rock7174

Hey all, new poster here. Got a 2016 Sahara Unlimited. Steering is floaty and loose feeling like the title says. I have a 3.5 rough country lift (i know, i know it sucks, but its too late now). Came with LCA's. Caster angle is 6 degrees. Have dual steering stabilizers. 35x12.50 tires. First thing I checked was caster angle and it was 6 degrees. Double checked for loose bolts/nuts, ball joints, etc. I'm just not sure where to go from here. It does have a drop pitman arm and track bar drop bracket. New adjustable track bars, front and back. I've done some searches and read about the typical problems, just don't want to start throwing money at it without diagnosing the actual problem. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

resharp001

Can you describe a bit more what you mean by "loose" steering"? Do you feel like you're having to turn the steering wheel back and forth a lot? When you make a turn, does the steering wheel come back to center by itself? Did you buy the jeep with the lift on it, or is this something you installed? There's no chance ball joints were recently replaced right? You're steering angle should be acceptable with your drop pitman and lowered TB bracket, although most of us would prefer a raised axle-side bracket and DL flip instead. In regards to caster, it's more typical to run in the 4-5* range, but high caster is better than low caster as long as it's not causing driveline issues. Have you considered removing the steering stabilizers and seeing what it feels like without them?

rock7174

Yes, I don't get death wobble per say, but it feels loose and bouncy. I would say I have to steer it back and forth to keep it straight. Not by a lot, but a lot more than the other vehicles I own. And yes it doesn't seem to come back to the center very well, although it does come back to the center. When driving on a paved surface it almost feels like the steering wonders and I have to overcorrect with the steering wheel to keep it straight. I've taken back for an additional alignment and triple checked for loose parts. It also feels a little loose/bouncy when turning at slow speeds. I know the rough country shocks sucks, but I feel every single bump in the road with x10 effect it seems like. I put the lift kit and stabilizer kit on at the same time. Ball joints are definitely stock. Very low mileage JK. Not happy at all with the RC lift. Live and learn I guess. I can take the stabilizer off if you think it needs to be after reading this. Thanks for your reply.

jabeaudett

If you have adjustable Track Bars, have you considered removing the drop pitman arm? (Not that this will solve the issue, just wondering)

I used to have death-wobble with the 2.5'' RC lift. Once I upgraded my drag-link, tie-rod, track bar, and removed my drop pitman arm. All of my bump-steer and death-wobble went away. I also just recently got my Cs gusseted and that tightened up the steering a lot too. I was really surprised, I didn't expect that to have an effect on my steering. With all the steering upgrades, I don't need to run a steering stabilizer.

rock7174

Yeah I've read about the drop pitman arm being a cause of a lot of steering issues, thought about changing back to stock. It that were the cause, do I take off the dropped track bar bracket also?

jabeaudett

It kind of sounds like you are just driving a Jeep.

I know with 35" tires, there is so much more tire on the road that depending on how good or the bad, those tires will find a rut and will pull you around. Also I have heard different things about the dual stabilizers and some people say you need them and others say you don't. So maybe the Dual stabilizer could be over-correcting every little movement.

jabeaudett

If it is a dropped track bar bracket, i would take that off. If its a raised track bar bracket, you could probably leave that on. I have a raised bracket. I question because I haven't heard of a dropped track bar bracket.

rock7174

lol, its raised, typing too fast.

jabeaudett

That's what I thought. I would leave the Track Bar mount on, replace with the stock pitman arm, and then center the axle and adjust everything to fit. That would relieve a lot of stress off of the steering box.

rock7174

I"ll try it and give an update. Unfortunately I tossed my stock arm, so I'll run to the local pull a part and get one. Thanks!