Willforrest

So I’m new to the jk world. I bought a low mile 12’ jk with a “ new rc 6” lift” The first week or so it drove better than I expected. Then one day out of nowhere I get bump steer. So I start doing some research and just decided to replace my track bar, drag link, shocks and all. I still have it…. Here are a few pictures… thank you in advance

resharp001

You are going to have a real mess on your hands there IMO. 6" lift is redonk on a JK, and Rough Country in general is bad news for you. There is no way you're going to get decent caster with that lift IMO, and your steering angles are way WAY too steep. Wrapping things up at work and then hitting the road. If someone else doesn't chime in here with an explanation I'll try to elaborate more this evening when I have a moment.


Can you please add some pictures of your front control arms....both axle and frame side mounts.

Willforrest

Thank you for the reply. In all honesty, I think the 6” lift the dealership claimed is only 3.5”. I looked up the part number on the springs and never seen 6” springs. It had the factory track bar on it, which had my axle kicked to the driver side roughly 1.5”. So I put an adjustable one on thinking it would fix it but it didn’t.

goalie94

Still learning, But have had to mess with my jeep a bunch.
When you go with a decent size lift (Over 2.5 inches) all the geometry gets messed up under the jeep, Typically adjustable control arms are needed to help bring everything back into alignment.
My guess is if you were to go to Belle Tire and get a free alignment check you would find that your caster is really low since you have longer springs and shocks and did not lengthen your control arms Thus rotating the axle and lowering the Caster and also decreasing driving quality.

I would start by getting a free alignment check to double check, But I am guessing you will either need adjustable control arms or you are going to need geometry brackets to bring everything back into spec.

Let a pro chime in but that's what I have learned so far.

resharp001

So, best I can tell from those pictures is you have aftermarket springs under the jeep and not a whole lot else TBH, considering you didn't even have an adjustable front TB. There is no caster correction that I can see, so your caster is really low, and your steering angles are very sharp (the angle your DL and TB are running from the frame side down to the axle). The combination of those two things right there is typically enough to create bumpsteer. If you have a bad joint in the mix that would only accentuate it further. Once you lift over 3" you benefit from a "high steer kit" which will raise the TB mount on the axle by 3" and will flip the DL to the top of the knuckle (this requires 1) drilling the knuckle and 2) a DL that can be mounted in that orientation). If that is really a 3.5" lift with no caster correction, I'd guess your caster is about 2.8 degrees. You'd really like that caster up over 4 degrees. There are a few ways to increase caster, including adjustable control arms as mentioned above. You could also add some control arm brackets which are fairly inexpensive ($100-$160).

On a side note, you should have a raised TB bracket on the axle in the rear as well. If you don't, you should look to add one. I'm guessing there might not be any brake line adjustment on that either considering the lack of other stuff. Brake line brackets are cheap......better solution is longer brake lines.

You can google "jeep jk factory height" and find a picture where to measure in both front and rear to determine your actual lift height the jeep is netting. Sorry....don't have the pics handy at the moment.

resharp001

To illustrate your steering angles, look at your pic here followed by how my DL is running. You can't really see my TB but it's running parallel behind the DL (I've got a 3.5" lift).

Willforrest

I want to thank you both for the knowledge. It’s people like y’all that make this community great. So it looks like I need to spend more money😂. The drag link is aftermarket as well. Is it possible to flip it after I drill my knuckles? Also, with my adjustable TB do I still need a drop pitman arm or axle side mounts? Im sorry if these are stupid questions, just trying to learn. Thank you again

resharp001

First off, they're not dumb questions. There's a steep learning curve for folks, especially when buying something that is modified. A big obstacle is trying to figure out what the hell someone else along the line did, or did not do, to the vehicle. Most people start out not knowing what they don't know. NBD. There are often some folks that will take the time to help explain. I'm all for people understanding their vehicles, and if possible, working on them themselves. If people are wanting to learn and understand, then I'm fine taking the time to explain.

So, Rough Country is known for using a drop pitman arm on their higher lifts. From the pictures above I could not tell if that was a drop pitman or not. There is one picture that kinda shows the pitman arm but it's not super clear. Due to the extremely steep angle the DL is running, and because the jeep didn't look like it had a whole lot else on it besides springs (not even an adjustable TB) I kinda assumed it was not a drop pitman. If that is a drop pitman arm, then THAT is a big part of your issue because there is no adjustment (neither axle nor frame side) to the TB. The TB and DL need to stay parallel in how they're running from axle to frame side. If you alter one and not the other you will have issues.

To be clear, this is what the drop pitman is relative to the factory -



That angle and length of the drop should be easy to distinguish when you look at it. Please report back if you have a drop pitman on there or not. Drop pitman arms should be avoided at all cost on your JK. They are a huge source of issues with folks that show up here looking for help with their steering.

Next.....that drag link is not the factory one, but it appears as though they are OEM "like" ends. I'd guess Crown, Dorman, etc. Anyhow, the issue with that DL is the bend at the axle side. If you tried to flip that up to mount on top of the knuckle then the bend would be to the backside of the axle and create some obvious issues. If you were to do a high-steer kit you'd have to replace that DL in some form or fashion. SteerSmarts has a no-drill kit where you just replace that one end and then use a tapered bushing in the knuckle.....then you need to combine that with a TB bracket on the axle. You could also replace the DL with something that can be mounted in either orientation. Metalcloak is a great company and their DL would be my suggestion -

https://metalcloak.com/hi-steer-kit-jk-wrangler.html

Drag links typically aren't super cheap . Here is a link to the SteerSmarts I mentioned above -

https://steersmarts.com/products/cop...df551d38&_ss=r

Keep in mind you'd have to add a TB bracket for that as well.....so the total price is likely $100 more.

Another option for you to think about is that you likely don't really need that much height. The better move might be to just replace the springs and come down to 2.5". That would make life easier to adjust your caster as well. Higher is not really better. You should just life to accommodate tires, but there are a lot of folks out there that just want higher and higher and higher just for looks.....and they don't think about how that affects their steering and center of gravity.

If it were me, I'd probably opt to bring the jeep down cuz it's kinda a long road ahead. That still has the factory front DS on it too. At that kinda height what happens is the boot protecting the CV joint by the transfer case will rip and allow all the grease to escape (you'd see line of grease on the underside of the tub above that). The joint will dry, start clicking (typical bad CV noise) and you'd be looking at a new front DS. Lowering the jeep back down a bit isn't going to completely eliminate the chance of this happening, but it can help. I have seen this happen on a buddy's jeep with a 2.5" budget boost that never left the pavement.....so it does happen. At 3"+, it's just a matter of time.

Also, you have no front sway bar on the jeep. You may or may not be aware.

newt_man1

If I may, I would stay away from a drop pit man arm, think about the amount of stress it could be under on the trials opening yourself up to a snapped steering box. Consider a Yeti drag link flip kit, it moves the drag link from under the knuckle to the top, no drilling at all. Its a pretty straight forward install. However, with the lift being over 3" you may want to look into new front lower and rear upper control arms to fix the drive line and driveshaft angles. Brackets are ok but, they become the low hanging fruit, Tera Flex Sport non-adjustable control arms are a really good option for this swap and inexpensive.

Willforrest

Thank y’all for the replies. I looked at the pitman arm and it seems to be stock. I have chased this bump steer until I’m blue in the face. I really appreciate the insight. All of the steering components are less than a month old, so it would be hard to convince the wife I need to redo it again. If I were to drop it down with 2.5” springs, would I eliminate the need to purchase adjustable control arms and aftermarket DS. I just want it to drive right with 35s on it and be ok I’m the woods.