Wandering Jeep, Mopar lift, now 90%

[dannko]

I have an 18 Rubi Unlimited, wandered from the beginning, not horrible, but bad enough that you could not look away.

I have installed numerous adds but let's focus on the suspension. The main issue from delivery was about a 1/4" to 1/2" play in the steering wheel, not as bad as some, but as fast as the steering gear ratio is this is not good.

First 17x9 rims with 35/12.5/17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers, after this the Jeep drove better, tracked better, but still wandered.

Next installed the Mopar lift, to spec, but I did torque up on lifts, not on the ground. Wandering came back to about the same as pre-tires/wheels. Toe in perfect, caster not good at about 4.5. Then Jeep leaned to the right appx 1/2". Pretty pissed at this point. Measured axles, front shifted appx 3/8", rear appx 1/2".

Ordered Falcon 2.2 damper, Rock Krawler front and rear adjustable track bars, Alloy USA Mopar kit isolators, and Rancho geometry brackets. Installed all, except only one Rancho bracket because it shifted the axle so far forward the Fox shocks were almost rubbing the frame bracket and would have, so removed the one and boxed up. The track bars are heavy, almost too heavy in my opinion, but I went with them and adjusted axles dead on center. Installed the Falcon 2.2, went on perfect and sits perfectly parallel to the axle and flush with it on the bottom. Then finished with the USA Alloy isolators but damn it I got the bad kit where the LH one does not fit, but the RH did. I must say these are way better than stock (or at least the one), spring sits straighter, but I noticed the ramping on the isolator is so much different than the Mopar lift ones. Finally torqued down the entire suspension after driving it in and out of the garage to bounce around the loose suspension to let it sit in place. Fellas/gals, that torque job on the ground is not easy and this 60 year old buck was whipped, especially on those 190 ft lbs LCA's. Toed in to perfect, adjust steering wheel to center.

This was the best improvement yet. First drive was awesome, tight, almost no wander, and almost a joy to drive. Set Falcon on medium as max really gave it some good manual feedback, but medium works well. After driving 10+miles it did seem to loosen up and wander a little, that's why I said 90% instead of more. There is a little wander, and mainly again because there is about a 1/4-1/2" play in the steering wheel. No new steering box/wheel should have any play, but this is Jeep. I will give credit to the track bars as the biggest fix of wandering. I think the damper helps, as it will prevent fast movement of the steering linkage to whip when being pulled by the tires. Oddly I cannot figure why but caster changed, 6.9 on one side, 7.2 on the other. Beats me, control arms the same, only the track bar was the main change, unless doing the ground torque job caused it with the axle being centered also.

I am still leaning, but it's appx 3/8-1/2". I want to find something to correct this. It appears to be because of the rear spring.

Tip, the rear track bar was measured and I split the measurement, added it to the new track bar and it was perfect. Did the same on the front, but when installed it still needed more, appx 1/8" more to get it centered. No easy task once you tighten that damn jam nut down and try to hold the end square to the shaft. So when you measure your front with a Rock Krawler, add and 1/8" of added extension.

Bottom line, drives so much better now. Tolerable.

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[dannko]

I have an 18 Rubi Unlimited, wandered from the beginning, not horrible, but bad enough that you could not look away.

I have installed numerous adds but let's focus on the suspension. The main issue from delivery was about a 1/4" to 1/2" play in the steering wheel, not as bad as some, but as fast as the steering gear ratio is this is not good.

First 17x9 rims with 35/12.5/17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers, after this the Jeep drove better, tracked better, but still wandered.

Next installed the Mopar lift, to spec, but I did torque up on lifts, not on the ground. Wandering came back to about the same as pre-tires/wheels. Toe in perfect, caster not good at about 4.5. Then Jeep leaned to the right appx 1/2". Pretty pissed at this point. Measured axles, front shifted appx 3/8", rear appx 1/2".

Ordered Falcon 2.2 damper, Rock Krawler front and rear adjustable track bars, Alloy USA Mopar kit isolators, and Rancho geometry brackets. Installed all, except only one Rancho bracket because it shifted the axle so far forward the Fox shocks were almost rubbing the frame bracket and would have, so removed the one and boxed up. The track bars are heavy, almost too heavy in my opinion, but I went with them and adjusted axles dead on center. Installed the Falcon 2.2, went on perfect and sits perfectly parallel to the axle and flush with it on the bottom. Then finished with the USA Alloy isolators but damn it I got the bad kit where the LH one does not fit, but the RH did. I must say these are way better than stock (or at least the one), spring sits straighter, but I noticed the ramping on the isolator is so much different than the Mopar lift ones. Finally torqued down the entire suspension after driving it in and out of the garage to bounce around the loose suspension to let it sit in place. Fellas/gals, that torque job on the ground is not easy and this 60 year old buck was whipped, especially on those 190 ft lbs LCA's. Toed in to perfect, adjust steering wheel to center.

This was the best improvement yet. First drive was awesome, tight, almost no wander, and almost a joy to drive. Set Falcon on medium as max really gave it some good manual feedback, but medium works well. After driving 10+miles it did seem to loosen up and wander a little, that's why I said 90% instead of more. There is a little wander, and mainly again because there is about a 1/4-1/2" play in the steering wheel. No new steering box/wheel should have any play, but this is Jeep. I will give credit to the track bars as the biggest fix of wandering. I think the damper helps, as it will prevent fast movement of the steering linkage to whip when being pulled by the tires. Oddly I cannot figure why but caster changed, 6.9 on one side, 7.2 on the other. Beats me, control arms the same, only the track bar was the main change, unless doing the ground torque job caused it with the axle being centered also.

I am still leaning, but it's appx 3/8-1/2". I want to find something to correct this. It appears to be because of the rear spring.

Tip, the rear track bar was measured and I split the measurement, added it to the new track bar and it was perfect. Did the same on the front, but when installed it still needed more, appx 1/8" more to get it centered. No easy task once you tighten that damn jam nut down and try to hold the end square to the shaft. So when you measure your front with a Rock Krawler, add and 1/8" of added extension.

Bottom line, drives so much better now. Tolerable.

HAHA on me, I thought it drover better it did but not that damn good. After the steering box adjustment, NOW it drives good. I am still at 5 degrees caster and need to get that to 6.5.

 

[WelderJay]

I am in the same exact place you were. Lift installed, not enough castor, ordering LCAs. What steering box adjustment?

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