Trackbar and steering

flxdrubi

New Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Near A-ville
I lifted my rubicon 4 inches about 6 months ago, and ive been having terrible tire wear and some problems with having my steering wheel stay straight. I had it aligned right after it was lifted. I was wondering if maybe getting an adjustable trackbar front and or rear and maybe the currie upgraded sterring would help. I know this is def. a newbie question so any help would be great.
 
Sounds like a typical alignment shop deal where they align the tires, but not the steering wheel to the tires.

What kind of tire wear are you talking? Center, outer, inner?
 
I just put a Rubicon Express Adjustable trac bar on a TJ cause she was having death wobble issues and it seems to have fixed the problem, she has a Teraflex 3" suspension lift with 33x12.50's.

As far as the tread wear thing, yea let us know how they are wearing but it also sounds like an alignment issue.

You shouldnt have to get the currie upgraded steering to solve the issue because I've lifted several TJ's for poeple from 2" all the way to 5.5" long arms kits and none have had to upgrade their steering.
 
jrraw23 said:
I just put a Rubicon Express Adjustable trac bar on a TJ cause she was having death wobble issues and it seems to have fixed the problem, she has a Teraflex 3" suspension lift with 33x12.50's.
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Tightening down the original trackbar probably would have had the same effect for future reference unless the bushing is wore out. ;)

As far as the tread wear thing, yea let us know how they are wearing but it also sounds like an alignment issue.

You shouldnt have to get the currie upgraded steering to solve the issue because I've lifted several TJ's for poeple from 2" all the way to 5.5" long arms kits and none have had to upgrade their steering.
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If you are running appropriate sized tires for that 5.5" lift and you aren't going to upgrade your steering components I hope you either a.) have a spare steering setup or b.) have a current membership with AAA. Stock TJ steering is weak Ricky and I wish you would reconsider what you just posted. Just like a Dana35 the stock steering is a ticking time bomb.
 
The V8 ZJ tie rod is nice. I have been running one for two years now and haven't had any problems with it. But that makes the draglink the weak point. ;)

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Joel said:
Tightening down the original trackbar probably would have had the same effect for future reference unless the bushing is wore out. ;)
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Not only did she tighten it down she got a new bushing . . . didn't fix the problem, so i suggested the adjustable tracbar as the next step and she hasnt had the problem since

If you are running appropriate sized tires for that 5.5" lift and you aren't going to upgrade your steering components I hope you either a.) have a spare steering setup or b.) have a current membership with AAA. Stock TJ steering is weak Ricky and I wish you would reconsider what you just posted. Just like a Dana35 the stock steering is a ticking time bomb
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I never said that the stock steering was super strong, I was just saying exactly what I typed, lol. That he shouldn't have to upgrade his steering to fix an alignment issue. Now if he has damaged his steering from offroading and thats whats affecting the alignment than thats a whole nother issue, but he didn't say he had, just that after he lifted it he started having problems. Seems like something done wrong by the alignment shop or during the install to me, granted I could be wrong but thats what it sounds like.

But yea I agree with you totaly. The stock steering is weak, but shouldn't be the cause of alignment issues if everything is installed correctly.
 
jrraw23 said:
But yea I agree with you totaly. The stock steering is weak, but shouldn't be the cause of alignment issues if everything is installed correctly.
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The TJ draglink has a bend in it that is easy to straighten out especially as the tire sizes get bigger. That will cause alignment issues. ;)
 
Tru, but that wouldn't fall under the catergory of everything is done correctly, lol.

I'm just talkin from what I have seen personally from the several jeeps I've lifted as well as several of my friends jeeps, all of them who have all the correct parts installed and not damaged don't have those issues that this guy is having, thus explaining my origional inference as to why he shouldn't have to buy the upgraded steering. I would definitly recommend it but I was just trying to say its not an absolute neccesity.

Anyway it seems were on the same page just not knowing where each other are reading off of it lol. Please don't take my responses as hostile in any way Joel :beer: I'm not disagreeing with anything you have said just trying to explain my origional inference better, lol.
 
jrraw23 said:
Anyway it seems were on the same page just not knowing where each other are reading off of it lol. Please don't take my responses as hostile in any way Joel :beer: I'm not disagreeing with anything you have said just trying to explain my origional inference better, lol.
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I don't take it that way at all Ricky. Just trying to help ya out with a few things I have gleaned from my own experiences and research so you don't have to dig any of it up. :)
 
The tires are wearing on the inside passenger side front really bad and a little on the driverside. I also think that all the highway miles that I put on them cant be helping. Im def. ordering the currie sterring next week and then on to some new tires :lol: , does anyone know anything about the new cooper stt? Also where is the best alignment shop in the triad.
 
jph0913 said:
that looks like a fun trip....


I upgraded the drag link as well, that way i had a trail spare:)
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If it wasn't for that trip I probably wouldn't have said anything in this thread. We went to pick berries and ended up getting off the mountain at 2am and home by 4am. The Mrs. wasn't very pleased with me. :D
 
flxdrubi said:
The tires are wearing on the inside passenger side front really bad and a little on the driverside. I also think that all the highway miles that I put on them cant be helping. Im def. ordering the currie sterring next week and then on to some new tires :lol: , does anyone know anything about the new cooper stt? Also where is the best alignment shop in the triad.
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The best place I can think of is in your driveway. When I first got started I bought the lifetime alignment from Firestone but I have since found I can do a better job than them in far less time. Check out this writeup, it isn't that difficult to do.

http://www.4x4xplor.com/alignment.html
 
1. Would someone please explain to me what the track bar has to do with an alignment unless it was bent? Did your kit come with a drop bracket for the track bar?

2. I "thought" (the older I get the more I realize the less I know) inside tire wear meant a camber issue. This isn't adjustable on this axle to the best of my knowledge. Could it possibly be a bent axle tube??

3. Try the toe adjustment article first, it's the easiest to do.

4. If your wheel still doesn't want to stay straight something may be wrong with your caster. Your kit should have come with the correct length control arms.... or maybe they need adjusting if possible. OE caster angle is 6 - 8 degrees.

5. Merchants in Clemmons (I really don't like the place but..) just got a new alignment machine that's supposed to be a top notch piece of equiptment. I think it's $70 for an alignment.
 
Think of it this way . . . if the tracbar is too short it will pull the axle to one side thus pulling the steering along with it and pulling it off wack.

As far as the tread wear thing I agree with you also first thing i thought was that sounds like an issue you'd have with an IFS susp but obviously its not so I'm kinda stumped as to what would cause the inside only of the tire to wear on a solid axle . . . . unless maybe the tires are out of round :confused:
 
hey man just to keep on topic, I would say that the currie steering is definately an awsome upgrade, but I doubt it will help with the tire wear. I would check the toe, and if its off then give your tj an alignment. It's really easy. Also your tires may not have been mounted and balanced properly, next time you get them balanced throw a few onces of airsoft bbs in their and they should wear a little better.
 
hey man, this is chad by the way, where did you get it aligned? I can align your toe and get your steering wheel straight for you, if you want.
 
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