Unequal steering throw..

YAYMUD

YAYMUD

New member
Hey guys, I just swapped out a lift a few months back, and noticed I didn't have full throw to the left. I actually had more than I needed to the right and adjusted the stops accordingly, but to the left I'm not even reaching the stop before the steering wheel is full lock. I'm betting this is a steering box matter, anyone have this happen and speak to the likelyhood of this being the case? Is it possibly a simpler thing I overlooked?
 
WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
YAYMUD said:
Hey guys, I just swapped out a lift a few months back, and noticed I didn't have full throw to the left. I actually had more than I needed to the right and adjusted the stops accordingly, but to the left I'm not even reaching the stop before the steering wheel is full lock. I'm betting this is a steering box matter, anyone have this happen and speak to the likelyhood of this being the case? Is it possibly a simpler thing I overlooked?
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Was the pitman arm removed as part of the lift components or was one reinstalled in a different position maybe?
 
jeeeep

jeeeep

Hooked
YAYMUD said:
Hey guys, I just swapped out a lift a few months back, and noticed I didn't have full throw to the left. I actually had more than I needed to the right and adjusted the stops accordingly, but to the left I'm not even reaching the stop before the steering wheel is full lock. I'm betting this is a steering box matter, anyone have this happen and speak to the likelyhood of this being the case? Is it possibly a simpler thing I overlooked?
Click to expand...

have you checked the steering stabilizer? is it bottoming out? you may need to adjust it.
did you change the pitman arm?
 
YAYMUD

YAYMUD

New member
WJCO said:
Was the pitman arm removed as part of the lift components or was one reinstalled in a different position maybe?
Click to expand...
Doesn't look like it. It's in the normal configuration. Doesn't look like it was touched.
 
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YAYMUD

YAYMUD

New member
jeeeep said:
have you checked the steering stabilizer? is it bottoming out? you may need to adjust it.
did you change the pitman arm?
Click to expand...

I don't think the pitman was touched, but I never thought of the stabilizer. I'll take a look after the kids head to bed. Thanks for the feedback.
 
C

CrazyLarry

New member
YAYMUD said:
I don't think the pitman was touched, but I never thought of the stabilizer. I'll take a look after the kids head to bed. Thanks for the feedback.
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Steering stabilizer is the obvious place to start. If it's not that it's your front end geometry assuming your sector shaft or pitman arm isn't bent which is not likely. The jk steering box doesn't have a ton of throw and some don't even get full stop to stop radius. In my case my axle was off center to the passenger side. Centered the axle and centered the steering wheel and its a lot closer. If your not hitting your stops to turning to the left I bet your axle is off center pushed out to the passenger side. When you shorten your trac bar you will also need to shorten your draglink to center the steering wheel which will give you more throw to the left. Sorry if this came off confusing
 
YAYMUD

YAYMUD

New member
CrazyLarry said:
Steering stabilizer is the obvious place to start. If it's not that it's your front end geometry assuming your sector shaft or pitman arm isn't bent which is not likely. The jk steering box doesn't have a ton of throw and some don't even get full stop to stop radius. In my case my axle was off center to the passenger side. Centered the axle and centered the steering wheel and its a lot closer. If your not hitting your stops to turning to the left I bet your axle is off center pushed out to the passenger side. When you shorten your trac bar you will also need to shorten your draglink to center the steering wheel which will give you more throw to the left. Sorry if this came off confusing
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Nope I get it.. Ive spent plenty of time under my front end making adjustments in the past, so I'm pretty familiar. I eventually got frustrated and started with a clean lift with proper geometry. The lift I swapped out was a first run 4"superlift that was one of the first out for the JK. I can only assume they rushed it to market without properly addressing the Axle geometry, because I spent countless hours fiddling with it trying to get it right. Went through about 4 different track bars, rolled my axle and repositioned the spring seats to try and dial in the caster without hurting pinion angle.. It was a pain in the ass.. Its nice and tight now and drives really nice except for having limited throw to the left. Gonna go take a look at the steering damper.. thanks!
 
YAYMUD

YAYMUD

New member
Found the bind. Thanks for leading me to take a closer look at the steering damper. Unfortunately I dont have an extra pair of eyes and hands to try and look at this kind of stuff. It would help to have someone in the vehicle moving the steering so I could look at everything, but I have to use a cleverly placed camera phone and record videos I can watch to see whats going on.

So.. After removing the damper I found it still binding, so I took another look...The problem wasn't the steering damper itself, but rather the absurdly large bracket that mounts it to the tie-rod. the bracket is big enough to just catch on the front of the Diff cover shield that came with my original Superlift. When I put in the long arm kit the new bracket doesnt clear the skid plate on the diff cover as well as the old one. All I have to do is lose the Superlift logo plate and I'm golden. Its the only superlift part still on there anyway. lol!

Thanks for the tips guys! Glad it was something simple, but honestly, easy to overlook..

IMG_3559.jpg IMG_3560.jpg
 
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JKbrick

JKbrick

Active Member
I had a similar problem with a rugged ridge diff skid and had read on here the bottom lip is all you really need to protect from catching on a rock so I cut it so all that is left is the ring the bolts go through.
 
YAYMUD

YAYMUD

New member
JKbrick said:
I had a similar problem with a rugged ridge diff skid and had read on here the bottom lip is all you really need to protect from catching on a rock so I cut it so all that is left is the ring the bolts go through.
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Worked like a charm! I tried repositioning the clamp on the tie rod so that at full left steering lock it wouldn't contact the Diff, but that just resulted in bottoming it out turning right, so I put it back to the original location and just cut the middle out of the Diff skid plate. Its garbage anyway. Sawmax went right through it like butter. The clamp on the tie rod still touches the diff but much further out in the throw travel when steering left so I shimmed out the steering stop and it will stop just before making contact now. I can get a full 600° rotation out of the steering wheel in both directions now! I was only getting about 450° before. Thanks for the help! As soon as I get some shorter diff cover bolts I will just remove the plate entirely.
 
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