Will control arms help with ride quality and steering?

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Jino

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I have a modest lift, 1.5" teraflex and fox shocks w resevoir.
Did I change my castor and pinion much?

I feel it does not drive like when it was stock (had a wrangler rental) and noticed the difference in steering and ride quality.

Would adjustable lower front control arms help at all?
 
You really don't need adjustables until you get closer to 2.5-3". However, I'll ask if you've had the front end aligned since the lift or since you purchased it with the lift?
Tires come into play as well. Air pressure, alignment, etc. Have you checked the axle to make sure it's centered?
 
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1.5" lift should not require much of anything beyond the components that come with the lift, especially if you got the fancy fox + shocks.

That being said, fancy fox shocks are not stock, and will ride differently. The lift is also going to have a different tension in the springs (assuming you have the full kit and not rubber spacers)

Like @Anybodyhome says, air pressure can be a huge deal for the ride quality of your jeep. I don't put my 33" tires over 28 psi in the summer and 30 psi in the winter. Running at 35 psi is a horrible experience to me.

Start at the beginning and tell us what mods got put on, is this something you did or did you buy it this way and you are comparing it to one you rented only? Are these the same tires? What size tires do you have? What year jeep and is it a sport or rubicon or something else?
The more info you give us the better we can help.
 
2016 4 door rubicon.
1.5" teraflex springs and fox shocks (2.0).
No other parts were installed suspension wise.

Tires are 285 70 17 on fuel 17" wheels with 4.5 backspace.
That's about it.

She doesn't steer like she used to, more squirrely on the highway, especially over bumps.

I cannot remember if they did an alignment or not. I suppose I'll have it done anyways.
 
It could be that something didn't get tightened correctly, though check that an alignment was done as it is super important when any lift or suspension change happens.

Another thought, is that putting a lift on does expose problems that aren't noticeable beforehand. For example, your ball joints may be going, and you can only tell now that the lift is on. Ball joint check is an easy one at least.

I have the teraflex 2.5 kit with the 9550 shocks with basically the same tires as you. Before that I had a leveling kit with some rancho shocks that I absolutely hated. The ride was crap as the shocks were way to stiff, the ones I have now are night and day better.

I've never had fox shocks, so I can't say if that is the issue. I think they have a good rep though. Somebody will pop in with thoughts on them.

Easiest fix, check the tire pressure, drop it down to 28 and drive around, see if it is any better.
 
MacGuyver said:
It could be that something didn't get tightened correctly, though check that an alignment was done as it is super important when any lift or suspension change happens.

Another thought, is that putting a lift on does expose problems that aren't noticeable beforehand. For example, your ball joints may be going, and you can only tell now that the lift is on. Ball joint check is an easy one at least.

I have the teraflex 2.5 kit with the 9550 shocks with basically the same tires as you. Before that I had a leveling kit with some rancho shocks that I absolutely hated. The ride was crap as the shocks were way to stiff, the ones I have now are night and day better.

I've never had fox shocks, so I can't say if that is the issue. I think they have a good rep though. Somebody will pop in with thoughts on them.

Easiest fix, check the tire pressure, drop it down to 28 and drive around, see if it is any better.
Click to expand...
The fox shocks are stiff for sure, but didn't affect steering.
 
This is what I would do…
Put the front axle up on jack stands
Verify the tire pressure is no more than 30 psi and equal in all 4
Check for excess wheel bearing movement
Check the ball joints
Then use a torque wrench and tighten both ends of the track bar
Check the tie rod ends
If all that is good, get a tape measure and a buddy to check the toe-in.
All of these checks can be found on youtube.
Paying for a wheel alignment isn’t worth the time or money. Toe-in is the only adjustment that can be made without changing control arms or modifying the ball joints.
 
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Another question.
Was it a 1.5” kit or just springs and shocks?
A picture of your steering linkage will give us more info to go off.
 
Control arms aren't going to affect your ride quality at the typical lift heights you see on JKs.

Now if we were talking about a 10" lift or something, then I would tell you yes, control arms will make a difference. But it's not so much the control arms, it's the length of the control arms and the positioning of their mounts.
 
So the fox shocks came with the kit? I didn't know there was a teraflex kit that came with fox shocks.
 
get an alignment at a reputable shop, if still squirrely on highway get look into the FLCA drop brkt kit. it's cheap and it works 95% of the time.. 1.5 is small lift but if you are comparing to stock it may help your issue. I've used it on a few and fixed the highway issue you are talking about.
 
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