Will cross caster affect "sticky steering"

CrazyLarry said:
I changed the draglink cause the tie rod ends were shot. I installed the new draglink out of the package with no adjustents made. Once installed I set the toe to 1/8 of an inch in. My wheels have 4.75 backspacing and wheel spacers are 1.5 for a total of 3.25 back spacing. My balljoints are synergys as well with 10k miles on them so they shoul be broken in.
Click to expand...

well, if I were dealing with this - assuming you have your steering stabilizer centered properly, I'd start with the draglink by measuring center to center of the stock draglink (hopefully you still have it), if it all checks I'd try removing the wheel spacers worst case you can reset your steer stop just before the point it's causing bind:
http://wayalife.com/content.php?169-TECH-TIP-Jeep-JK-Wrangler-Steer-Stop-Adjustment
 
Draglink measures the same as stock I still have the stock one in my basement. I'll give removing the wheel spacers a try considering I installed those around the same time as the draglink. Not sure how that could be causing poor steering returnability but at this point I'm willing to try everything. I do feel like I have a very tight turning radius almost like those machines that have the back wheels turn lol. What do you mean by resetting the steering stops? I know how to adjust them with spacers but not sure if you mean the same thing. The link isn't working
 
CrazyLarry said:
Draglink measures the same as stock I still have the stock one in my basement. I'll give removing the wheel spacers a try considering I installed those around the same time as the draglink. Not sure how that could be causing poor steering returnability but at this point I'm willing to try everything. I do feel like I have a very tight turning radius almost like those machines that have the back wheels turn lol. What do you mean by resetting the steering stops? I know how to adjust them with spacers but not sure if you mean the same thing. The link isn't working
Click to expand...

there's a write-up under the Articles menu called "Jeep JK Wrangler Steer Stop Adjustment"
 
So i just wanted to update this in case anyone is having similar issues. Before all tests I removed the steering stabilizer btw. I tried removing the wheel spacers to see if my steering returnability improved with no luck. It seems where it is sticking the most is between the 10 and 2 postion at the wheel and at full lock in both directions. Everything in between full lock and and 10 and 2 the steering wheel returns fine. I jacked up the front end and manually pushed in pulled the tires in both directions. I felt the most resistence was when the tires were almost straight in both directions which kind of goes in line with where the steering is at its stickiest between 10 and 2 when driving. With the truck running and the front end jacked up I felt no binding in the entire steering cycle the wheel turned smoothly. I also flushed the power steering fluid 5 times to get all the old fluid out and the new in. I also greesed my 10k mile old synergy ball joints. I am running a synergy drag link and tie rod with plenty of greese as well. the toe and caster are fine as i posted the numbers earlier in this thread. The ujoints are spicer ujoints that came with my ten factory axles which also have 10k miles. I guess my next move is disconnecting the tie rod and draglink to see if the knuckles have free play. At this point it could be a lot of things I guess. Im kind of stumped because the most common cause for this is bad ball joints, ujoints and poor caster and all these front end parts were replaced. If they werent i would start with the obvious balljoints and go from there but they are pretty new. Any tips would be welcome thanks guys
 
Had the whole front end apart yesterday found out my 10k mile old synergy balljoints were binding up on the passenger side. Replaced and fixed the problem. Thanks for everyone's help
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom