|
|
08-06-2006, 09:49 PM
Installed a Clayton's LA with 6" lift and it flexes like mad. I'm pretty happy with it... except... When on the highway and the body rolls at all from a dip or just when i hit a bump, the steering wheel pulls. It's almost like bump steer, but not quite as difficult to control.
I got the JKS adj track bar and installed it and I bought a Kevin's dual steering stab set-up and will install when it gets here, but I'm wondering if this is normal for a LA install or something out of the ordinary.
It has been aligned and everything checks fine. Tracks straight and drives great on straight flat road.
The only oddity I can find is that when the alignment was done the drag link was adjusted to re-center the steering wheel (I think that's why they adjusted it) and the pitman arm is about 30 degrees off of center. That is, it is about 30 degrees left of parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.
Anybody else have a PA that far off center? Even if it is off, would that necessarily cause this bump steer?
Last edited by Lbrty9; 08-06-2006 at 09:57 PM.
08-06-2006, 11:05 PM
do you have a front sway bar? not having one can cause similar problems
the alignment sounds like they did it wrong. the pitman arm sould be straight back, in line with the steering box.
i usually watch them when they do an alignment on mine. what they always did when i watched them is, they would get it setup on the lazer alignment machine. they would adjust the pass side toe by extending the draglink out, then adjust the drivers side toe by adjusting the tie rod. (dont ask me why the hell they do this, but they did this everytime i saw them. it is absolutely the wrong way to do it. )
they sould set toe-in by adjusting the tie rod first (steering wheel locked). then unlock the steering wheel and center the steering wheel via the drag link sleeve.
if you want to. recenter your pitman arm, just unlock the steering wheel, engine on. adjust the draglink sleeve till the pitman arm is centered and the steering wheel is centered. it is probably 1 full turn off righ now.
good luck...
EDIT
btw, if you have stock sterering you probably did not even need to adjust the toe-in of it was OK before. just recenter your steering wheel via the draglink. b/c the stock wj steering, the toe-in is not effected with increased suspension lift. only thing they would have adjusted would be steering wheel center and caster. and if they could not recenter a steering wheel, i assure you they did not adjust clayton's arms for proper caster.. lol
Last edited by LouisianaZJ; 08-06-2006 at 11:10 PM.
08-07-2006, 08:20 AM
It's got the stock sway bar on the front and an Addco sway bar in the back.
08-07-2006, 09:06 AM
With the pittman arm and the drag link, can you turn equally left and right? Sounds like they may have adjusted it the wrong way.
Also, the little bit of bumpsteer sounds normal. I think that's the nature of the beast with the "Y" steering design.
08-07-2006, 09:29 AM
I can get to the stops in both directions, so it's no issue with being able to turn. The part that concerns me is the steering wheel pulling while I am on the highway when I hit a dip or bump. It's somewhat of an uncomfortable feeling. I can live with it, if necessary, but I was wondering if the other WJ's out there with the 6" LA install are having the same issue. If it's correctable, I'd like to try to figure out how.
08-07-2006, 11:03 AM
sounds like the pinion angle is too high maybe, but i would readust the draglink first
08-07-2006, 11:14 AM
Got some other good advice. I left the S4W DPA on, but removed the TB drop bracket, thinking the JKS adjustable TB would take up the difference in angle. I'm thinking I can try to put the drop bracket back in and see what happens.
Customer Service at Clayton's is AWESOME!
He did suggest making sure the caster was around 3-4 degrees as a good trade-off between caster and pinion angle. I called the shop to see if they can give me the caster numbers from the alignment.
08-14-2006, 09:19 PM
Just to add to the tech database, I solved the problem by reinstalling the track bar drop bracket. I also added the Kevin's dual Steering stab so that may also have helped, but I suspect it was primarily the drop bracket.
08-14-2006, 11:30 PM
Or, keep your stock pitman arm and stock track bar location. Just need to build in some more flex to your drag link so it doesn't become a limiting strap.
09-15-2006, 07:52 AM
I did wind up going back to the stock PA and pulled the drop bracket. How would you add flex to the drag link?
| « Previous Thread | Next Thread » |
| Thread Information |
Users Browsing this ThreadThere are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests) |
