doba

Hey all. I'm new to the forums and to jeeping. Back in Oct I bought a used 2015 jku with 5k miles and currently have about 10k on it. Ever since I bought it I occasionally get a bit of a shimmy in the steering when hitting sharp bumps at reasonable rural hwy speeds. It'll shimmy for about a second or two then Go away. I don't believe it's DW cause from my searching that is something that is much more violent and persistent until you stop or slow down and my issue is not nearly as bad and goes away on its own.

Is this something that is normal for a lifted jeep that I need to just get used to or is there something I can do about it?

I have a 3.5" aev dualsport rs lift with 315/7017 mtz on my classic wheels. This was all installed professionally by the previous owner at globes performance in Nj so I'm pretty sure it was done "right".

Any suggestions?

PsychoCupcake

Sounds like bump steer honestly. And yes, for the most part it's normal but you can do things to make it better. Do you have a raised front track bar bracket and a flipped drag link? (aka high steer)

nthinuf

Go up to the JK Write-Ups area. Stuck right to the top is a good diagnostics thread.

Really doesn't matter that the lift was installed by a 'reputable' or 'professional' shop. They can make mistakes. Parts can loosen up or go bad. So read through the writeup, watch the videos, and do some checking on your own. You could find loose bolts, or worn out components, or could be the tires aren't balanced or are wearing funny, or maybe high psi could be contributing, or...

As psycho noted, that lift should include a high steer kit. You might verify that it is installed, and that the angles are good. (easy way to check the angles is just to take a close-up picture of the front end. You want to be able to see the bars above the axle, going from the mounting holes on the axle end of the bars to the mounting holes on the frame ends of the bars. Then open it in paint or an editor, and draw straight lines from mounting hole to mounting hole)

doba

Agreed the kit had the high steer kit and I'm pretty sure it's installed. I did look down there before and the drag link and tie rod appear to be pretty darned parallel and the steering stabilizer is installed.

I'll be sure to check out the diagnostics thread as you mentioned as well as trying the photo/paint suggestion.

Thanks for the suggestions as well as clarifying that it's somewhat a normal thing. This is my first lifted vehicle and jeep and I realize that it's gonna handle different than my other previous vehicles, but at the same time Its helpful to understand what differences are acceptable and which shouldn't be. Although it's not extreme, I'd like to mitigate it as much as reasonably possible.

Thanks again and I'll report back if I can find a solution.

resharp001

I don't disagree with what's said above, but I'd refer to bump steer as more of a quick jerk of the steering wheel and then back to normal.....where as a bad joint typically produces a small awkward shimmy feeling before return to normal....bad drag link joint, TRE, or ball joint......and, if you're getting enough of a shimmy that you're thinking there's an issue, there typically is. I'm not running a DL flip at the moment so I get a little bump steer if I hit a pothole real good, and I've had bad joints in the past.....they both feel pretty different to me. It might just be a difference in how we describe things though. Just my 2c. If it were me, I'd make a thorough inspection of all your steering joints looking for abnormal movement.

RageQuit4913

after installing my lift i did notice what appeared to be similar situation to yours. Also felt like there was a bit of looseness to my steering. I do have the factory stabilizer but that didnt seem to be enough. I ended up getting the rough country dual stabilizer setup and my steering is tight feeling and no longer feels like its gonna hop skip jump off the road lol.

maybe look into upgrading your stabilizer to whichever brand you'd prefer.

resharp001

No offense, but a steering stabilzer is only masking the problem, not solving it. If it's been said once, it's been said 5000x.

RageQuit4913

why would i be offended?

RageQuit4913

i would reference this very very good writeup about diagnosing front end movement

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-w...obbles-260145/

doba

Alright it's been a few months but I'm back and have finally diagnosed my problem but need some help deciding the fix. Took me a while to diagnose because I took the jk to the dealer to rotate and balance my tires cause they had a road force machine but obviously have no idea how to use it. After a few re tries I dealt with the constant shimmying due to out of balance wheels until I could get it done right. Ok4wd is close to me and those guys took care of it. Then I was able to recreate the core issue.

After looking at the suggested planman videos I can clearly see and feel that my drag link end at the pitman is bad. Up and down movement with the channel locks and side to side when steering.

My dilemma is this, do I replace the end link itself and keep the drag link or do I replace the entire draglink assembly? I've had this issue for 15k miles and I now have 20k miles. The jeep has the 3.5 aev lift with the high steer kit.

My concern about just changing the link is that one that's on it went out in 20k miles (and possibly sooner) and I don't want to have to continuously do this. I've never off-roaded yet but will when I can get away from other projects but this will primarily be a dd.