
Justin, I run about the same thing in my Jeep. No extension on the front so it's a similar situation. I agree with the caster issue. I run 6* shims in my front. I also have a hydro assist, which acts like a super Steering stabilizer/dampener. Any Vibes? You didn't say if it was a wandering thing or a vibration thing. I also run a CV type drive shaft. Hy-steer will divinely help too.
 
im using bds 2" yj springs that are majorly dearched, and no bl, and clearing 39.5s.
 
What is the backspacing on your wheels. If you have a negative offset it will probably compound your steering problems. Also are you running wheel spacers?
 
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