So over the weekend I hopped a curb. (Not on purpose but still not my best move) I've since had it alligned and all the bolts underneath retightened. The jeep still wonders and the wheels won't straighten by themselves on a small turn which causes the traction control to come on. I've read that the caster angle is messed up which causes this.

1. Is there anything else that could cause this?
2. Is there any way to correct this without adjustable control arms?
3. If not, do I need upper and lower? Or just one?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

Based on your profile, and the 4" lift listed there, yes, you likely need adjustable control arms or geometry correction brackets, depending on how you use your Jeep.

If you wheel your Jeep on rocks, I would advise against the brackets. If you're more of an overland off-roader, then the geometry correction brackets may be a better choice.

If there's more to your lift than listed in your profile, you need to give all the details to get a better answer. I would also recommend HIGHLY reading, re-reading, and maybe reading again TheDirtMan's sticky on lifts. You can learn a lot.

 

So if I get the lower adjustable front arms, it could give me a positive caster and fix my problem?

 

Yes, at the cost of pinion angle. You take from one to give to other unless you get a castor corrected housing.

 

What will the pinion angle affect?

 

U-Joint whip. Vibration. Shake. Broken joints. I can't say exactly how bad the angle can be and not cause immediately noticed negative effects because I never ran my pinion angle down to look for castor. I'm sure some of these guys have played that game and may be able to tell you.

But you can't rotate for castor without taking from pinion, or visa-versa. So you meet in a happy place in the middle, or you get a castor corrected housing (end forgings are rotated for additional separation between ball joint center line (castor) and pinion center line (driveshaft misalignment).

In an ideal situation, the pinion angle would turn up to nearly match the driveshaft angle for a straight and aligned shaft/yoke (strongest position), but to do so often moves you far out of the desirable castor position. So now you play tit-for-tat, give and take until your satisfied or at least willing to accept what you have. This is an age old game, it's been played for many decades on lifted trucks of sorts and designs.

 

Take a step back from automatically throwing parts at it.

What are the alignment specs?

Is the steering wheel still centered?

You have a 4" x series? So your lift came with new adjustable control arms, correct?

If the wandering did not happen until 'after' the front end took a hit, how does removing adjustable components that correct the caster and adding new components (that do the same thing) solve your problem? Again, what are the alignment specs? If the caster is low, and you have adjustable arms now, the answer shouldn't be too difficult to come up with.

 

I'm betting your steering wheel isn't straight and your toe setting got knocked way off.

The caster has no conection to the traction control.

99% of the time I hear these symptoms, it's steering wheel and toe causing the problems.

.

 

The person who had the jeep before me installed everything but the control arms. And I've had it aligned and the steering wheel is centered.

 

Also wondering if you could elaborate on how hard you hit this curb? Did you bend something? If toe is out of spec, why? Did you bend the tie rod? Or if steering wheel is off, did you bend the drag link? Just things to consider and check before saying you need to buy adjustable arms or whatnot. First inspect to see if you broke something.