Did I buy the wrong Truck?

[GTABurnout]

So I am pretty new here I really enjoy the road trip type of traveling. The off road stuff is kinda new to me but so far it has been good. Now here lies the problem. I did a little reasurche and decided a Jeep Chereokee fit my requirements pretty well and for the price it seemed like the only option for a expo type set up.

So I found my self a low milage cherokee, 34K to be exact. Think I have a good platform I begin.

Now the issues begin. Truck always viped a little but with the new OME lift it got really bad. So a SYE will be going in. The truck with 31's on it feels like a death trap at any speed over 70mph, and throw a turn in and I am holding on for dear life. Now on my second set of steering and I feel out of control in a stright line, dead spot. I live in Tucson so 100 degree days are going to be mild and I am seriously concerned that this thing is going to need a cooling over haul just to avoid over heating.

So I guess I am looking for some words of advice from other cherokee guys on whats wrong with my set up or what they did to cure these issues.

If the SYE dosen't cure the vibs I am putting it up for sale and I will save up for a Toyota. I need something that is decent off road and basically good on road. This cherokee is just laughing at me as I dump money in to her.

Help or tell me i missed the call and just give up because its not the right truck. Thanks...

 

[Rev]

what does "viped" mean? That is a term with which I'm not familiar.

 

[SixLug]

he meant "vibes" as in vibrations.

Ok buddy...take a DEEEEP breath. XJs are awesome platforms and extremely capable rigs. The SYE will almost surely take the vibrations out of the picture. 31's are not big tires and Im pretty sure they are not causing the steering issues. When jeeps are lifted, they get death wobble and all kinds of other messy steering woes. Did you get it properly aligned after the lift was installed? Caster still ok? Are your drag link and track bar parallel to each other? Check all these things, and check out NAXJA.org. There is an absolute crapload of information on steering issues on the web, and that is the best place to start (naxja i mean). Anyway, with 34k on that thing, you are just breaking it in. Its a great platform. Ive had a Toyota 4runner also, and personally, I really like the XJ better. Solid axles front and back, parts are inexpensive, there are millions and millions of aftermarket upgrade options, the engine and auto tranny are bulletproof (the AW4 tranny is made by AISIN who does Toyota stuff)....I could keep going. The gas mileage is decent even after a lift and tires b/c the engine is a beast (my lifted 4runner got 14 on the highway with a wind at my back downhill on a good day, on 31's). Anyway, calm yourself...you got a great ride.

 

[GTABurnout]

I am sorry about the speeling I just type and post I will proof read a little better. I have been to NAXJA.com and used them as a resource. Problem is some of those guys are just happy that no parts fall off when on road, not my idea of a good ride. Steering was aligned but maybe it has gone bad again? I am not asking anything extream out of it typical stuff, 3" lift 31" tires. I want to be able to curise on the freeway at 80. And do mild trails. I am just unsure if this thing will ever be able to to this with out being a pain in the MMM on Road.

 

[Zeero]

Hey you have a great platform....but when you start wrenching and adding things, you will notice little things sound different....tires and roof racks especially....alot more vibrating and rattling...

If you want a smooth quiet comfortable ride, then my suggestion is, don't modify it.....keep it stock.

All platforms will make noise of some kind when adjusted and tweaked....and handling characteristics tend to go all crazy when you start making the track wider and the centre of gravity higher.

The minute you make a modification, you have pretty much lost the factory ride.

 

[SixLug]

I have the exact same setup....3.5" and 31's. Drive at 80 all day without any problems at all, and no steering problems whatsoever. I promise its possible. And there are a lot of guys on NAXJA that feel that way, but tons of those guys dont DD there XJs and some that do also have other vehicles. But then there are guys with extremely well built and solid rigs there. If you have stock steering components, think about upgrading them. You can swap in a V8 ZJ tie rod and from what Ive heard, it makes a night and day difference in the tightness of the steering.

 

[DaJudge]

I have an XJ with 5" of lift and 33x12.5s and would drive it anywhere.

You stated you are on your second set of steering....what do you mean? Have you changed your steering components with aftermarket ones? If so, which ones?

Don't through away a great platform. Let's figure out what is wrong.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

If you are running JCR or Rugged Ridge steering (or any other inverted-t setup), get rid of it. That steering will cause a dead spot in the center. You will want to stick with an inverted-y setup (currie) or replace the passenger knuckle and go for a full crossover setup (Tera).

As for the vibes, the SYE should take care of those, as long as you set both the front and rear pinion angles correctly. Also make sure your driveshafts are balanced and not causing the vibes. These vibes can happen on any lifted vehicle if your pinion angles are off or your driveshafts are out of balance.

I run 32's on my XJ and have no issues with vibes or steering....but it did take a little work and fine tuning on my part.

The answer to your problem is not to sell the XJ and buy something different.....because once you do, and you lift the new rig (whatever it may be), you will run into the same issues if you aren't willing to get your angles correct and make sure your suspension and steering geometry is correct, etc...

 

[Rev]

he meant "vibes" as in vibrations.

LOL. Thanks. I thought it was some sort of secret Jeep thing.

 

[ExpoMike]

The biggest things the contribute to the feared "death wobble" is lack of Caster or worn out steering and suspension parts. I had found a chart at one time that listed how long the lower control arms needed to be with different lift amounts. Since I am at 3" of lift, the chart showed a 1/4" longer then the stock arms. Since I had bought adjustable JKS arms, I lenthened them a 1/4" over stock and had the toe set to factory specs. No issues 2.5 years later.

Since I did a SYE from the start, I also never had vibes from the rear half. When I had the front axle regeared to match the 4.10's in the back, they mentioned that I should replace the u-joints as they were starting to get a little loose. I haven't done that yet and do get some vibes over 75 mph.

Personally if you are looking to do long distance driving at or above 80 mph, yeah, you might have gotten the wrong vehicle. Solid axle Jeeps just are not high speed cruisers. I have found 70 mph seems to be the sweet spot. Ride and handles nice, get the best gas mileage (it really drops over 75 mph) and no vibe issues.

BTW, even with a mild 3" lift, it will wear out the track bar much quicker then stock hight. Worn out track bars are the #1 problem with most death wobble problems. The factory mounting bracket on the subframe is known to loosen up so double check the torque on ALL of the suspension bolts.

Good luck and hang in there. Ask whatever you need to.

 

[SixLug]

ha ha...BTW, I was just reading an unrelated thread on NAXJA and saw a post you made one day ago.

Mine sucks... Kinda wish I wnet Toyota but little late now..

Keep the Jeep.

 

[GTABurnout]

good this is the stuff I was looking for. I was begining to think these things were trail rigs that were out of there element on road. I guess a Currie steering kit is in my future. I am currently running RR kit. The stock was blown out when I bought the jeep. Now the RR kit has blown a boot already at around 3K miles. As for the pinion angles I guess I need to make sure they are correct. Right now the jeep has no driveshafts in it and awaits a SYE.

I hope I can get it dialed in. Sounds like most of you have been successful so I will be here looking for advice. NAXJA,is full of "I told you so" Rock crawlers so I tend to seaerch there and post very little.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[GTABurnout]

ha ha...BTW, I was just reading an unrelated thread on NAXJA and saw a post you made one day ago.



Keep the Jeep.

Yeah I get frustrated when my heavly cammed Camaro is a better DD then my stock slightly lifted XJ.

I will get it, hopefully before I have 5K invested in to a 4K truck.

 

[2drx4]

If you are running JCR or Rugged Ridge steering (or any other inverted-t setup), get rid of it. That steering will cause a dead spot in the center. You will want to stick with an inverted-y setup (currie) or replace the passenger knuckle and go for a full crossover setup (Tera).

I don't know if you're totally correct or not. I haven't driven any of the mentioned setups. Anyways, JCR had a lot of complaints about the dead spot caused by the tie-rod rolling the drag link rather than pushing it (a problem that is basically inherent to inverted-T unless the drag link and tie rod are perfectly parallel; which basically can't happen). JCR 'solved' this problem by machining a round spacer out of polyurethane that goes between the steering arm and the TRE. Basically the gyst of it is that it limits the misalignment of the TRE, meaning that the tie rod can't roll.

However, I think they still dropped the ball since there is a factory part ment to do the same thing for grand wagonners and j-trucks, as they ran inverted-T steering and it's really hard to sell a vehicle that has unresponsive steering. The factory part is made of hard rubber laminated with steel washers. It is very effective at locking out the TRE, and will only allow for slightly more than the minimal (almost zero) amount of misalignment required in the TREs on the tie rod (there is some misalignment required because both knuckles don't steer equally due to ackerman). Polyurethane is hard, but I doubt it is as hard as the OEM jeep part.

On my trail rig, I ran inverted-T. It was so unresponsive that I wound up using washers to lock out the TREs. I totally immobilized one TRE, and let the other one float. After that it actually drove fairly well - for a leaf sprung redneck fab truck with unbalanced 37s.

So, in summary, some inverted T might be okay. I don't buy parts, so I really have trouble recommending anything.

And I wouldn't BUY an inverted-Y setup. But that's me.

 

[crosbike]

I run JCR's setup and i had the dead spot and all that crap even with their crappy spacer. I took matters into my own hands and made 2 spacers (1 for passenger and 1 for the driver side) out of some HDPE from mcmaster and my jeep steers like a dream.