This thing gets on my every last nerve. I would have put money on it when I found the play in the lower ball joints the Dynatrac joints and the knuckles would have been the answer. I don’t know if it’s the cold temp, it’s in the teens here, or what but I swear it drives worse now. Someone is going to end up with a pretty well built Jeep here pretty soon. I told my wife I’m cleaning the salt and crap off it and parking it in the garage until spring and see what it’s like then. I honestly just need to get away from this thing for a woot there’s a good chance I’m going to torch it.
yup can be frustrating to say the least. It seems like “upgrading” certain components throw others tolerances out the window. At least that’s my theory Haha
I’m not there yet. I need to decide between divorce and the PSC kit. I do like my Jeep but...?
And for the record I believe Fusion,RPM and Rusty’s all have the same rod ends.Rusty’s supplies them for all of them.
Not sure PSC will solve the wobble.
I really don’t believe it would either. I really think it’s something with the tires. I think that’s part of the reason it gets worse when it’s cold. At this point with the exception of the upper bushings on the diff there is NOTHING left. I did notice something last night when I was under it though, if you take a pry bar and put it between the pitman arm and the frame you can flex the pitman arm every bit of 1 1/2” if not more. I don’t ever remember a cast arm on a TJ allowing that much flex. Could be one more part FCA skimped out on possibly.
My upper housing bearings were completely separated on drivers, and mostly on passenger side by 25,000 miles with a 2.5" lift on it.
Well you literally just described my shimmy. Not all the time, not full blown death wobble but 3-5 oscillations and it’s gone. If you hit the same exact bump at 60+ it doesn’t do it. But you do need to hit it dead on. I have had the arms off a dozen times but never really pushed on the sleeves. They LOOK a good but honestly I will admit when I first installed the lift I didn’t do the spacers in the front, when I got it all back together it was sitting lower in the front because of the winch. I pulled the springs and put in a 3/4 in spacer. The Clayton arms can pivot on the bushings so I never loosened the arms. I drove it for a few weeks before I thought about the upper bushings on the diff and then I loosened the arms and re torqued them. I guess it could be possible they got torn up in that time.My upper housing bearings were completely separated on drivers, and mostly on passenger side by 25,000 miles with a 2.5" lift on it.
I was very shocked when I took off the drivers side arm to remove the bushing and went to push on the inner and it popped right out. Rubber was completely torn and separated.
The only drive-quality oddity was an occasional very small shimmy if I hit a big bump like railway tracks while turning - not dead on as that would not do it. It was like 2 or 3 little oscillations and gone.
When the uppers were replaced the only factory steering parts left were balljoints, uprights, and the bad upper bushings - everything else was replaced. So it was definitely related to one of those 3, and right now not doing it with uppers replaced.
Maybe with a bigger lift or both bushings fully torn it would wobble more like you are seeing?
It's 15 mins to pop the axle side upper arms off and just push on the inners and see if they come apart
Got knuckles and ball joints done today. My steering was good, no issues, but this definitely tightened it up. My steering wheel would move slightly over bumps, or train tracks, not bump steer just a slight movement, now it doesn’t budge, I put it to a pretty good test and it’s rock solid. For me this upgrade was well worth it. The Jeep feels more grounded and responsive, I love the way it feels.
Did you by chance check the toe? Mine went from 1/16 in to 1/16 out after the install. I checked it just before I started and when I was done. Just interested to see how close the tolerance is on these.Got knuckles and ball joints done today. My steering was good, no issues, but this definitely tightened it up. My steering wheel would move slightly over bumps, or train tracks, not bump steer just a slight movement, now it doesn’t budge, I put it to a pretty good test and it’s rock solid. For me this upgrade was well worth it. The Jeep feels more grounded and responsive, I love the way it feels.
