chrsmi2

Good evening. This is my first post but I been reading alot. I have a 2011 Jeep jk unlimited Rubicon edition. I purchased it with 95000 miles in stock form. I instantly installed a Rough country basic 4in lift ( realized that was my first mistake ). I then installed 35*12.5*20 DC extreme country tires on Pro comp wheels. It rode good ( for a Jeep) just a little darty at times but drivable. Then I guess (the factory) ball joints (death wobble) went out at 104k miles. Couldn't find anyone with the Terra flex joints so I installed the synergy joints. That's where the problems started. It started getting real crazy driving. Drifting, fighting steering wheel, darting, etc. I started researching and read to check the caster well it was at 2.8 degrees and the simple RC lift wouldn't allow me to get more than 3.4 degree of caster due to the POS bolt adjuster it came with. So I ordered a set of Rock Krawler upper and lower control arms and a Rock Krawler Trac bar. Got the caster to about 5.2 degrees ( top leaning back) with ease. Still rode like crap but figured the alignment might be off some. After a trip to a respectable alignment shop they said it was spot on besides the left tire was just a grunt out (but still in the green). Surprised since all I used was a tape measure. They couldn't get it to adjust due to the tie rod was ceased and would not move. They said everything looked good. But it still takes 2 lanes to drive 75% of the time. I took it to a buddy's shop to get a second set of eyes to look and see if he could see anything Me or them over looked. Only thing we could find was the drag link looked tight with little play but would flop up and down with ur hand as well when u wiggled the steering wheel it looked to flex in the middle a little ( idk if that is normal with factory). And the tie rod had the same movement besides the flex just the up and down movement.


The reason for the novel above is to get you up to speed with what all I have done. I have drove all kinda off road trucks from a jacked up pieced together lift on a 78 Scottsdale to a ragged out lifted CJ7 to a 06 Dodge 2500 This is my first experience with coil springs and 4 link. Nothing has drove as crazy as this. My biggest concern is this is my wife's DD until I buy her something else next year. So gotta make sure she and kids are safe. Any help would be nice.

tjkamp

I'm sure others will chime in, but I'm assuming you have bump steer. With 4in lift you need to do a drag link flip. You'll have to get a new drag link, and mount it on top of the knuckle rather than below, as well as the bracket for the trac bar. Synergy makes a nice set. I'm pretty sure rock Krawler does as well. Pretty much all the major companies do. This should help. (I don't have a flip on mine, 2.5in lift, but am running synergy's drag link, and I really like it).

Make sure you are running at least 3in if bump stop so that nothing hits the frame.

Also, if you haven't yet, take a gander at Dirt Man's "my thoughts on lifts" it is a sticky in the modified section. It is very helpful if you aren't familiar with the JKs suspension.

tjkamp

Also, being able to wiggle the drag link and tie rod up and down some is normal, misalignment is needed in the joint to make everything work properly. There should be no other flex in you drag link, however, with the factory piece and the larger wheels and tires this is know to happen, and is bad for your handling. The drag link should be replaced with a stronger aftermarket unit. But you will be taking care of that when you do the flip.

Rednroll

You're definitely going to need some of this........and that should fix it right up.

chrsmi2

Thanks I forgot to add that with the lift it came with a tracking bar raise bracket and it came with a drop Pittman arm. In order to do the drag link flip will I need a factory Pittman arm? And what would be the best of the best for a drag link set? I have looked at the synergy, terraflex, rock Krawler.

resharp001

How many miles do you have on your new BJ's? I don't think you mentioned it or maybe I missed it. Those Synergy BJs are known to be very tight and require 500-1500 miles to break in. The results of a tight BJ is what feels like very "darty" steering because you're having to constantly correct (the wheels aren't returning to center on their own). I suspect you would indeed benefit from flipping the DL at that height as pointed out as it does make an improved difference, but really you feel that difference when hitting bumps and potholes as that is where you experience bumpsteer.

btw, good luck with the Synergy BJs......maybe your experience will be better.

Oh, and it sounds like you had cam bolts with the RC lift as you mention adjusting caster with a "bolt adjuster". Presume you used cam bolt eliminators when those were removed.

tjkamp

Yup, factory pitman arm.

"Best of the best" is opinion, and depends on budget. I really like my synergy steering and suspension parts, others like other brands.

There are better options, like Rare Parts, but I don't have that kind of budget, and I don't feel 2.5 ton tie rod ends are really necessary for my build.

resharp001

You're raised TB/drop pitman are essentially accomplishing the same thing as the DL flip. Most of us would prefer flipping the DL vs using a drop pitman, but I don't think that is your issue right now. That's not what is causing the problems. I wouldn't throw money at reversing that in hopes of it solving your woes.

chrsmi2

Have around 150 miles on the new ball joints. And yes it was the cam bolts that came with the Rough country lift. I followed there instructions to the T which left me with that uh-oh feeling when installing the new control arms. The instructions said to cut the slots out to make them rectangular ( the perforated slot). I contacted them and asked did I need to repair them before installing control arms. Response was " as long and u tighten and torque the bolts up you don't have do repair back to normal."

Well I agree with context of over building and keeping the budget build in play. I just rather spend a extra 100 bucks on great parts then replace cheaper parts twice as fast. I work 60+ hours turning wrenches a week not including 2 hour drive time. Just don't like spending off time turning more. Lol

​​​​​​​Sorry for all the questions we really love our Jeep and just want it to get back to the way it driving before the ball joint failure.

Rock Krawler Suspension

A few things too look at, as others have mentioned is steering geometry. Your Track Bar and drag link should be running parallel to each other and the joints in each should not be at their maximum limits. The drop pitman arm and the drop TB bracket on the frame side should have accomplished that but verify that they are parallel. I would not just throw parts at it blindly. The next thing I would look at is tire pressure, which I know sounds crazy but if those 35x12.5x20's are aired up to too much, your contact patch on the road is reduced quite a bit, I would run about 28psi in the front and 26 in the rear to get them to sit flatter on the road. As resharp said, some ball joints are known to take a little bit to break in and can cause darty steering issues while that is happening. Also, as other's have said, Dirtman's "my thoughts on lifts" has some valid points and is worth reading.

Adam C