But if I adjust the caster that much with the stock shaft the boot will rub on the exhaust if I flex at all.

I have a front track bar relocation bracket and draglink flip.
I was under the impression that neg caster could cause bumpsteer.

 

the amount of caster you have should have little bearing on your drive shaft boot making contact with your exhaust cross over. even if it could make a significant difference, +6° of caster is just shy of 2° over stock. certainly nowhere near enough to matter. if your drive shaft is sitting that close to your exhaust now, you just have a lot of lift and it is time to replace it with a narrower aftermarket shaft.

the term bump steer is typically used incorrectly especially when it comes to jeeps that have a solid front axle. is there a chance you could describe what you are experiencing rather than use this term?

 

Yes I do have a lot of lift, the RK 3.5 gave me just shy of 6 inches in the front on my 2dr. I had to lengthen the upper control arms and shorten the lowers to point the pinion up quite a bit in order to make the DS happy. In doing so this created an undesirable caster?

It is possible I am using the term bump steer incorrectly. I experience a slight shake (back and forth) in the steering wheel when I go over a bump in the road. It happens when both tires hit the same bump in the road, a bump that spans the entire lane. I thought maybe this was from my undesirable front pinion angle/caster?

 

6" of lift?? really??? well, i guess you should be glad that you have a manual as if you're having problems with your drive shaft making contact with your exhaust cross over, it would have been grinding away at your transmission skid plate if you had an auto. at this point and time, you really just need to get a new drive shaft. i don't know what caster you're running right now as i haven't taken a reading but, if it really is that off, yeah, it would be undesirable.

i know you said that you have a steering correction kit installed but, what you're describing kinda sounds like what you would feel if your trackbar and drag link were sitting at a steep angle. of course, if you really have 6" of lift and still running short arms, that could be a part of it too as they would be sitting at a much greater angle and can influence your ride negatively as well.

 

Yes, 6 inches. I'm sure that's a little more that typical. I had my bumper and and Powerplant on with the stock suspension for over a year. So I think the stock front coils were squatting pretty good by the time I put the lift on. Thus, exaggerating the amount of lift. Regardless, it was 6 inches of gain. Anyway, yes a new DS will be on order in the spring.

Here is a picture of the front end.

 

I figured out the picture posting, sort of.

 

eh, it's not as good as it could be but, it's not terrible. all i can say is try and replace your drive shaft and get everything dialed in and see where you're at from there. small steps.

 

Ok, will do, thanks for the help.

 

I am sorry for bumping this thread, but I felt it may be the best place to go with my question. It's not really relative to the "which shaft" title but here goes.
I crawled under today to check things out and do my regular torque checks and noticed I have the grease splatter thing going on.
I have a 2.5" TereFlex coil lift with shock extensions. I was under the impression that this was not enough lift to cause this, however I'm assuming that when I disco'd at Rausch Creek on black Friday the flex is when this occurred. Will I do any significant damage by letting this go until I have the coin to order a new shaft?
I have read this thread and am not looking to rehash the Chinese joint argument. I'm just wondering which shaft is the easiest and most serviceable. I'm planning on either J. E. Reel or Coast. Is there a big difference in how these are maintained?
Also, is it necessary to change the rear if/when I do the front?

 

I got the coast shafts with the new yokes. I beat the hell out of my stock shafts with 3.5 inches of lift for about 5000 miles. destroyed the bellows and dammaged the actual shafts but never tore the boot on the joints. I replaced mine as I knew it needed to be done and they where starting to vibrate because of the actual shaft damage. It isnt necessary to do the rear if it is fine.