Steering issue after lift.

[The Caper]

I put a 3.5 rough country coil lift on my 2011 jk. Has drop pitman arm. For the first week or more after install and alignment jeep seemed to be running perfect. There was a clunk when I steered so I took it to the dealer and they said it was a damper. They replace it and since then my jeep went to crap for handeling. If I turn right my steering response is perfect. Any movement at all to the right its right there. The issue is when I turn to the left I get very little respone until about 5 to 10 degrees in the steering. In that 5 to 10 degrees if I was to drive a stright line for a mile I might be off by about 5 degrees. After initial unresponsiveness it seems to turn fine but still not as sharp at to the right. Also at times the jeep moves around the road as if I have low tire pressure. All tires are the same. Ive had it aligned. Dealer says the alignment is fine. They checked the steering box and said thats fine as well. I checked how the coils are sitting there all right.

[eastcoastcam]

Get rid of the drop pitman arm and put the factory one back on. Your track bar should be parallel with your draglink. Using the DPA without using a trackbar drop bracket takes them out of parallel, resulting in possible dead spots, bumpsteer, and generally worse than normal handling.

[C Monster]

Good to see you made it here

Did you buy the kit new or used


Or what he siad /\ I was to slow


Could be they did not put the steering shock on right

[The Caper]

It does have a track bar drop bracket. The kit is new.

[The Garagemahal]

Sounds like a crappy install , something is loose !

[The Caper]

What could it be thats loose tho. I did the install with a mechanic that's done lots of lifts. As I was doing it he was making sure I was doing it correctly. Dealers a friend of mine and ive talen it to him and he had there techs check the install as well and they said everything looks fine as well.

[Creepy]

Sounds like a tracbar issue to me. Nothing you said would lead to having to replace a steering stabilizer, they are guessing and throwing parts at it.

to check:
1. Jeep on ground, running.
2. get a buddy to wiggle steering wheel sharply, left/right in quick motions, enough to turn one way and then the next quickly
3. inspect tracbar mounts on both ends for play, or if its an adjustable bar, the adjustment jam nut.
4. Must be ZERO play.

[Creepy]

Apr 3, 2014 19:43:18 GMT -4 eastcoastcam said:

Get rid of the drop pitman arm and put the factory one back on. Your track bar should be parallel with your draglink. Using the DPA without using a trackbar drop bracket takes them out of parallel, resulting in possible dead spots, bumpsteer, and generally worse than normal handling.

This answers nothing to do with a clunk or a crooked wheel after a steering correction. What you are descibing is bump steer. It does not clunk, and it self-corrects once the bump is passed over.

Further, bumpsteer does not result in dead spots. All it does it twitch the wheel in your hand going over a bump. Nor does it get worse with time. It is a geometry issue.

[The Garagemahal]

I was thinking it a loose pitman arm
I can't see needing a drop pitman arm for a 3 in lift

[Creepy]

They said they checked the box. But who knows. If they checked it on a lift, you can't see steering or tracbar play.

i agree it shouldn't really need a drop pitman with a 3.5" lift, but if it has a drop trac bracket, adding the drop pitman should have everything perfectly aligned.

theCaper: While checking how I described...take a look at the pitman arm too. It will show if its loose.

Remember, Jeep MUST be on the ground, do not check this on a lift!

[The Garagemahal]

Also , JK's are KNOWN to have shitty steering boxes with weird play in them , dealer should know this ( might be why they are throwing a steering stabilizer at it )

[Creepy]

True. But he didn't have problems before the lift, a bad steering box wouldn't come on right quick I don't think. I think its classic 'bad tracbar' symptoms.

theCaper - many miles on your rig? Good shape or wheeled a lot?

Also - the tracbar brackets on the axle are known to tear and rip off. Make sure the welds aren't cracked. This might explain the 'right OK', 'Left bad' symptom. The bracket could be tearing going left, and closing to factory position going right. It makes sense according to which way the forces act on the tracbar for turning.

[The Garagemahal]

True , he said he did add a trac bar bracket , classic ripping apart symptom

[Missbehavin]

I heard of this issue before and it was from the pitman arm. As already stated in this thread. Apparently JK's are known for it when you do even a minimal lift.

[The Caper]

Creepy: ill check those things on the weekend. Jeeps got 34k on it and in perfect shape. And never been wheeled hard at all.