yj soa steering HELP

gt500swim

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2010
Location
Gastonia
hey guys just finished my yj soa. it looks awesome but i noticed when i put the car back on the ground to test drive my steering wheel was off center by about 90 degrees. it will hold that position and drive straight but the steering is really jerky and somewhat unpredictable.. i have a 6.5" dropped pitman arm and have yet to modify my trac bar to center the axle at more than just straight lines. please help me as i cant afford a high steer kit yet! im afraid to go over 45 mph with it like this and i need it somewhat controllable as its my only transportation. thanks alot!
 
i set the castor a little steeper than what i should have but also have a shackle lift on it right now.. 2 inches. if i take the shackles off will the castor angle improve?
 
got a pic of the front end?
 
right now i dont have any pics. would it help my situation if i mounted my trac bar? does anyone make a bracket for an soa setup?
 
when i went SOA on my 95, i ditched the track bars front and rear. i would lose the lift shackles and get a set of factorys. JB4x4 has an affordable hi-steer arm that bolts to the passenger side knuckle:
http://www.jb4x4.com/store/jbrsb.htm

i used this for 5 years with NO issues. (sold axles to go tons) just had to lengthen my drag link. here is a pic of it installed on mine:
ai36.photobucket.com_albums_e50_jeepin1995_Miscstuff_100_0424.jpg

ai36.photobucket.com_albums_e50_jeepin1995_Miscstuff_100_0422.jpg

they have actually beefed it up since i bought mine. it's pretty easy to install too!
 
Ditch the track bars, front and rear. They serve no purpose on a leaf sprung vehicle. One of the tech editors from one of the off-road magazines suggested this and says that it can pull the mounts right out of your frame. I ditched mine and it doesn't ride any different. In fact, it should help with articulation.
 
You can adjust the drag link to align the steering wheel. When you welded on your spring perches, how did you set your caster?
 
i set the pinion a little higher than i should have, but when i take the shackles off the pinion angle should be between 5 and 7 degrees...i hope...
 
i will be using the jeep on the interstate alot also... would i not need at least a front trac bar for that reason? ill be running at 8 inches lift with 35's. thanks for everyones help i really appreciate the help. :beer:
 
gt500swim said:
i set the castor a little steeper than what i should have but also have a shackle lift on it right now.. 2 inches. if i take the shackles off will the castor angle improve?
Click to expand...

You need to set the angle finder on the top of the flat part of the steering knuckle to measure the caster angle. From your other post about pointing the pinion up, it sounds like you might not have enough caster. Switching out the longer 'lift' shackles for stock ones will help you regain a little more caster, but it might not be enough.
 
my jeep was running 7.5" lift with 35's. no death wobble, no wandering, no track bars front or rear.

EDIT:
now that i think about it, the track bars were put back on when the guy did my SOA (7 years ago), but ripped from the axles within a few weeks....
 
gt500swim said:
i will be using the jeep on the interstate alot also... would i not need at least a front trac bar for that reason? ill be running at 8 inches lift with 35's. thanks for everyones help i really appreciate the help. :beer:
Click to expand...
The track bar doesn't help, Lifted or not. That's what leaf springs are for in addition to absorbing the terrain.
 
i checked my tire pressures and they were all over 32 so i dropped them all to 27. should this help a little? im actually getting slightly irritated with it now because i feel so unstable on bumpy roads. the slightest twitch in the steering wheel and it will throw me one way or the other. im saving up for the wj conversion asap.
 
I have been driving my 94 wrangler without trac bars for years. On and off th highway and have had no issues. Did you go SOA with the stock springs? In my opinion stock YJ springs are kind of soft compared to after market springs. I had some issues with my YJ running on stock springs without tracbars until I put the BDS lift kit on it and with the stiffer springs everything works great now.
 
Until you adjust the caster back, you will not cure the situation. You could try some wedge sims under the springs to verify.
 
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