Today I had Synergy upper/lower ball joints installed and a new drag link and tie rod installed on my 2012 JKU with 96,500 miles. I am running 35" Nitto Trail Grappplers and 3-1/4" lift. Driving home I noticed that there is more play in the steering wheel than before. Also, when turning a corner and straightening out to drive down the road, the Jeep seems to hold the turn, making me have to steering the Jeep back to straight rather than the natural momentum bringing the steering wheel back to center. I have to over steer to straighten out and even sometimes over steer a few times in each direction for the Jeep to find a straight line. I got up on the freeway and the Jeep seemed to hold a straight line fairly well, which is good since I was have these parts replaced to help with the Jeep being flighty and having to bump steer a lot while at freeway speeds. Any ideas?

 

Check your caster. All of your complaints are associated with not enough.

 

You have the RC 3.25? You do or do not have a drop pitman/trackbar bracket? You do or do not have any form of caster correction?


The new balljoints probably just need to loosen up. There are quite a few threads to read through about this.


Don't run out and buy a new steering stabilizer to 'fix' it. Start by verifying torque on all bolts on the new tie rod and drag link, and the trackbar as well. You might just go up to the Writeups area and click on Planmans DW/Shimmy Diagnosis thread, then follow the steps.


The pinion rotated up with the lift, which lowered the caster. The options to correct it are Cam Bolts, Control Arm Brackets, Longer/Shorter Fixed control arms, Adjustable control arms. (read about the pro's/con's of each, don't just jump on the lowest priced option without a little research...)

 

Unless you flipped the drag link you are not going to see improvements in ride quality and bump steer. Your geometry is what is at fault not the components.

 

Synergy ball joints need about 500 miles to break in.

 

I've also heard that about the synergy joints. I've seen castor issues and really tight ball joints cause this issue.

 

I installed the same parts in my Jeep a few months ago and had the same problem. It is definitely from the new ball joints. Mine got a lot better right around 500 miles. I actually removed my steering stabilizer for awhile to make it easier to steer until they broke in.

 

Check your toe too. For some reason it doesnt take much to screw with the steering feel if the toe is off alot..

 

It's your new hd balljoints. Yes they need to break in but I have seen a lot of bad installs with them not being torqued properly and that cause binding. Your hd tie rod ends in your tie rod and draglink will also make the steering very tight. Ask me how I know all this. If it's still like this after 1000 miles or so check your balljoints to see if they're binding