MedixJK build thread

MedixJK said:
Heres what i still cant figure out, and if anyone can check to verify, that would be awesome. If i put my hand on the joint where the draglink joins the pitman arm, and have some one move the wheel side to side, i cant feel a small thump/knock when the person changes direction on the wheel. It feels worst there, and the farther you move twords the axle, the less you can feel it.
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You may be having the same issue as me. That's EXACTLY what mine does. Matt from Rancho even checked it and thought it was strange. I would love to hear if others have this too. I'm running a 4 inch lift. When I swap my axle, I'm doing the dl flip and afterwards it will be the first thing I check. Strangely that's the joint I was telling you that I've changed 3 times within 500 miles. Once I change it, the steering is tight for about 100 miles, then it's sloppy on bumps again and I can feel the pop when I put my hand on it. Mopar and Moog replaced. I really think my angles are too steep. It i put my hand on the steering box, the pop is felt less than at the dl joint itself.
 
WJCO said:
You may be having the same issue as me. That's EXACTLY what mine does. Matt from Rancho even checked it and thought it was strange. I would love to hear if others have this too. I'm running a 4 inch lift. When I swap my axle, I'm doing the dl flip and afterwards it will be the first thing I check. Strangely that's the joint I was telling you that I've changed 3 times within 500 miles. Once I change it, the steering is tight for about 100 miles, then it's sloppy on bumps again and I can feel the pop when I put my hand on it. Mopar and Moog replaced. I really think my angles are too steep. It i put my hand on the steering box, the pop is felt less than at the dl joint itself.
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Yea i replaced that joint with a heavier duty version after last time we talked about it, no difference. I just cant figure out where any movement could be coming from other than inside the box. Everything else is tight/brand new.
 
WJCO said:
You may be having the same issue as me. That's EXACTLY what mine does. Matt from Rancho even checked it and thought it was strange. I would love to hear if others have this too. I'm running a 4 inch lift. When I swap my axle, I'm doing the dl flip and afterwards it will be the first thing I check. Strangely that's the joint I was telling you that I've changed 3 times within 500 miles. Once I change it, the steering is tight for about 100 miles, then it's sloppy on bumps again and I can feel the pop when I put my hand on it. Mopar and Moog replaced. I really think my angles are too steep. It i put my hand on the steering box, the pop is felt less than at the dl joint itself.
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Have you tried tightening the steering box on yours? That's my first thought when you say the steering gets sloppy.
 
thardy said:
Have you tried tightening the steering box on yours? That's my first thought when you say the steering gets sloppy.
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Yep. Did it a little over a year ago for a wandering issue. That was before this issue. Truthfully, this lift I put on has had bumpsteer since I put it on (due to tb and dl not being parallel), and I think it has caused issues to a lot of parts. I had a track bar jam nut that kept coming loose. I welded it in place after tightening it several times, and the jeep felt the best it ever had....for about 1000 miles. Then these new steering issues popped up. I really think that loose track bar nut was actually helping keep other parts in check (because the force had somewhere easy to go) instead of allowing them to wear out. When I swap the axle, I'm going to make sure dl and tb are parallel and go from there.

The steering box issue was for play at highway speeds and it was fixed for sure. 140k on jeep when I did that and it didn't take much adjustment.
 
Hey man, don't have time to read through your whole thread, but with 37's I'm assuming you have over 2.5"s of lift. I've had tons of DW on Jeep's with coils, not JK, before most even knew what it was. What size lift do you have and are you running adj. Track-bar and control arms?


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XJADDICTION said:
Hey man, don't have time to read through your whole thread, but with 37's I'm assuming you have over 2.5"s of lift. I've had tons of DW on Jeep's with coils, not JK, before most even knew what it was. What size lift do you have and are you running adj. Track-bar and control arms?


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He's running the 3" EVO Plush Rides with JKS adjustable track bar and EVO lower control arms.


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I tried texting Harrison to see what trackbar he has in the front for some reason I want to say it was a JKS but no answer yet. He believes it is the frame side joint on the track bar causing the DW. Figured Id throw that out there

EDIT: talked to him and he said its rubicon express so probably not it then
 
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MedixJK said:
What about caster? Mine is too much i know....i got the dynatrac w the built in caster, and have evo lowers. Right now im at about 8* but i cant shorten the arms anymore. Would that be the root of the problem? If so ill spring for some adjustable uppers
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I think when your caster is that much higher than stock, you can have drive line vibrations that can loosen parts, therefore causing death wobble.
 
Clutch1981 said:
I think when your caster is that much higher than stock, you can have drive line vibrations that can loosen parts, therefore causing death wobble.
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Even if he had driveline vibrations, which is possible, it still shouldn't wear out anything in the steering. At least I wouldn't think so. U joints usually get worn first, then transfer case damage can occur if it is a really bad vibration.
 
That's a good start but as said by many caster is your problem. I was able to nearly stop DW by balance on tires, making sure everything was tight. But always came back. When I had my XJ even with adj. upper and lowers I still had DW lifted over 4.5. When I added drop brackets (old school way to lower CA angles before LA) DW was gone! Never had it again or that spooky feel when the Jeep was on the edge of going into DW. After drop brackets, loose trac-bar, bad balance, even broken steering box bolts didn't send the jeep into DW.

Funny how some keeps just have it and others no matter what you do to them just don't get it.

Try lengthening the lower EVO if they are adjustable. This will get you into more neg. caster and will help stop DW.... but then you can run into drive line bind. Slippery slope. Just go out .5" if they are adjustable. If u don't have adj. lowers go with adj. upper and lowers.

Hope this helps, I hate DW with a passion and when I ended up in the median of the interstate after picking up my newly lifted 3.5" XJ on 32's because I lost control of the jeep, I had no idea what I was getting into. It took a year to sort.


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I said over 4.5" lift I had DW, but I had it on my first lift at 3.5"s with stock control arms. That front caster I can almost guarantee is your problem. XJ's at 5 link cooks up front similar to our JK's. You'll get it. Don't give up.


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XJADDICTION said:
That's a good start but as said by many caster is your problem. I was able to nearly stop DW by balance on tires, making sure everything was tight. But always came back. When I had my XJ even with adj. upper and lowers I still had DW lifted over 4.5. When I added drop brackets (old school way to lower CA angles before LA) DW was gone! Never had it again or that spooky feel when the Jeep was on the edge of going into DW. After drop brackets, loose trac-bar, bad balance, even broken steering box bolts didn't send the jeep into DW.

Funny how some keeps just have it and others no matter what you do to them just don't get it.

Try lengthening the lower EVO if they are adjustable. This will get you into more neg. caster and will help stop DW.... but then you can run into drive line bind. Slippery slope. Just go out .5" if they are adjustable. If u don't have adj. lowers go with adj. upper and lowers.

Hope this helps, I hate DW with a passion and when I ended up in the median of the interstate after picking up my newly lifted 3.5" XJ on 32's because I lost control of the jeep, I had no idea what I was getting into. It took a year to sort.


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He's running adjustable lowers and actually needed to shorten his LCAs because he's running a PR44 Unlimited with the built-in caster adjustment. At this point, if caster is the issue, it's because driveline vibrations are causing other issues.


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Ok. I have just seen short arms cause so many problems because of the steep angle of CA's as you go up in lift. Negative caster from stock always solved the issue for me and friends that had same problem. Though it would also cause front drive-shaft binding, and wasn't a permanent fix for DW. Positive caster with elevated pinion angle in the coil spring XJ's would allow the axle to start a harmonic rotation that would eventually cause the short side of the axle to start wheel hop, then pass to the long side of axle in alternating harmonic wheel hop also called the dread DW. Unbalanced tires and bad steering stabilizers shouldn't cause DW, but with bad CA angles they will cause the axle to initiate it. Just the right Interstate road changes will also initiate it as that axle rotates form the pavement change.

Y'all know the JK way better than I do, just thought I would add another angle, pun intended , to the mix.


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XJADDICTION said:
Ok. I have just seen short arms cause so many problems because of the steep angle of CA's as you go up in lift. Negative caster from stock always solved the issue for me and friends that had same problem. Though it would also cause front drive-shaft binding, and wasn't a permanent fix for DW. Positive caster with elevated pinion angle in the coil spring XJ's would allow the axle to start a harmonic rotation that would eventually cause the short side of the axle to start wheel hop, then pass to the long side of axle in alternating harmonic wheel hop also called the dread DW. Unbalanced tires and bad steering stabilizers shouldn't cause DW, but with bad CA angles they will cause the axle to initiate it. Just the right Interstate road changes will also initiate it as that axle rotates form the pavement change.

Y'all know the JK way better than I do, just thought I would add another angle, pun intended , to the mix.


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Short arms are a big deal with lift on the XJs, not so much on the JKs. Majority of people with JKs, even those with over 4" of lift, don't run a long arm setup, just adjustable short arms. Unlike with an XJ, where just about anything at or above 3" require long arm suspension.


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thardy said:
Short arms are a big deal with lift on the XJs, not so much on the JKs. Majority of people with JKs, even those with over 4" of lift, don't run a long arm setup, just adjustable short arms. Unlike with an XJ, where just about anything at or above 3" require long arm suspension.


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The JK arms are actually more of a "mid arm". This is a huge reason why companies that market mid arms are just a joke.
 
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