If I remember correctly, he still has stock control arms and no brackets. I mentioned that could be some of the flightiness. But he said it started happening after the ball joints and change in tires. Never before. He had new stabilizer put on so I tried removing it to see if that could be he cause. He did say it drove better. Maybe it's best to in torque everything and retorque to correct specs. Who knows what that shop did!!!! I'll be glad to give u a hand if needed.

 

Possibly the ball joints are torque too tight. Think they are only to be torqued to 75-80 lbs!! Too tight could cause steering to not want to respond properly.

 

Did you guys confirm the torque on the TR and the DL since the shop likely removed those when replacing the BJs? I'd confirm those castle nuts are torqued properly first. It's been 3 weeks, but I also didn't see a response to how many miles are on the new BJs. Probably have to expect some tight steering (flighty feeling and a lot of correction) until those wear in a bit. Wondering though if undertorqued DL or TR castle nuts are allowing a lot of wandering.

 

I didn't check any nuts for correct torque. I examine his dragline, tie rod, and control arms and appeared to be good. No worn bushings. So I then decide to take new fox steering stabilizer off and we drove it and he said it felt a lot better. Still a little stiff feel but I assumed it was the ball joints needing broke in. I'm sure the shop didn't torque everything correctly to specs needed. The shop is a hack and is more into trucks than jeeps IMO!!

 

Chichirone - if you have a torque wrench, I'd double check the torque on the DL castle nut on the nuckle, and both TRE castle nuts. They should be 63ft lbs. If you tighten to 63 ft lbs and the hole for the cotter pin is blocked, tighten a bit more until you are able to get the pin through. That wouldn't take but a couple minutes but eliminate that from the list of potential issues.

 

Thanks guys for the responses. I have been traveling and off the grid a bit.

I do have a torque wrench. I will check the torque on the TR and DL bolts. Should be able to do it this weekend.

Taking a video and posting is a great idea too.

Shawn, I will connect with you to see if we can find some time to look for a fix/correction. My main goal is to rule out anything the shop did or did not do.

I have 400 miles on the BJs at this point. I have been trying to drive the Jeep as much as possible when I am not traveling. The BJ break-in flightiness and correction may be what I am experiencing. I am a JK rookie so maybe just being over-sensitive.

Anyways, you guys ROCK!

 

If you only have 400 miles on the BJs, you need to give em a little more time. My first BJ swap to synergy's took closer to 1500 miles before it felt better. They are probably still making your steering tight which is giving you a flighty feeling. You could also be getting a little different ride with those new tires, so take that in to account. That said, the jeep shouldn't just be veering all over the road. It's hard to tell without seeing in person if you're just seeing some superficial symptoms, or have a real gremlin in the system.

It's been a little confusing along the way to tell what the shop actually did or did not do. I kind of get the sense they may have implied they did much more than they actually did in an effort to find the issue. To replace your BJs they removed your wheels, brakes, bearings/axles shafts.....then removed your DL and TR from the kuckle, removed the knuckle itself....and then had access to press the old BJs out and new ones in, buttoning everything back together in reverse order.

If you asked them to check the rest of the suspension at the time they likely just put wrench on the bolts and confirmed they were tight. Odds are they don’t know the JK torque specs nor care……for a lot of shops, tight is tight.

It won't completely shock me if you report back that one of those DL or TRE were a touch loose.