JL Steering - I hate it

astros3111

astros3111

Member
Morning Wayalife - Let me drop some back story on my jeep as I am still having some steering issues. So a few months back I got the bad case of death wobble and I wanted to replace a few things so below is what got swapped out.

- 2.5 ton RPM kit
- DynaTrack ball joints (around 30k miles so it was just time)
- basic terra flex stabilizer

With these all done the wobble was mostly gone but it would rear its nasty head every few miles. Change the steering gearbox and the death wobble is gone! (thank f'in god).

Here is the new problem is that when I am driving and let's say I am cruising 40mph and hit a bump OR cruising 70mph on the highway and hit a bump I am getting a jerk in the steering. Like it will jerk badly for 2-4 seconds but will not go into a wobble and goes on down the road. Now Mind you, I was seeing this with the 2.5jks lift and the new 3.5in metal cloak lift.

My brain tells me to beef up the stabilizer but wanted to reach out here and get some thoughts.


Edit - Jeep is on 3.5 metal cloak lift with 38x12.50 r17 ridge graps with kmc beadlocks.
 
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WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
astros3111 said:
Morning Wayalife - Let me drop some back story on my jeep as I am still having some steering issues. So a few months back I got the bad case of death wobble and I wanted to replace a few things so below is what got swapped out.

- 2.5 ton RPM kit
- DynaTrack ball joints (around 30k miles so it was just time)
- basic terra flex stabilizer

With these all done the wobble was mostly gone but it would rear its nasty head every few miles. Change the steering gearbox and the death wobble is gone! (thank f'in god).

Here is the new problem is that when I am driving and let's say I am cruising 40mph and hit a bump OR cruising 70mph on the highway and hit a bump I am getting a jerk in the steering. Like it will jerk badly for 2-4 seconds but will not go into a wobble and goes on down the road. Now Mind you, I was seeing this with the 2.5jks lift and the new 3.5in metal cloak lift.

My brain tells me to beef up the stabilizer but wanted to reach out here and get some thoughts.


Edit - Jeep is on 3.5 metal cloak lift with 38x12.50 r17 ridge graps with kmc beadlocks.
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A member here had some really bad DW on his JL when he had replaced the OEM stabilizer with a Fox one. Although a steering stabilizer shouldn't cause this, he had months worth of headaches swapping out various parts with no luck. When he finally put the OEM one back on, it went away. He posted a lot about it on JL Wrangler: https://jlwrangler.com/threads/dbltaps-mojito-jlur.1899/page-35#post-54974
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
WJCO said:
A member here had some really bad DW on his JL when he had replaced the OEM stabilizer with a Fox one. Although a steering stabilizer shouldn't cause this, he had months worth of headaches swapping out various parts with no luck. When he finally put the OEM one back on, it went away. He posted a lot about it on JL Wrangler: https://jlwrangler.com/threads/dbltaps-mojito-jlur.1899/page-35#post-54974
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Yup. At bare minimum, I would try running the OE stabilizer for now to see if it helps.
 
benatc1

benatc1

Hooked
Part of the reason I got rid of my JL was how bad the steering was. I feel like I changed part chasing a shake. If say your steering stabilizer could be crap, but usually that just masks another issues, but it is terraflex so who knows Factory one is good. I would also notice that if my front track bar wasn’t torqued to 150’id get death wobble, plus switching to a synergy one helpers it all go away too.
 
astros3111

astros3111

Member
benatc1 said:
Part of the reason I got rid of my JL was how bad the steering was. I feel like I changed part chasing a shake. If say your steering stabilizer could be crap, but usually that just masks another issues, but it is terraflex so who knows Factory one is good. I would also notice that if my front track bar wasn’t torqued to 150’id get death wobble, plus switching to a synergy one helpers it all go away too.
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Yeah I've thrown some cash on this thing and nothing seems to take it out. New gear box and ball joints and it drove solid for about 2 days theb BOOM, wobble again.
 
Ddays

Ddays

Hooked
I've found that at certain temps (15-30*-ish) I get a wobble around 40 mph. Nothing above or below it, both speed and temp wise. It's not death wobble, just annoying as shit wobble. I've replaced factory stabilizer with another factory one and had the steering box replaced under the TSB issued. New Synergy track bar too. Still the same. I'm convinced it's the POS electric system they stuck on these. On a rack system I think they're ok. On the antiquated system these JL's have they should have left them alone. I'm just driving the wobbly fucker until I do a PSC system on it. I'll probably replace the BJ's at the same time, even though they're still tight.
 
CalSgt

CalSgt

Hooked
I was having death wobble too, I would replace a component and it would clear it up for a while but it would start back up again. I tried different caster adjustments, track bar bushings (3 of them worn out at different times), switched out track bar to Synergy, and added a fox steering stabilizer. I tried a different set of highway tread tires on front, and tried different air pressures.

The last thing I did was a steer smarts drag link flip / track bar relocation, and a new stabilizer. Its been going strong for about a year now with no wobble but I do get a slight shimmy/vibration in the steering wheel from time to time.
 
astros3111

astros3111

Member
CalSgt said:
I was having death wobble too, I would replace a component and it would clear it up for a while but it would start back up again. I tried different caster adjustments, track bar bushings (3 of them worn out at different times), switched out track bar to Synergy, and added a fox steering stabilizer. I tried a different set of highway tread tires on front, and tried different air pressures.

The last thing I did was a steer smarts drag link flip / track bar relocation, and a new stabilizer. Its been going strong for about a year now with no wobble but I do get a slight shimmy/vibration in the steering wheel from time to time.
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Took it in and they just recommended the same thing. a flip kit from RPM steering and it should fix most of it. So here's to hoping! I'll report back when I get my jeep back.
 
4

4PLAY

Member
For sure wish Jeep had done a better / heavier duty job with steering on the JL's and not a fan of these damm electric power steering pumps. On my Rubi 2-door with a 2.5" lift and 37" KO2 D's I am getting a bit too much bump steer (never DW) for my taste and I am determined to correct it. Unfortunately I cannot look back and point to one mod/change that it started with... Due to waiting on a backordered Dana Chromoly rear axle shaft, I wound up on the road with a completely new suspension, Dana 4.88 UD44 front axle, 4.88 rear axle gears, 37" KO2's and a few other goodies. I am running SteerSmarts pro track bar, drag link and Rubi length tie rod. Also have the new steel gear box and Rancho frame side track bar/gearbox support. My next mod will be a custom axle side track bar mount that will raise the track bar about 1/2" (final measurements TBD) and should put track bar and drag link in nearly ideal alignment. My welding skills are suspect at best so this mod I am going to have done by a local fab shop that builds a lot of rock buggies and race trucks. Pretty optimistic this should greatly reduce the bump steer in my build...Will post results in a couple weeks when done!
 
CalSgt

CalSgt

Hooked
4PLAY said:
For sure wish Jeep had done a better / heavier duty job with steering on the JL's and not a fan of these damm electric power steering pumps. On my Rubi 2-door with a 2.5" lift and 37" KO2 D's I am getting a bit too much bump steer (never DW) for my taste and I am determined to correct it. Unfortunately I cannot look back and point to one mod/change that it started with... Due to waiting on a backordered Dana Chromoly rear axle shaft, I wound up on the road with a completely new suspension, Dana 4.88 UD44 front axle, 4.88 rear axle gears, 37" KO2's and a few other goodies. I am running SteerSmarts pro track bar, drag link and Rubi length tie rod. Also have the new steel gear box and Rancho frame side track bar/gearbox support. My next mod will be a custom axle side track bar mount that will raise the track bar about 1/2" (final measurements TBD) and should put track bar and drag link in nearly ideal alignment. My welding skills are suspect at best so this mod I am going to have done by a local fab shop that builds a lot of rock buggies and race trucks. Pretty optimistic this should greatly reduce the bump steer in my build...Will post results in a couple weeks when done!
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Bump steer is caused from misalignment of the drag link and track bar so unless you did a DL flip or track bar relocation without doing both I don't see what would cause your issue.
 
4

4PLAY

Member
CalSgt said:
Bump steer is caused from misalignment of the drag link and track bar so unless you did a DL flip or track bar relocation without doing both I don't see what would cause your issue.
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When you install a lift the track bar and drag link angles will change somewhat due to their different lengths and different mounting points. However many things can affect bump steer including larger & heavier tires, out of balance/out of round tires, loose/worn suspension components, alignment out of spec, even excessive OC play in the steering gearbox.
Since none of my steering components are loose or worn, tires are road forced balanced and not out of round, alignment is 'in spec' and I KNOW my drag link and track bar are NOT perfectly parallel to each other, this would be the logical next step.

After this I will fine tune alignment (no FAD) dialing in as close to 6 degrees positive caster as possible (any more will likely induce front driveshaft vibration at higher speeds) and even though I have the steel gearbox, there is just a bit too much on-center play that needs to be addressed...
 
CalSgt

CalSgt

Hooked
4PLAY said:
When you install a lift the track bar and drag link angles will change somewhat due to their different lengths and different mounting points.
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This is possible, however there are JL's all over running between 2 and 4 inches of lift with no complaints of bump steer except you. I suppose your aftermarket axle could be the difference.

4PLAY said:
However many things can affect bump steer including larger & heavier tires, out of balance/out of round tires, loose/worn suspension components, alignment out of spec, even excessive OC play in the steering gearbox.
Click to expand...
All of these things can cause poor handling and maybe induce death wobble but to the best of my knowledge not cause bump steer.


Perhaps your definition of bump steer and mine are different, either way good luck with the repair
 
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