Lower control arm question

[Hinxster]

I recently added a Mopar 2” lift, 35” tires and Mopar bead lock capable wheels to my 2018 Jeep JLUR. I also had the front end aligned after these upgrades. Would the addition of new adjustable lower control arms for the front end reduce the significant steering wheel play and “lane wandering” that seems to have happened as a result of the lift kit and larger tires installation?

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[DOOKEY]

Yes.

 

[firedude]

Probably wont help the play but will help with wandering.

 

[TX_Ovrlnd]

You’ll probably want to add adjustable track bars as well.

 

[Dailydrivenwrangler]

Also what psi are you running the 35’s at? I had a significant improvement in handling dropping mine from the 38psi that the shop had them at to the 30psi they are currently at.

 

[Hinxster]

Also what psi are you running the 35’s at? I had a significant improvement in handling dropping mine from the 38psi that the shop had them at to the 30psi they are currently at.

The shop filled mine to 37psi. You haven’t had any wear issues at 30psi? That pressure seems quite low for city driving.

 

[Dailydrivenwrangler]

37 psi. Any issues will

The shop filled mine to 37psi. You haven’t had any wear issues at 30psi? That pressure seems quite low for city driving.

No issues at all. Almost 40000km so far daily driving on the highway and they are wearing true and even. Now 30psi isn’t the magic number it’s just the number that works with my tire brand, my weight of the Jeep and driving style. I’ve experimented with different pressures for daily street driving and lower than 30psi I get too much sway and wiggle. I’m pretty consistent from 30-35psi but anything over 35psi and I found my steering wandered more and I needed to correct a lot more on the hwy.

 

[drvn]

@Hinxster
Also keep in mind that in addition to increasing caster by buying longer control arms....think about the differences of your new tires. Are they wider than your original tires? If so the wider diameter will grip the road more and follow the crown in the road to a greater extent ( the crown moving the vehicle around is something that you may not even recognize when driving a standard car). In addition to out of spec caster, This will also make it feel like it is wondering (bc it is).

 

[Hinxster]

No issues at all. Almost 40000km so far daily driving on the highway and they are wearing true and even. Now 30psi isn’t the magic number it’s just the number that works with my tire brand, my weight of the Jeep and driving style. I’ve experimented with different pressures for daily street driving and lower than 30psi I get too much sway and wiggle. I’m pretty consistent from 30-35psi but anything over 35psi and I found my steering wandered more and I needed to correct a lot more on the hwy.

Thanks. I'll try a lower psi for starters.

 

[Hinxster]

@Hinxster
Also keep in mind that in addition to increasing caster by buying longer control arms....think about the differences of your new tires. Are they wider than your original tires? If so the wider diameter will grip the road more and follow the crown in the road to a greater extent ( the crown moving the vehicle around is something that you may not even recognize when driving a standard car). In addition to out of spec caster, This will also make it feel like it is wondering (bc it is).

Appreciate the info. Makes sense now that you mention it!

 

[Dailydrivenwrangler]

Thanks. I'll try a lower psi for starters.

Indeed, I always like to try the free things before throwing money at something.

Good luck ??

 

[Clayton Off Road]

Since the caster angle is low even for stock Jeeps from the factory, lifting the vehicle does exaggerate this issue making wandering with the steering worse.

As some mentioned you can play around with tire pressure and see if that helps, but the most effective solution for this problem would be increasing the caster angle to around 5.5 - 6 degrees.

You can use adjustable lower control arms for this, but a set of adjustable upper arms is actually the more direct route to increasing caster and is actually a little bit cheaper. Combining front uppers and lowers would allow you to perfectly dial this in, but it all comes down to what you are looking for and what you plan on using the vehicle for.

I'll leave a link to our adjustable front upper arms just so you can take a look at what I'm referring to, happy to answer any other questions, hopefully this helps though!

https://www.claytonoffroad.com/prod...upper-control-arms-2018-jl-jt?sku=COR-1709101

 

[beast40]

What Clayton's recommended is dead on.

Its a caster issue, uppers are the direct answer to fix the issue. Clayton's overland arms are extremely nice.

Someone else stated above that you may also want adjustable track bars to center your axles but I would put that secondary to a set of adjustable CAs.

 

[Hinxster]

Since the caster angle is low even for stock Jeeps from the factory, lifting the vehicle does exaggerate this issue making wandering with the steering worse.

As some mentioned you can play around with tire pressure and see if that helps, but the most effective solution for this problem would be increasing the caster angle to around 5.5 - 6 degrees.

You can use adjustable lower control arms for this, but a set of adjustable upper arms is actually the more direct route to increasing caster and is actually a little bit cheaper. Combining front uppers and lowers would allow you to perfectly dial this in, but it all comes down to what you are looking for and what you plan on using the vehicle for.

I'll leave a link to our adjustable front upper arms just so you can take a look at what I'm referring to, happy to answer any other questions, hopefully this helps though!

https://www.claytonoffroad.com/prod...upper-control-arms-2018-jl-jt?sku=COR-1709101

I appreciate your suggestion here. I'm having a set of Teraflex adjustable front track bars and lower control bars installed on Monday. Depending on the results of that and based on what you said, I may have the uppers replaced as well!

 

[Gripster]

Fixing the caster will fix your problem. I installed the Mopar LCA and it totally resolved the wandering steering. The Mopar are about 1/4” longer.

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