Lots of road wander!!

Oh, man! I can hardly wait to get my brakes bled and the bushings replaced in my steering shaft so I can go get my alignment done and have the caster and toe in checked!!!!

 

I am working on a '79 CJ7 that has the "death wobble".It seems like there is too much gain from the power steering. The pulley is 5.5" in diameter which from previous posts seems right. There is a 2.5" suspension lift and new 33X12.5's. All the linkages seem tight. I turn the wheel a little and the tires respond accordingly. It's seems like from above that the geometry just needs to be adjusted. If I use shims to adjust for caster do they need to be the same one both sides? For this lift do need a dropped pitman? What about the camber angle? Can I reuse the spring bolts after I put the shims in?

 

Lifted jeep, dropped axle and got shims to put in..... the center pin hole in the shims were bored too small! I ordered the shims bundled with 3/8" center pins, so I assumed (my fault ) that the shims they provided would be able to take the 3/8" center pins......................

I have already emailed the manufacturer letting them know my displeasure...

Going to get the shims machined correctly and will try again this weekend.

 

Follow up. Installed the shims this weekend (last night) and it did wonders! I now won't feel worried if the wife is going to borrow the Jeep to drive into town.

 

My FSM says caster for my 75 CJ-5 should be 3*

Is it correct or should I go with what you guys have listed (6*) since i have a 4 inch lift?

 

Did you get your alingment checked beforehand so that you would know what degree your caster was at before you dropped in the shims?

 

Thanks!

 

OK this sounds like my same issue with the 75 I just bought.

The guy did a bunch of different things (lift included) and he said he could never get it "right"

I noticed there are shims on the front of the back axle and NONE on the front......this guy was not a rocket scientist but did buy LOTS of big dollar bling to bolt on this jeep.

I am trying to debug some of the bling and the shims just don't look correct.

Anyone??


1975 CJ5 Renegade
2.5 spring lift
Daystar Shackles

 

Tumbleweed is right about the rear axle shims. Those are meant to reduce the driveshaft angle (to make the u-joints last longer), and don't really affect steering or handling.

To address the steering issues, IMO you particularly need to examine:
1) front suspension geometry; only caster and toe-in are adjustable, with shims and lengthening/shortening the tie rod respectively.
2) condition of the steering parts; put the Jeep on (good quality) jack stands, go underneath, and have someone slowwly turn the steering wheel back and forth. Check for sloppiness from top to bottom. Worn-out steering shaft couplings, steering boxes and spring end bushings are common, but also check the ball joints, tie rod ends, etc.
3) broken frame, spring, steering box mount, etc. Closely inspect everything from front to back.

hth & welcome!

 

I have/had the same problem. One thing I found on mine was that both front axle U-joints were basically stuck. If I drove with the ubs locked it was white knuckle ditch to ditch. The U-joints would jerk the front wheels where ever they decided to go. Even with thehubs unlocked it still drove bad. If I corrected a little it wanted to continue to drive that direction. When I pulled the axles I could hold the axle straight out and the U-joint would not let the hub end of the axle drop. This sort of got me because I kept checking them for play when actually they were rusted fast.

 

Bias ply tires will make the jeep wander.

 

In response to a private message on my problem here is an update.

Is your road wander fixed?

Well, the answer right now is no! I did a disk brake conversion and completely redone all the bearings in the front axle which did make a marked improvement but I still had a lot of road wander. In the meantime I have taken the body tub off so that I can rhino line the under side and inside the cab. While I have the body off I noticed that when I turn the steering rod the whole front chassis flexes ( actually, I just rechecked and it's just the springs flexing side to side!)about an inch before the wheels turn right or left!!!! It looks like the flex is coming from the lift shackles on the front! I think that when I do the shackle reversal the problem will be fixed. If not I may have to put in some support on the front frame. The previous owner installed a track rod (I believe this is what it's called)which is not helping because one of the bolts in the differential is broke and the other is loose. This makes me believe that a leaf sprung vehicle should not have these installed because there is not a lot of room for side to side movement with leaf springs and then a track rod is installed and that's what it does when it flexes (moves the axle slightly side to side)if it isn't installed perfectly level. Once everything is back together I will post my results!!! But the previous owner wasn't much of a welder so I have a lot of work ahead!!!

I hope the pictures help.
Lee

 

more pics......

 

shims were talked alot on this post, but if i can throw my 2 cents in, when i lifted my jeep, pro comp instruction states not to use shims in the front. i installed mine anyway and it made the steering wander alot...so i took it off and steers better without it. it still wanders a bit but i think its just because im running 33x14.5x15 and it seems to follow the crown of the road. airing it down helped alot too.