a little help on a yj

[youdaman]

first of all, this is my first post of a soon to be many :shades:

ive been looking at theis yj for about a week and got him down to 4800 from 5800. its in great condition with original series master craft seats the only problem is it just feels squirrely and almost unresponsive, when i really get on it going about 50 it wants to go all over the place. i think its because the guy who had it before put a 4 in body lift with some 35 in tires and didnt get them aligned or neglected to put in a steering stabilizer. its a 94 with 120000 miles. what do you guys think about this price and how do i fix that problem?

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Not a bad price if the body is solid.

The body lift will not affect the handling you described, but the longer shackles and worn steering components will. I'd remove the body lift asap and install a 4" suspension lift. Any body lift over 1" or 1.25" is booty fab and borderline dangerous.

 

[superj]

and you need a steering stabilizer, bad!!!

nice looking jeep though (from another sahara yj guy )

 

[Gennybro]

Check your tire pressure

 

[Saddle Tramp]

I vote all of the above. Ditch the long shackles and return to stock length; make the 35s (if you want to keep them, might want to go down to a 33 depending upon what type of jeeping you do) fit with a spring lift not a body lift. Most important in my book is to go through the whole steering system piece by piece. I had the same issue in a YJ before and driving down the freeway was just plain scary. It turned out everything was a little loose and worn plus the jeep came to me with long shackles just like the ones your running; the combination resulted in a compounded problem.

 

[youdaman]

I vote all of the above. Ditch the long shackles and return to stock length; make the 35s (if you want to keep them, might want to go down to a 33 depending upon what type of jeeping you do) fit with a spring lift not a body lift. Most important in my book is to go through the whole steering system piece by piece. I had the same issue in a YJ before and driving down the freeway was just plain scary. It turned out everything was a little loose and worn plus the jeep came to me with long shackles just like the ones your running; the combination resulted in a compounded problem.

sorry, i should have made myself clearer earlier, its not death wobble and its not a body lift. the problem is a drift and the jeep altogether feels unstable on the road and feels stiff off the road. i believe ill put in a good steering stabilizer (any suggestions?) and the shackles and replace them with 1 in boomerang shackles and maybe a suspension kit or nothing at all. after ill that ill get the tires aligned. do you think thats a good approach to the problem? thanks for the input guys!

how much could i expect to spend to get this problem fixed and be sitting high again?

 

[superj]

i do. if its just drifing its either hte toe or the caster (ha ha ha, duh. only things you can adjust on these, ha ha ha)

i have used the monroe ones from advanced or autozone on a few jeeps with no problems.

i think i would start with just hte alignment and a steering stabilizer and see how much that fixes your issue. could be as cheap as those two things

 

[Saddle Tramp]

It could be your fame is tweaked a little bit too, not uncommon with older jeeps. Once you have the front end aligned if you still feel a pull it may be due to tire wear. Rotate the fronts to the back and it should take care of it.

 

[jfrabat]

Do you have the sway bar connected? And does it have a track bar? Mine wonders a bit when I loosen these 2 items...