Hey all,

I installed a 4" ARB Old Man Emu suspension lift about 6 months ago which was simple and straightforward to do. The only issue I am having is that there is now a wobble in the steering wheel when I hit larger bumps at 40mph or so. The steering wheel will travel roughly 5 degrees in either direction about 6-12 times and then straighten itself out. Is this just something to deal with or is there a way to correct this?

 

Which specific components are installed. What are the alignment specs. Have you gone through Planmans big deathwobble diagnosis (stuck right to the top of the writeups area) to check for loose/worn components?

 

I'd re torque the front trackbar to 130ft/lbs to start.

 

That's a great write up.
I also saw a couple utube videos that also said first thing to check is the trackbar, seems to be that quite often

 

Thanks for the advise! I just got a new torque wrench for Christmas and needed an excuse to try it out. Now I do... I had installed a new adjustable front track bar from OME. I will start with that and see where that takes me.

 

When you installed the lift, did you have the vehicle on the ground--all four tires--before torquing down the trackbars, and all eight control arms (all of which should have been loosened for the install)? If not, loosen all of that, shake the Jeep up and down to eliminate any pre-load, and retorque: 125 foot-lbs for everything except the front, upper control arms: 85 ft-lbs for them. Also, you might want to check out threads on bump steer. But, Planman's DW troubleshooting checklist will walk you through all of this and lead you to the problem.

 

I'm not an expert on this but I have found a paragraph while reading an article on lifts this morning which reminded me of this thread. I'm not sure if this is your issue but I extract and quote this paragraph as found:

"steering wheel jerks left/right over bumps: This is known as bumpsteer. Bumpsteer is caused when the track bar and drag link angles are too steep, lengths, and geometry are off. As you go over a bump with one tire, the jeep jerks and sometimes steers itself. Bumpy roads can be scary with a good case of bumpsteer. this really is not a issue until up around 4", but the fix is a steering correction kit Raising the track bar & flipping the drag link is the ideal way to fix bumpsteer at higher lift heights -returning the geometry back to normal. Some kits do this similar using a drop pitman arm. I do not recommend using a DPA, it actually puts more stress the steering box. lowering the track bar reduces front roll center. one of the other benefits of a raised TB bracket is roll center correction."

Hope this helps.