Ok. After a recent trip to get some mods installed, and an alignment done, I'd been experiencing DW, flighty steering and extreme bump steer. Tires had been balanced about 6 months back, and I don't think it's the tires being out of balance because the Jeep was running and handling fine up until the recent said mods and alignment was done. I must say, that at the moment, I'm not running a SS. Was running with a drop pitman arm up until about a week or so back and went back to a stock pitman arm, and no trackbar drop bracket - using a Teraflex Monster HD front Adj. Trackbar. Here's the alignment sheet print out that was handed to me at the last alignment done in TX. Is it just me or does my caster seem way too low? Also, the camber appears to be off (but I haven't noticed any play that I can feel). The axles were gusseted soon after 35s went on. Going by this print out, what would you suggest I tackle first? Increase caster back to where it was is my guess, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

Its appears they did a decent job... Camber will give youa flighty feel if its back toward the center of the vehicle too much, but you seem to know that already.

 

True, but the new Caster settings seem to be a little lower. Usually 4.5 - 4.7 is the recommended figure for caster, and more caster will also help with the flighty steering (but may adversely affect the pinion angle). I'm just wondering if I have a concern with a bent C/axle at this point, or if it is my caster being too low causing the issue

 

What mods?

And you also removed the bracket and pitman and went to an adjustable trackbar.

So,
Grab a torque wrench and check all of your bolts.
Check your angles and verify that the trackbar and draglink are parallel.
Have the tires re-balanced just to eliminate them from the equation.
Double check the psi in the tires.
Open Planmans DW thread and go through it start to finish.

Here is a vid that TF put together for the angles
http://rides.webshots.com/video/3016...02496289IjoMUo

 

Mods listed in my sig . But here it is anyway - 4" Teraflex Short Arm, Teraflex Front LCA, Teraflex Rear UCA, Coast 1310 Front & Rear DS, Teraflex Monster HD Front Trackbar, JKS Rear Trackbar, Teraflex Rear Coil Perch (weld-on), ORE C Gussets, 315/75R16 Hankook DynaPro M/T Tires, JKS Front & Rear Trackbar brace (weld-on), ORE Control Arm Skids and more such as bumper, stinger, tire carrier, etc.

Yes, Stock pitman arm, NO frame side drop bracket for the trackbar. Trackbar and Drag link are parallel to each other. Tires are at 30 psi on all 4. Have checked planman's write up on DW and I know it's not DW anymore. Just a lot of bump steer and what would seem like flighty steering.

 

Yep, we can see what mods you have, but we have no way of knowing which were done immediately before the DW/bumpsteer from a statement of "a recent trip to get some mods installed". Was it 'everything' in your list? Or just a few? Or just the new trackbar and removing the pitman and bracket?

Knowing what was touched will help with the diagnosis...




Oh, 4" TF coils, so you are somewhere around 5" of actual lift? And you are not running a flip. Raising the caster will help with the flightyness, but no flip kit would be my guess for the bumpsteer.

 

Oh I see what you mean. Ok, the mods that were done just before the issue started was a rear driveshaft install, rear Teraflex coil perch welded on, brake line extensions, Teraflex front trackbar installed (to replace the Full Traction front trackbar that had seized up at the heim) and a full alignment (alignment print out copy on the main post).

Issue was that when the shop had done the JKS trackbar weld-on brace (not this time, but on a prior visit), they'd installed the trackbar at the offset higher location (JKS trackbar brace offers two locations to mount the trackbar at on the axle side) and I was still running a drop pitman arm with no frame side drop bracket. After extensive discussions with Teraflex and Full Traction, the message was clear - trackbar axle side mounting location needs to go back to the stock location, and either add a frame side trackbar drop bracket, or go back to the stock pitman arm and do a drag link flip. I may do a drag link flip eventually, but I didn't think the bump steer would be quite that much.

In a sense, this is basically what I have at the moment (although I didn't do it all at once, and I still need rear lowers and front uppers, and I do not have a rear trackbar brace/bracket, but have a JKS trackbar in the rear), I don't see that the kit comes with the drag link flip, so I'd presume that it is not a mandatory component

 

Are you in a 4 dr jeep or 2 door...... I have a 4dr with a 3" full Teraflex lift... when I hit a bump my steering feels loose for a second..... They never touched my caster... Said they didn't need to.... It's not horrible but still bugs me when I hit a little bump and feel my steering is affected.

 

Mine's a 4-Door. Have you had an alignment done? If so, I'd be interested to see what your numbers look like. I have a feeling that my caster being low is the major cause of the flighty feel, and you're right - the steering does feel loose or sloppy.

 

I wish I was a mechanic so I could play around with my JK..... I'm clueless though. I have to drive 1 hour away to a shop in a different city to get all my work done..... They sent my JK out to get the alignment done..... I never received or saw the print out .... Sorry ..... Going back 1st week in April to get my 35" Mickey MTZ's put on.....