Hey all,

About 3 months ago, I was doing an inspection on the suspension in my 2014 JKUR as I would often hear clunky sounds coming from the front end after going over speed bumps or pot holes. I noticed my stock ball joints were a little sloppy, so I opted to replace them with an upgrade, and proactively refresh my tie rods with an upgrade while I was at it (that way I could tackle both projects and do one alignment in the end). However, after doing these upgrades (at home) and an alignment (at my local 4WPs store), my steering is incredibly flightly on the highway, sometimes to the point where I don't feel entirely comfortable driving freeway speeds (randomly decides to dart left or right, seems highly affected by wind around neighboring cars, etc). After some research, I am seeing there could be 2 potential things at play, but wanted to get some feedback from people here that have a lot more experience with lifted JKs than I. The 2 issues I have seen are 1. you need to "break in" the ball joints, some people stating they need to drive up to 1000 miles to break them in, and 2. there could be a castor issue. I am thinking my castor should be pretty good, and am hoping that the ball joints will break in, but I feel they should have broken in by now (I didnt record the exact mileage when I did the repairs, but I should be pretty close to the 1000 mile mark). Any thoughts? It's starting to really bother me as the Jeep feels a little unpredictable at times and I am not sure where to go (alignment seems good, and all of the parts I got should be quality parts. I installed everything with my dad who has been a mechanic for 40 years).

Details on my Jeep:

• 2014 JKUR, manual, with 121k miles
• 3.5 inch Metal Cloak lift fox edition, link to the exact one: https://metalcloak.com/jk-wrangler-3...uspension.html
  • Front and rear adjustable track bar
  • Front and rear adjustable control arms
  • Front and rear sway bar links
  • Fox shocks and dual-rate springs
• 35x12.5 Load E Good Year KO2's

Upgrades I performed, where after I felt flightly steering:

• Metal Cloak HD steering system, link: https://metalcloak.com/jk-wrangler-m...x-edition.html
• New drag link and rod ends
• New tie rod and ends
• Fox steering stabilizer
• Rare Parts Dual Load Bearing Ball Joint Kit, link: https://www.rareparts.com/RP12573A-1...BALL-JOINT-KIT

After the upgrades were installed, here are the before-and-after adjustment alignment results from 4WPs:

Additional comments:

• The steering itself doesn't feel "sloppy", as in, if I turn the steering wheel even a little bit, the jeep changes direction pretty quickly (sometimes it seems a little over-steer).
• Before the balljoint and tie rod / drag link upgrades, my Jeep felt a little "loose" in the steering, but not bad at all and drove very comfortably.
• My lift has been installed for over 4 years and has felt great the entire time.
• I keep tire pressure around 30PSI, with these tires being load range E, it's a little bumpy. I would think the tires would be fairly stiff for their size, so I wouldn't think it would be sidewall play (plus I never noticed this before the latest upgrades).

Do folks think my alignment is good? Seems like my caster should allow for pretty good feel on the highway. I don't really know where to go from here, maybe I do just need to drive more to break the ball joints in, but I should be getting pretty close to 800 miles or so and I dont feel like things are getting any better. I am open to any inputs yall may have!!

 

Can you please add a picture of your front end so we can see what things look like? I would say that 99% of ball joints out there are very tight when installed and need to be broken in, BUT, those Rare Parts are the exception. Those suckers shouldn't need it. I've helped a buddy install those before and you can literally turn the knuckles with a few inch pounds of force after install. It's a great product and a great company. It is certainly not a caster issue IMO.

You do not have a high-steer kit installed right? That new DL was installed in the factory position? Just trying to confirm maybe you didn't flip that due to your lift height, but you didn't use a raised TB bracket so now you're DL and TB would be out of alignment. shot in the dark but hard to tell with no picture.

 

Here are some pics of the front end! No change to mounting locations or anything like that. The drag link and tack bar are pretty parallel to each other, it's a little hard to tell in the pics because I had to take the picture at a lower angle, otherwise my bumper was blocking the view. the only mounting location that changed was where the steering stabilizer is mounted on the axle, you can see the little bracket that pulls that up higher.

Here are a bunch of pics, let me know if you need any others! thanks for your time! Note - the knuckles and axles aren't new or aftermarket, we just painted them with black paint after removing some of the rust. They are original.

 

"Alignment seems good " is that because of the way it handles or from review of the alignment numbers. is it possible the alignment took some caster out to bring closer to stock. Does the alignment sheet show any change at all in caster angle ? other than that Resharp makes good point about the DL and trac bar alignment.

 

Well, nobody can point to you installing crap products, cuz you have bout the best items we got going in that regard. Something isn't adding up here.......cuz i don't believe for a second you have any issue with those new MC products. Did you install the ball joints yourself or did a shop? I'm thinking that maybe you did em since you painted the knuckles, presumably while they were off. Just trying to eliminate any X-factor in those being installed to spec per RP instructions.

We all have different ways of explaining things. New ball joints that are tight will require a lot of steering input, especially at lower speeds IMO, as the steering wheel doesn't want to return to center as naturally......so it feels like you're having to steer back and forth a decent bit to stay in the lane. It's been a while, but from what I recall it evens out a bit more at higher speeds, though i could be misremembering as it's been years since I've dealt with this personally.

 

I have the Rare Parts BJ's and a MC 3.5" GC lift as well. When I had the bj's installed there wasn't any kind of break in period. They just worked right from the moment I left the parking lot of the shop. I also had the C's welded, a regear done and the PSC Big Bore XDII steering box installed all at the same time just for reference. But yeah, I can't see anything in the pics or the alignment sheet that would lead me to think you have loose, wandering steering. Only thing I would suggest, is to go through with a torque wrench and just recheck all the fasteners. I see that you have most everything marked with paint pen to visibly see if anything moved on you, but it might be worth just to recheck.

 

I am just saying alignment seems good from the numbers on the sheet, if I didn't have the numbers on the sheet I would definitely say alignment was out due to the seemingly random darts/pulls on the highway. Sometimes the thing feels pretty good on the highway, then randomly the jeep will tend to the next lane, and I will correct, and it almost over corrects. At first, I thought I just had to get used to the tighter feeling in the steering wheel (maybe due to the new BJ's but also the new stabilizer), but I think I should be getting used to it by now / something just feels off. Our other car is a Subaru cross trek and I get used to that car within a few minutes, I would think that after hundreds of miles I would have adjusted my driving style to fit the new feel of the jeep. But like I said, it just feels... off.. I will admit I don't have any experience driving other lifted/built vehicles like mine though, so I don't have much of a baseline, but before the TB, DL, stabilizer, and Rare Parts BJ's, I had absolutely no issues driving on the highway.

 

Idk how to delete replies - I removed this and replied in a separate comment.

 

That was my philosophy behind it all, I really wanted to get the best parts for the peace of mind. I plan to drive this thing until it dies, so I wanted quality parts that last.

I did install the BJs myself with my mechanic dad, and we did watch a bunch of videos and follow the instructions very closely, so I would be surprised if we did something off or wrong, but I guess it isn't an impossibility. I guess to check on that variable, I can take the knuckle off and follow the install instructions from there onwards again to see if anything improves. Maybe we messed up setting the preload or something.

I do feel like I have to fight back and forth a bit to stay in the lane, and I do feel that I often end up over correcting, but something feels off as the jeep just doesn't stay true, and sometimes, without turning the steering wheel, it decides to fairly quickly veer off to the other lane. I have tried compensating my driving style and turn the wheel more slowly / be less reactive, but that also doesn't really feel right. I am a pretty good driver, a car guy, and pretty mechanically savvy, so I think I would be able figure out if something is wrong with how it drives vs just me over correcting or driving weird, but the more I drive it, the more my gut tells me something ain't right with it. Gets worse with higher speeds as well!

 

I think I will re-check the installation of the BJ's (make sure the pre-load and stuff is right), and see what else folks can recommend for me.