so after half a year of misery dealing with a lemon I was finally able to get my JK in december and over the past couple months I've gotten quite a bit done to it with 2.5" springs/shocks, 35" tires w/spare, 4.56gears, arb air locker, steel front stubby bumper with 9500lb winch and a bunch of maintenance. I am still in the break in period for the regear but will be changing the fluid and inspecting tomorrow morning since I've hit 500miles.

Now, I did the lift and tires first, it was miserable, after the regear its very pleasant and easy to drive. so far I am very satisfied aside from a couple of things and after searching and doing some reading through the forums etc I think i know what direction I need to go but would like some input.

driving around town the jeep drives perfect, however at highway speeds it becomes a whole other beast. I can not take my hands off of the steering wheel especially during windy days because the jeep is literally all over the road, wanders left, wanders right, requires constant steering correction, no death wobble, not much bump steer at all, but if the wind blows even a tiny bit the jeep wants to cross the lines. I'm worried about getting pulled over for drunk driving. Now heres the thing, the last jeep I had(the 2008 lemon) had the same lift kit and same tires and it did not wander not even remotely close to as bad if at all, it had the stock sway bar links, stock control arm bushings and stock track bar just like the current 2011 has and it didn't have any wander no wobble no bump steer nothing it drove straight. I cant find anything loose, the shop put a new set of cam bolts in the front lower control arms and said everything is tight and aligned correctly, this did not help. The front sway bar is angled downward at roughly 15º but I dont think that has anything to do with tracking straight, my guess is either the axle isn't centered or I don't have enough caster.

My next plan of action is to upgrade the front lower control arms, track bar and sway bar links am I on the right track?

I guess my main question is this, Why out of 2 jeep jk's both with no worn suspension components, same lift, same tires, same alignment specs, one drives straight as an arrow when the wind blows and one tracks down the highway like a drunk man when the wind blows...?

 

Tire pressure or even different tires will ride and steer differently. Are you running any caster correction?

 

Did you get a sheet with the alignment numbers on it? If so, attach it to a post.

 

Do you have a Rubicon with the electronic sway bar disconnect? If so you will want that sway bar angled UP at 15 degrees, not down. If you disconnect and flex the front suspension enough you run the risk of flipping your sway bar and you do NOT want to do that.

 

The tires are the exact same set of wheels and tires that I took off of the other JK that i'm referring to, tire pressure was around 36 but I brought it down to 28 it is better but still pretty bad. I believe the cam bolts they installed in the front lower control arms were to adjust for caster, otherwise they are the factory control arms and mounts. I did not get a print out with the alignment, though the same shop did the alignments on both jeeps, but I will ask for a print out after my next round of parts I guess.

both of the jeeps I spoke about have/had completely stock factory suspension other than the tires, springs and shocks. one of them drives straight even with wind one of them is like a drunk lol

 

it is not a rubicon. I will be upgrading the front sway bar links asap

 

Probably. As Ron asked, with an alignment sheet a better answer could be provided. The shop did you no favors installing cam bolts. They are notorious for coming loose in off-road applications (maybe you don't use your rig off-road?). On top of that, since they weren't aware of that, they may have aligned to factory specs. You're better off with a bit more caster when lifting. I've always aligned my 2007 with a 2.5" lift and lower front LCAs in my driveway myself. And never had a problem. 283,000 miles later.

BTW, I'd also check the ball joints. If OEM, they don't last very long--thinking a couple tens of thousands of miles at most.

 

You mean yours is like mine?? Welcome to the Jeep world. Your old one needed tobe fixed if it did not wander in gusty or cross winds. I took my Rubi sway bar off and it still handles ok. Just get used to the lean and ok in cross winds. The big answer is slow down - "nobody ever ran off the road driving too slow" as they say.

 

Hubs and bearings if it feels like a bobblehead. Mine felt floaty going down the road and that fixed it.