My Jeep drives like crap after installing new lift kit

Thirty7s

Thirty7s

New member
Last week I finished up the install of a new Clayton 3.5" lift, 1 ton steering kit, ball joints, and upper/lower track bar brackets on my 2017 JKU Rubicon. All control arms and both front and rear track bar are adjustable. Even after alignment and caster set to 4.2 degrees, the jeep drives horrible.

A little history......I bought the jeep used from a private party in Vegas and drove it back to Arizona. It already had a AEV 3.5" lift installed and stock control arms with the AEV drop down brackets. It actually drove really good and I was surprised how well it drove on the way home. After a few months, it developed some death wobble and that's when I started looking at the front end and the geometry of all the components. I quickly discovered the ball joints and track bar bushings were wore out. So I decided to install a new, better adjustable lift and replace all of the worn out stuff.

My hopes were that my jeep would drive and ride even better than when I first bought it. It rides a lot better and the new Clayton lift was a nice upgrade from the AEV, but it drives terrible now. It feels very unstable and darty. I aligned everything at home, (as explained here on this forum) and its near perfect as far as thrust angle, track bar adjustment, toe, caster etc. I took it to an alignment shop just to verify everything and he said it was near perfect and didn't need any other adjustments. The mechanic said I just need to "get used to how it drives" and "that's how lifted jeeps drive". I guess I'm confused because it drove and handled better before all of this work with stock control arms and track bar (until it started the death wobble).

Is there something I'm missing? Should I increase the caster a little more? Should I re-install the AEV drop down brackets even though I have adjustable CAs? That's really the only thing that changed geometry-wise that I can think of :unsure:

Thanks for any input!
 
More than likely, you have more lift than you had before and that's part of your problem. What ball joints did you install? Also, with as much lift as you have, more caster will help to make your Jeep track straight BUT can cause your front drive shaft to vibrate, especially if you've regeared to a higher ratio and are running an aftermarket u-joint style double cardan shaft. Reinstalling the drop brackets will help correct geometry and caster without too much adverse affect.
 
wayoflife said:
More than likely, you have more lift than you had before and that's part of your problem. What ball joints did you install? Also, with as much lift as you have, more caster will help to make your Jeep track straight BUT can cause your front drive shaft to vibrate, especially if you've regeared to a higher ratio and are running an aftermarket u-joint style double cardan shaft. Reinstalling the drop brackets will help correct geometry and caster without too much adverse affect.
Click to expand...
Sorry I just realized I posted this in the JL section!

Thanks for the input Wayoflife! The amount of lift is almost the same as the AEV, according to measurements I took before the work, its actually 1/4" lower. I went with Metalcloak Baller ball joints. I ordered a Adams front drive shaft but I'm running it right now with no front drive shaft while I wait for the Adams to arrive. As far as I know I still have the stock gearing (4:10 I think). The reason I was wondering about re-installing the drop brackets is because I read somewhere the lower mounting points help with handling, but not sure if that's a thing or not. But would that make sense to re-install the drop brackets even though I have adjustable CAs?
 
Thirty7s said:
Sorry I just realized I posted this in the JL section!

Thanks for the input Wayoflife! The amount of lift is almost the same as the AEV, according to measurements I took before the work, its actually 1/4" lower. I went with Metalcloak Baller ball joints. I ordered a Adams front drive shaft but I'm running it right now with no front drive shaft while I wait for the Adams to arrive. As far as I know I still have the stock gearing (4:10 I think). The reason I was wondering about re-installing the drop brackets is because I read somewhere the lower mounting points help with handling, but not sure if that's a thing or not. But would that make sense to re-install the drop brackets even though I have adjustable CAs?
Click to expand...
Okay, I just moved your post to the JK Tech forum.

Regarding what you're feeling, is it safe to assume your Jeep wants to drift to one side and then you correct for it and then it feels like you've over corrected and then it goes on and on, back and forth? Is that what you mean by "darty"?
 
Also, based on what I'm hearing, reinstalling the drop brackets will NOT eliminate the darty feel that you have. I would correct suspension geometry but in a way, it's kind of a waste to lower a rock target that you just paid big money to raise out of the way.
 
wayoflife said:
Okay, I just moved your post to the JK Tech forum.

Regarding what you're feeling, is it safe to assume your Jeep wants to drift to one side and then you correct for it and then it feels like you've over corrected and then it goes on and on, back and forth? Is that what you mean by "darty"?
Click to expand...
Yep that's pretty much how it drives! Any little rut or abnormally in the asphalt it feels like it wants jump around. Just doesn't feel planted to the road.
 
Thirty7s said:
Yep that's pretty much how it drives! Any little rut or abnormally in the asphalt it feels like it wants jump around. Just doesn't feel planted to the road.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's what I thought. I really don't know why it's become all the rage to buy super expensive ball joints that are a real pain in the ass to "rebuild" but they are what's causing what you're feeling. For better or for worse, they are way too tight from the factory and they are causing your steering to feel sticky. Trust me, I speak from experience running joints like it in the past and it's part of why I now just run standard HD joints.

After a few thousand miles, they'll start to wear in and loosen up and things will start to feel somewhat better again.
 
wayoflife said:
Also, based on what I'm hearing, reinstalling the drop brackets will NOT eliminate the darty feel that you have. I would correct suspension geometry but in a way, it's kind of a waste to lower a rock target that you just paid big money to raise out of the way.
Click to expand...
That makes sense. I thought that a drop bracket was just a way to correct geometry without having to buy adjustable CAs, but I'm still learning about all this stuff.

The only other geometry-based item I can think of is the draglink and track bar angles. From what I understand, you want those as close to parallel as possible. My track bar has a slight more angle downward at the axle side than my drag link. I installed a Steer Smarts Yeti raised track bar bracket and it has another hole that I could move the track bar to and it would help get it more parallel to the drag link. I'm not sure if that would fix my issues though, but may be worth a shot.
 
Thirty7s said:
That makes sense. I thought that a drop bracket was just a way to correct geometry without having to buy adjustable CAs, but I'm still learning about all this stuff.
Click to expand...
Adjustable control arms only allow you to set the position of your axle and caster angle up front. They do NOT correct geometry. Only drop brackets OR long arms will do that. That said, it really isn't critical or even something most people feel a need to do.
Thirty7s said:
The only other geometry-based item I can think of is the draglink and track bar angles. From what I understand, you want those as close to parallel as possible. My track bar has a slight more angle downward at the axle side than my drag link. I installed a Steer Smarts Yeti raised track bar bracket and it has another hole that I could move the track bar to and it would help get it more parallel to the drag link. I'm not sure if that would fix my issues though, but may be worth a shot.
Click to expand...
Track bar and drag link NEED to be parallel to prevent bump steer and handling issues. This should be measured from bolt to bolt and not necessarily on how the actually links look. If you raised your track bar, you NEED to have flipped your drag link as well. If you did not, this will be part of what you're feeling too.
 
wayoflife said:
Adjustable control arms only allow you to set the position of your axle and caster angle up front. They do NOT correct geometry. Only drop brackets OR long arms will do that. That said, it really isn't critical or even something most people feel a need to do.

Track bar and drag link NEED to be parallel to prevent bump steer and handling issues. This should be measured from bolt to bolt and not necessarily on how the actually links look. If you raised your track bar, you NEED to have flipped your drag link as well. If you did not, this will be part of what you're feeling too.
Click to expand...
Thanks Eddie,
The steering kit that I installed was a 'flip' kit with the drag link relocated to the top of the knuckle. The Yeti track bar bracket is raised and has 2 mounting holes for the track bar, one for 3.5" lift and one for a 4" lift. I used the hole for 3.5". I'll measure bolt to bolt, I never thought to do that!
 
The closer you have the control arms level to the ground the better it’ll handle. Obviously there is a trade off with low hanging parts. Your wheelbase changes as the suspension cycles with steep arms. If one side lowers, like in an aggressive lane change, the axles will move closer and farther from each other creating an unintended steer. Having the front drop brackets do a good job of putting a band aid on this scenario and, have a secondary benefit of ride quality. I wasn’t able to get the darty out of my JK until I addressed the rear also.
 
Thirty7s said:
Thanks Eddie,
The steering kit that I installed was a 'flip' kit with the drag link relocated to the top of the knuckle. The Yeti track bar bracket is raised and has 2 mounting holes for the track bar, one for 3.5" lift and one for a 4" lift. I used the hole for 3.5". I'll measure bolt to bolt, I never thought to do that!
Click to expand...
Kinda of weird that they would give you 2 mounting holes as there should only be ONE right answer regardless of how much lift you installed. But, being that you do have a drag link flip, your issue is most likely being caused by your new ball joints as I had originally stated.
 
Bizcuit said:
The closer you have the control arms level to the ground the better it’ll handle. Obviously there is a trade off with low hanging parts. Your wheelbase changes as the suspension cycles with steep arms. If one side lowers, like in an aggressive lane change, the axles will move closer and farther from each other creating an unintended steer. Having the front drop brackets do a good job of putting a band aid on this scenario and, have a secondary benefit of ride quality. I wasn’t able to get the darty out of my JK until I addressed the rear also.
Click to expand...
Drop brackets or not, long arms or not, neither should make any difference in terms of "darty". Too little caster or no caster will definitely affect how flightly your Jeep feels at highway speeds. Track bar/drag link that aren't parallel will cause bump steer. New ball joints that are too tight will cause sticky steering and give the sensation of darty steering. Rear shouldn't have any affect on how your Jeep steers.

Of course, this is just what I've experienced.
 
wayoflife said:
Drop brackets or not, long arms or not, neither should make any difference in terms of "darty". Too little caster or no caster will definitely affect how flightly your Jeep feels at highway speeds. Track bar/drag link that aren't parallel will cause bump steer. New ball joints that are too tight will cause sticky steering and give the sensation of darty steering. Rear shouldn't have any affect on how your Jeep steers.

Of course, this is just what I've experienced.
Click to expand...
I respectfully disagree, it’s what steers a skateboard. I have a friend that did an LS swap that couldn’t do WOT launches until he added the front drop brackets. My wife would also have a lot to say about the JK until it drove to her liking, which was flattening out the rear. Also, the more lift you have, the track rod would need to be moved to be in perfect angle to the drag link.
 
I have the Clayton 3.5" lift on my 2010 JKU, what size tires do you have?

1/8" toe in, a little more caster with non-stock DS, drag link flip. As mentioned about ball joints, when I installed the Dynatrac Pro ball joints it was a little flighty until they broke in at about 200 miles.

Another thing to check, make sure the stabilizer is parallel to the tie rod and not binding; the best way I found to do this is to put the front on jack stands (make sure they do not block the tire turning lock to lock), then with hands on a tire, turn it lock to lock while keeping an eye on the stabilizer for binding.

Assume you are using the stock stabilizer?
 
Bizcuit said:
I respectfully disagree, it’s what steers a skateboard.
Click to expand...
That's cool. However, the axles on a Jeep with control arms and a track bar are no skateboard trucks.
Bizcuit said:
I have a friend that did an LS swap that couldn’t do WOT launches until he added the front drop brackets.
Click to expand...
Umm, okay. I personally I have a 6.2L LT in my JK and had a 6.2L LS before but then, I also have long arms. Also, never said that there aren't benefits to corrected front end suspension geometry. As I stated, drop brackets OR long arms will provide that. What I did say is that lack of it will not cause a darty feel and I stand by that.
Bizcuit said:
My wife would also have a lot to say about the JK until it drove to her liking, which was flattening out the rear. Also, the more lift you have, the track rod would need to be moved to be in perfect angle to the drag link.
Click to expand...
Well, I would never pretend to know as much as you. The only thing I can go off of is the 4 JK's that I've owned since 2007 and the one I still own riding on 40" tires, 1-tons, long arms, DTD and with a 6.2L under the hood. In my limited experience building all of them up with a myriad of different lift kits and suspension system, I can only say that while flattening out the rear control arms and drag link will help improve ride quality, neither will cause a "darty" feel. But then, that's just me.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom