Good morning everyone, let me give you a rundown of what is happening. Everything has always been installed by myself, no issues at all. However I recently installed a cavfab steering kit w/drag link flip. Everything was properly measured out, torqued to spec etc etc. I know it needs an alignment and I am hoping that is mostly the issue but this is what I am feeling, on the road/hwy the steering wheel jerks about an inch to the left or right, and when braking it jerks even harder and under heavy braking if the steering wheel is turned at all I can feel some weird vibration and almost complete loss of steering. Also as I kept driving a burning/brake smell was noticed. I checked everything last night and can not find the issue. It has brand new tie rod, brand new flipped drag link, brand new falcon nexus steering stabilizer, brand new track bar and brakes. Any help would be appreciated, I am taking it today to a shop for the first time ever to have them give it a 1 over and do an alignment. But can an alignment cause this many issues, I certainly don't think so. Thanks

Matt

 

No problems at all prior to replacing the DL right (ie, all the other stuff you did was before this update or was it all at once)? When you did the flip you also raised the TB bracket on the axle? This does not seem like an alignment issue to me. You also did not change anything in the alignment specs from before to after outside of the angle your DL and TB should be running. The only thing that comes into play in those changes would have been re-centering your steering wheel.

When you say it feels like "complete loss of steering" is that because your steering wheel is wobbling all over the place or something else? kinda hard to tell what you're explaining there. What are the other specs on this jeep? Year? Lift? Tire size?

 

Well actually I just realized I need to raise the track bar, I was unaware that I would need to do that. I have already ordered a new track bar bracket to hopefully put it back to parallel. I believe what I am experiencing is just really bad bump steer. The only thing I am still unsure of is the smell.

Currently my setup is:
Ranch 9000 shocks
3 inch teraflex springs
1.25 teraflex body lift
cavfab 1.5" aluminum tie rod and flipped drag link
falcon ef 2.1 stabilizer

 

Having that DL and TB unparallel can cause some real headaches. I would get that remedied and then reassess the situation. I think I'd probably not worry about the braking smell till that is done and can test drive again.

Do you have any sort of caster correction with that 3" lift?

 

Yeah, it might still be my new powerstop brakes wearing in. I overnighted the track bar bracket, so it should be here tomorrow. Currently no caster correction, I plan on doing control arms very shortly. I don't expect the jeep to drive like a dream, I just need to take care of the bump steer. This is my current setup pictured.

 

Your caster is probably close to 3° then with no correction. If you get an alignment I'd be curious to know the actual caster reported back. Raising that back up above 4 will make a big difference when you get around to that.

At 3" lift, you are bare minimum for a DL flip. If you get offroad and in flexy situations, you might watch for your new DL to hit the bottom of your frame rail. That would be your concern. Zooming in on the picture it does not look like you have bumpstops installed in the front springs, unless they are coming down from the top and not pictured. You should have 3" bumpstops with that DL flip to help with the frame rail issue.

 

Yeah...I had a different DL on it first, however the bolt from the stabilizer was hitting the DL so I figured I would just buy the flip kit...and now all of this nonsense when I should have just scrapped the falcon and gone back to another stabilizer. I have bump stops sitting on my work bench waiting to install. Luckily my roads are pretty good and I will not be going off road anytime soon. Funny how things snowball....

 

Looking at your pictures, specifically the first picture where the lower control arm is shown, i see a regular factory bolt. They make a small little square block with an offset hole to adjust the caster back slightly. Maybe someone else will know more of what im describing but it should help you get a better driving feel if you could get your caster closer to where it should be.

The heat issue is going to be a clogged heater core. Do a good couple of flushes with water to get the last bits of casting sand out then replace the heater core. There are videos on Youtube about an easy way and right way to do the heater core. I have used the easy way method without any complaints.

 

My guess is when you fix caster and bump steer you will have it licked. Twitchy steering is also an indication of not enough + caster. Looks like reduced turn radius in the pictures with the wheel set full turn or is that just picture angle?.

 

If you are talking about cam bolts, those are always a bad idea. A better solution would be to get some geometry correction brackets.