hello jeepers,

i bought a 2008 sahara unlimited tword the end of 2008. first jeep i've ever owned. bought it from the dealer with a fabtech 3" lift. the dealer had the local tire company intall it before they took it into a couple of paraides, then they put it on the showroom floor for sale. i've been the proud owner of this jeep for the past 3 years. untill i started to wounder about it's integraty.....

a year and a half ago i was pulling into my inlaws house and noticed i couldn't make the easy left hand turn. i thought it was a little strange at first untill i picked up my daughter and began heading home. no sooner as i pulled out on to the main road and begining my left hand turn to go home, the ESP light was going cayzy and i was unable to steer my jeep. i nearly hit a jogger before i was able to get any responce from the steering wheel. luckly i managed to get to an area to ten point turn around and crawl back to the inlaws to investigate. it turns out the front swaybar mount broke at the factory weld to the axel tube. i was heart broken to see her being loaded up on a wrecker to be taken to the dealership to be looked at. dealership said i "hit something". funny...if i hit something that did the damage the dealership sad (ie, broke the bracket, bent the axel, tierods are bent and a larg chunk out of the stableizer) i think i might have noticed hitting something that would've caused that much damage. so after a long battle between the dealership that has my jeep and my insurance company i spent around $1,500 to get it all fixed. i took about a week but seemed like a lifetime couped up in a pickup when the sun was shineing, shoot i could have been driving my topless jeep around.

fast forword to last friday morning. loading up product to take to work for customers. i get to the stopsign and start to take my left turn like i do every morning. i heard a loud bang, and by the time i figured out that it came from my jeep i was entering a curve. once again i couldn't steer and nearly went into the ditch. limped her a block home and scrambled to throw everything into the wife pickup and hurry to work. cusing the whole way knowing it was the same darn bracket again.

called the dealership the fixed it the first time.....they warrent it for a year....figures....
called the dealership i bought it from since i bought the extended warrenty.......doesn't cover brackets.....figures...
called jeep to see if this is a known issue......they are looking into it and requested i take it to the nearest jeep dealer for diagnostics. that was a fun drive let me tell you. break the track bar and hit one of the catch basins that they line the roads with.....talk about a death wobble. i about to call the wife to bring me a new pair of shorts.
i never know just how many pot holes there were in this town till now.

so i've called the dealership i bought it from and there GM said they had someone a year ago (not me) call with the same issue on anouther jeep that the dealer lifted. in the back of my head i wanted to reach through the phone and choke the guy for not calling every customer he sold these lifted jeeps to. the GM said that the local tire company that installs their lifts forgot a bolt or somthing. funny every bolt that ever came with my lift kits had a purpose, but mybe he thought like the cabnets you buy at the local big box store....there's always extra parts .

called the local tire company who did the install in the first place. i asked if they still install these lifts and the gentleman on the phone said yes. i was able to speek with the manager about the problem. i just happend to have a printed copy of how to install this lift in front of me. i asked him if their shop welds, since i've never seen any welders in any of their locations. he said no we do not weld . i asked why they would install a lift kit on a vehicle where the instructions clearly state that welding is required......long pause......"we install that kit becuse it is a bolt on kit"..... but it clearly states that there are parts that need to be welded..'..giving him the benifit of the doubt i asked anouther simple question.. could fabtech change the design due to better engeniering and a better prforming kit? "i suppose so" he said. ok fair enough. i wounder why the tire company didn't notify the customers who purchased these lift kits...

now i run a supply store. when i have a customer come in and claim to have gotten a bad product, the first thing i do is inquire to my other stores to see if anyone else is having issues with the similar product. if so we get bactnumber and isolate and work with the vender. we also get in touch with who ever baught that item around the time that peticular lot was in the store. we replace it, no questions asked. it's good buisnes even in a down market.

i not pointing a finger at fabtech becuse i use there lifts in my rigs and happy with the perfomance. if jeep comes back and says is the lift causing the isse then the dealership i bought it from IS making it right. how they make it right is yet to be determined.

now for a question. i don't want to stick it to the dealership for the bad istall. but i will be requesting someone other than the tire company or the dealership to do a 3" lift.
the question is for anyone out there who has or has had a 3" lift on their four door beuty.
what 3" lift kit (kits numbers help) do you feel performs the best? i would like to get some EVO stuff under her but that buget has to be re-bugeted.

thanks for your time reading this. sorry that i ranted out of frustration. snows comming and " i wanna ride/jeep".

 

Welcome to a very common problem on lifted JK's when people dont used a axle side track bar mount. The factory one is a pile of crap and easily ripped off. Do some searching, you will find it's a very common problem on lifted jk's. There's is nothing wrong with the lift you have per-say.. it has to do with the extra force placed on the factory track bar mount. There's plenty of suspension companies out there that address the problem. Feel free to PM me and i'll show you one of the best options you have

 

What are some options . I want to upgrade my track bar and bracket .

 

I got death wobbly and looking for was to make it better . I installed the lift and apparently didn't do it just right . I have read planmans post on death wobbly but didn't see any up grades to the problem . Thanks

 

After a lot of digging it turns out the tire company never did the weldng required buy the fabtech instructions. Part is on it's way and should arrive Monday. Hopfuly back jeepin by Wednesday.

It sucks to argue with a company that installs these lifts on a regular basis and tell them they are doing it wrong. In this case I'm glad I pushed the issue. Hopefuly they will do their part and inform the customers they did this lift for to come back for the needed welding.