getting it fixed got it worst!!!

M

MaaMohTh

New member
Hey guys,

ok so I had a few issues with my jku so i brought it to a garage (i'll be nice and wont say where!)
At first, I went there because both the draglink and the tie rod were finished. I could hear them and
feel them knock when playing with my steering. So, I brought it to the shop for repairs. This is what
came out :

- tie rod
- draglink
- all 4 ball joints were really shut!
- U-joint passenger side

total cost : 1394$ CDN

so...
they changed the rods, ball joints and u-joint and sent it to get aligned for 95$ CDN... i know ... i just read the writeups and yes i'm uber pissed off!!!

anyways.... here is what I got....

- about 4 inches of play in my steering
- way too much caster (if i read correctly on the subject), the jeep keeps on turning when I do line changes or at a corner when turning, it will not recover by itself!
- missing lock pin on one of the ball joint assembly
- frame twister effect when I hit bumps! ....i know the driveshafts will shift when the jeeps goes on a lift but am I really supposed to feel it when doing 10 miles/hour hitting a speed bump ? i don't think so... my guess is they forgot something or what not... they are supposed to have retorked the trackbar and the control arms ...in case...

anyways...
going back tomorrow to have them fix their job.... but i'm really pissed off ...

any hints? anything i can do by myself ?
feedback please ???
why would the jeep twist that much when I hit bumps the size of a flat quarter ???
how or what could they have done to change the castor angle ?

Thx!!!

...and please, no punts on alignment.... i know now! ;)
 
MaaMohTh said:
Hey guys,

ok so I had a few issues with my jku so i brought it to a garage (i'll be nice and wont say where!)
At first, I went there because both the draglink and the tie rod were finished. I could hear them and
feel them knock when playing with my steering. So, I brought it to the shop for repairs. This is what
came out :

- tie rod
- draglink
- all 4 ball joints were really shut!
- U-joint passenger side

total cost : 1394$ CDN

so...
they changed the rods, ball joints and u-joint and sent it to get aligned for 95$ CDN... i know ... i just read the writeups and yes i'm uber pissed off!!!

anyways.... here is what I got....

- about 4 inches of play in my steering
- way too much caster (if i read correctly on the subject), the jeep keeps on turning when I do line changes or at a corner when turning, it will not recover by itself!
- missing lock pin on one of the ball joint assembly
- frame twister effect when I hit bumps! ....i know the driveshafts will shift when the jeeps goes on a lift but am I really supposed to feel it when doing 10 miles/hour hitting a speed bump ? i don't think so... my guess is they forgot something or what not... they are supposed to have retorked the trackbar and the control arms ...in case...

anyways...
going back tomorrow to have them fix their job.... but i'm really pissed off ...

any hints? anything i can do by myself ?
feedback please ???
why would the jeep twist that much when I hit bumps the size of a flat quarter ???
how or what could they have done to change the castor angle ?

Thx!!!

...and please, no punts on alignment.... i know now! ;)
Click to expand...

can you take some pics of the drag link and tie rod?

I'd check the drag link adjustment clamp, make sure it's in the proper position and tight - if it's loose that would cause a lot of play and explain some of the not recovering itself after steering. Also check the nut on the pitman arm, make sure it's not loose

if they replaced the tie rod, did they put the steering stabilizer back on correctly? tie rod clamp tight?

does it appear that the castle nut on the ball joint has backed off any since there is no cotter pin to hold it in place?

Also make sure your track bar is tight

if they loosened any of the steering components and didn't tighten them while under load (resting on it's tires) the suspension will not function as intended.
 
I'll be checking later on today ..
kinda stuck at work right now!
but the for the info :)
I'll post back my findings with pics :)
 
oh well... no pics.. but went to the shop and the trackbar bushings are bad...
guess I should have... it's expensive to learn... huhu.. but still crossing my fingers
it'll be the end of this learning experience!!!

...would have rather spent that money on bumpers! ;)
 
MaaMohTh said:
oh well... no pics.. but went to the shop and the trackbar bushings are bad...
guess I should have... it's expensive to learn... huhu.. but still crossing my fingers
it'll be the end of this learning experience!!!

...would have rather spent that money on bumpers! ;)
Click to expand...

Hopefully they get you back on the road. Are you going to upgrade the track bar or just replace it with a stock one?
 
MaaMohTh said:
oh well... no pics.. but went to the shop and the trackbar bushings are bad...
guess I should have... it's expensive to learn... huhu.. but still crossing my fingers
it'll be the end of this learning experience!!!

...would have rather spent that money on bumpers! ;)
Click to expand...

Also, did your Zone lift come with a new track bar? If so, their bushings are really solid. Shouldn't have issues with those unless a bolt was left loose at some point.
 
thx for the heads up!

right now i'm sticking with the stock one but i'll be looking at zone's trackbar and their reinforcement kit for the steering box.
 
...hmmm, nope, not quite there yet!

.....fark!

got the bushings changed today so now it feels a little more stiff but the issue remains... no more dw but since its not quite fixed, i'm guessing it's still there somewhere, waiting!

ok, ok so maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go from stock at 140 000km on it, put a 3 inch lift and 35's and do mostly urban offroading with 5 camping trips although I did enter a trail at 50km/h ... huhuhu... oh well.... learners gotta learn! ;) so anyways, the twisting feel is still there when I'm doing 80km/h and hit a nice bump... almost feels like it actually jumps !!! ....could it be the shocks ??? ....i've had them for 2 years almost... and ....and, huhu, the steering doesnt recover... could the 35's I had for about 7 months exerced THAT much stress on the stock setup that something twisted or is just plain dead ? I mean, shouldn't the stock tire setup be less stress on the parts ??? and i now have 3+ turns of the steering on each side instead of 2+

...tomorrow i'll check the tork on the control arms and track bar since the bushings are new..

thx for the input :)
 
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