Hi guys in new to the sight. Been reading and researching about refreshing my 08 2dr Rubicon suspension. I bought it last fall and it has what appears to be a 2.5" RC suspension lift. Measure the lift on the front really gives me about 3.5" and I haven't measured the rear. All I really know is it has the silver springs and RC 2.2 shocks.


Ok well right after I got it I realized it had a terrible death wobble. Took it to shop and they said everything looked good except it needed a steering stabilizer so they added a RC dual steering stabilizer and this solved or at least hid the wobble. I'm not sure if its always been as bad or just realized while driving 6 hours on a beach trip that it is almost impossible to handle on the highway. Wondered all over the road, huge dead spot in steering, then when the steering did catch it like jerked lane to lane. Also any wind or semi trucks and hold on it would sway all over the road.


Get back and start to look through everything. It does have removable RC sway bar links that are 10" or so and angle of sway bar seems to be good. Bad was both top joints were loose and the bushings are wore out. Tightened these up and it did help very noticeably but they definitely need to be replaced or at least the top grommets replaced. Is this feasible?


A couple of the joints like the tie rod ends and drag link end on axle side were a little loose too. As you can see in the pic the tie rod isn't exactly straight. I didn't notice this until the guy at the shop pointed it out. He took it for alignment after putting on the stabilizer and said they were still able to align it even though the tie rod wasn't 100% straight and had obviously been knocked on a rock or stump. Is it true that this is ok as long as it aligns ok or should it be replaced? No I don't have the numbers anymore.


It still wonders some and isn't 100% right but better. One thing I am interested in is the Drag link and track bar parallelism. I know these are supposed to be parallel. You can seen in the pic it is very close but not perfect. One thing I am concerned about it that it has a drop pitman arm and I have read this is a big no no. It does have a track bar bracket that raises the axle end and this is why they are so close to parallel. Is this set up ok or should it be changed with the lift I have? Ok sorry no pic but I will work on it.


I also know the castor can affect the wondering. It seems to have stock control arms so I do not know where I am currently with that. I am going to measure soon and see if I need some brackets or adjustable control arms. This is the highest I plan on lifting the jeep.


Many of the bushings on the various suspension parts seem to wore out or at least original so could use refreshing. Any tips on where to start and what to use to replace?

 

Drag link is bent and the tie rod. Looks like the previous owner rode it hard and put it away wet. If it was lifted and has stock control arms then that is where some of your issues are. Your caster is most likely too low. Needs to be in the 4.6+ range and after even a (you say) 3" lift it is probably way out. Adjustable lower arms on the front will fix the caster issues and will make the steering track better.

Suggest you replace DL/TR, new ball joints, check all suspension bushings for wear and torque, drag link flip, remove and replace with a stock pitman arm, balance wheels

 

Kinda a mess going on there, no offense.

- replace tie rod that is bent pretty bad
- remove drop pitman arm and revert back to factory
- replace DL with a flip that mounts on top of the knuckle mount (you want to keep that frame side mount as high as possible while flattening the angle the component runs....that is why drop pitmans suck on these)
- if you have no caster correction, time to address that (control arm brackets are $100'ish, or adjustable lower arms as mentioned if can't do a full set of front arms)
- remove dual SS (only hiding the REAL issue)
- test ball joints for wear (easy test with a shovel....google around a bit)
- inspect track bar joints for play and confirm torque on bolts.
- if after doing all this if no culprits present themself, maybe need to look at steering box as source of issue.

 

yea honestly right as I was posting the pic I noticed that the drag link is bent too. Measured the from coils and it actually comes out to 3.65" lift on the front. I haven't measured the rear but it definitely isn't going to be much because you can tell all of the rake is gone and really I think the rear is sagging. I have read where the RC coils tend to sag pretty fast. A new set of coils are on the list once I get the rest of the suspension figured out. Even when I replace the springs and shocks I want to stick with the same height. I keep meaning to pick up an angle finder to get an idea of the caster but generally I'm braindead by the time I get off work. Is the drop pitman arm setup ok does it need to go?

 

I've found angle finders to be ok to use when adjusting caster when you know the baseline you're working with, but there is a lot of room for error with them compared to a proper alignment scan. At that height and with no correction, you are likely around 2.8° caster (ballpark range).

 

Most of this was what I was thinking. Except for removing the dual SS. Maybe once everything else is feeling 100% I may to take it off but last time it was ran without it it cost a cracked radiator.

 

Well, the point being you need to locate the issue and fix it properly. Going to be harder to locate the issue when you're covering it up with that dual SS. The shop suggesting and installing that did absolutely zero to help fix the issue. If anything it was worse as it's only masked a problem for longer. These things don't get better with time.

 

I would not retrurn to that shop, they did you no good. I would figure all new steering links with a drag link flip, ball joints, and unit bearings. Remove the drop pitman arm. Add lower front adjustable control arms. Check the rear for a frame side drop bracket at the track bar, if so remove it and add an axle side raised bracket. I would also inspect the driveshafts for damage. From your discription of the steering I would get the steering box checked out.