Steering needs improvement

Baker14JKU

New Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2021
Messages
1
Location
Georgia
I am new to Jeeps but not new to lifted vehicles. I bought my wife a 14 JKU sport that already has a Teraflex lift (it’s either a 2.5 or 3”) with adjustable short control arms front and back with fox shocks and steering stabilizer. The steering on it to me seems to be all over the road. It doesn’t have any play in gearbox or anything and the tire rods are new. When I drive it I feel like I am having to steer it more than any other vehicles I’ve had. I daily drive a Ram on 37” mud tires and I can let go of the wheel and it will stay straight. But this Jeep it’s all over the road. I have had it aligned at a local off road shop that has a alignment rack. What would cause this issue? Could it be that I don’t have a adjustable track bars? I’m not sure if it has factory track bars or if they were replaced with solid bars. There isn’t a aftermarket bracket for front or rear track bars.

Pictures were taken before replacing tie rods. I thought I had pictures of the track bars but I don’t.
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Adjustable track bars will keep the axles centered under the Jeep, if they are adjustable they will have the adjusting sleeves on them. I'm not sure if the front axle wasn't centered would cause that or not.

Have you tried swapping the front tires to the rear? Tires could probably cause that.
 
From experience, I can tell you that a track bar that is tweaked the slightest bit will create issues. When I bought my set of TA KO2s, the shop couldn't get the front end straight for a couple hours (guy who owns the place is a Jeep owner). They finally pulled the tack bar and found out it was less than 1/4" out of line- it wasn't straight. Put a new track bar on with the new tires and I swore I was driving a new JKU.
 
I am new to Jeeps but not new to lifted vehicles. I bought my wife a 14 JKU sport that already has a Teraflex lift (it’s either a 2.5 or 3”) with adjustable short control arms front and back with fox shocks and steering stabilizer. The steering on it to me seems to be all over the road. It doesn’t have any play in gearbox or anything and the tire rods are new. When I drive it I feel like I am having to steer it more than any other vehicles I’ve had. I daily drive a Ram on 37” mud tires and I can let go of the wheel and it will stay straight. But this Jeep it’s all over the road. I have had it aligned at a local off road shop that has a alignment rack. What would cause this issue? Could it be that I don’t have a adjustable track bars? I’m not sure if it has factory track bars or if they were replaced with solid bars. There isn’t a aftermarket bracket for front or rear track bars.

Pictures were taken before replacing tie rods. I thought I had pictures of the track bars but I don’t.
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Hard to tell what it could be, I mean it could be anything in the steering/suspension. Or a combination of things.

Few things I found when I was completely reworking my suspension that are often overlooked: condition of drag links and anything connected to the swaybar (think everyone knows what it's like trying to drive fast with a disconnected swaybar i.e white knuckles), condition of lower steering shaft that goes into the steering gearbox. Mine had ujoints that were AFU and the shaft was seized solid.