Steering wander with 3" lift

[bsures]

I recently installed a Rocky Road OME 3" lift on my 94 FZJ and am getting noticeable steering wander at highway speeds and the vehicle plus to the right when lifting off throttle; 2860 and 2850J springs, with OME nitrogen shocks and caster adjuster. I have custom tube bumpers with a winch up front and tire carrier and jerry can hold on the rear.

I'm getting mixed recommendations from Slee and Rocky Road as to what the culprit is.

Slee says its the springs and Rocky Road says is the control arms.

Any other suggestions would are welcome.

 

[slow95z]

No way the caster bushings are enough. Put stock bushings back in and move to caster plates.

 

[inkpot]

Look at your control arm bushings. Your lift may be magnifying any wear/slop in those, especially if they are originals.

 

[BILT4ME]

I just installed an OME 2.5" (850's and 863) with nitro's and I'm getting the same thing. I KNOW my bushings on everything are worn out, so I'm not griping until AFTER I'm done installing ALL new bushings.

 

[LINUS]

No way the caster bushings are enough. Put stock bushings back in and move to caster plates.

Yep. Doublecheck the radius arm bushings, and the panhard rod ones.

And you might as well toss some cash @NLXTACY for a set of caster plates.

 

[baldilocks]

Steer to the right on decel is bump steer. You probably need longer panhard bars to center the axle. Along with that, you’ll need to adjust the drag link length. You’ve opened the can of worms that is now your life. Welcome to the insanity.

 

[Tools R Us]

Steer to the right on decel is bump steer. You probably need longer panhard bars to center the axle. Along with that, you’ll need to adjust the drag link length. You’ve opened the can of worms that is now your life. Welcome to the insanity.

What? Even if it had something to do with bump steer, don't see how slightly lengthening the panhard is going to solve it?

 

[Dave 2000]

With that kind of lift, would the stock panhard be pulling the axle off centre from the body? Hitting a bump may release some of the tension and allowing for some axle movement pull the 80 slightly off line?

Take that as a guess, I have not fitted an 80 with anything over 2" so a little out of my depth here.

Regards

Dave

 

[tpizza01]

I had similar problems and I would consider multiple things in addition to the panhards which I agree should be first thing ...


Things I did that have me tracking straight now (again, specific to my vehicle), in no particular order (except for getting panhards done first):

- Agreed first on NEW PANHARDS. It will help get the vehicle where it needs to be. When I did my first lift, a TJM and ICon at 4" I was having noticeable drift. Once I installed the new panhards, it corrected considerably.

- If you have caster plates installed on stock bushings then I don't see how that could be the problem unless you smashed the plates on a rock or something to throw them out.

- check steering and adjust as needed. Your steering wheel will likely never be 100% center but you can get fairly straight tracking. This doesn't really seem related to your particular issue, but is a suggestion anyway.

- check your tire pressure. If you are running stock tires, then it might not be as big an issue, but if you are running oversized 34-35, then you will want to run them higher. I currently have 35s and run about 38# and it seems to agree with the vehicle. When I go lower, I drift. If I go higher than 40# then it is a little squirrely and hard to control making sudden movements while driving - scared the piss out of me a few times.

- Get your alignment checked. You cannot adjust caster obviously, but adjusting toe can help considerably. After switching to a 3" full icon lift recently, I was having issues still with the above (squirrely) and the alignment wound up being a huge help. I got the alignment done and wheels rebalanced with weights instead of beads, at my last knuckle rebuild. Truck drives straight aside from the occasional minor sway from being about 6k pounds and lifted. But even with, it is easy to control and I have no issues.

Keep in mind also - once you touch this truck, it will never be the same, If you are particular about things then it will be a constant battel to get you where you want it. I'm fairly particular and it took me a while to put all the pieces together to get mine to where I can enjoy the drive.

good luck!

 

[landtank]

post up your hub to flare measurement and what caster correction is installed. I can pretty much tell you where you are at with caster without putting it on a rack.

 

[Tennessee80]

OME J Springs are also more than 3 inches of lift… IIRC

 

[baldilocks]

What? Even if it had something to do with bump steer, don't see how slightly lengthening the panhard is going to solve it?

Firstly, the OP apparently didn’t have this problem prior to the 3”lift so, in my mind, worn bushings are not the issue.
The lift shortened the distance from the RH steering arm to the pitman arm so now the drag link is too long and the steering box is off center. I had the same issue when I first installed J springs without an adjustable panhard.

 

[Tools R Us]

Firstly, the OP apparently didn’t have this problem prior to the 3”lift so, in my mind, worn bushings are not the issue.
The lift shortened the distance from the RH steering arm to the pitman arm so now the drag link is too long and the steering box is off center. I had the same issue when I first installed J springs without an adjustable panhard.

The panhard and drag link are parallel, about the same length (drag link being slightly longer) travel in the same arc, so wont cause bump steer. Agree that adjustment is needed, we set toe (lifted, bigger tires, etc, often like a little more toe for stability) set turn stops, drag link, etc, as part of every lift job. Drive and work on a variety of rigs, with and without adj panhards, when well setup, cant tell the difference from the driver seat.

 

[cava454]

With that kind of lift, would the stock panhard be pulling the axle off centre from the body? Hitting a bump may release some of the tension and allowing for some axle movement pull the 80 slightly off line?

Take that as a guess, I have not fitted an 80 with anything over 2" so a little out of my depth here.

Regards

Dave

Exactly what was happening to me.

I just had this exact same issue. 3 degree off set caster bushes. Adjustable pan hards and sway bar extensions fixed my issue.

Caster is now +1
My sway bars are no longer under tension even on flat ground.
My diff is now central and the car no longer leans and sways with the road.

 

[Heckraiser]

1994 fzj80. Good chance all the suspension bushings are shot. 3" lift, OME caster correction is marginal, if not totally inadequate.

It's not the springs, it's the control arms.... don't understand any of that garbage. You just need proper caster correction for the lift you've got. Landtank caster correction plates or slee castor correction plates would fix. Might introduce driveline vibration. Welcome to the fun. Search is your friend.

 

[bsures]

1994 fzj80. Good chance all the suspension bushings are shot. 3" lift, OME caster correction is marginal, if not totally inadequate.

It's not the springs, it's the control arms.... don't understand any of that garbage. You just need proper caster correction for the lift you've got. Landtank caster correction plates or slee castor correction plates would fix. Might introduce driveline vibration. Welcome to the fun. Search is your friend.

What should I expect to have to fix for driveline vibration?

 

[baldilocks]

What? Even if it had something to do with bump steer, don't see how slightly lengthening the panhard is going to solve it?

I can’t argue with your logic but we also know that every old 80 has its own personality.

 

[baldilocks]

What should I expect to have to fix for driveline vibration?

A DC front shaft should fix and front driveline vibes with your lift after castor plates are installed.

 

[landtank]

I've not seen where 80s have their own personalities. What I have seen is where people use the spring manufacturer's lift height as the bases of what correction components are needed. And because of build differences the truck's ride height differs even though they use the same springs.

So what I've seen is that all trucks with a similar ride height will all use the same components and all run as expected, regardless of what springs/shims were used to get to there.

Install the springs and gear, then take the hub to flare measurement to determine ride height and then move onto correcting suspension geometry.

3" springs in my experience can go either way on what is needed. A light truck can be more than 3" in ride height and a heavy truck less than 3". And the spring rate between manufacturers is different and influences that as well. This seems to be a transition point where you really need to get the measurements because the solution is not as hard set as a 2.5" or 4" lift is.

 

[baldilocks]

No two same model cars behave exactly same, not even the day they roll off the line. Add 20 years, multiple owners, and all parts at various stages of degradation from newly replaced to never replaced in 200k miles and what you have is a car that behaves according to these conditions and unlike most cars that look like it. This is why I spent a lot of money replacing “stuff” early on to eliminate as many idiosyncrasies as possible.

And, you took the term “personalities” literally.

I've not seen where 80s have their own personalities. What I have seen is where people use the spring manufacturer's lift height as the bases of what correction components are needed. And because of build differences the truck's ride height differs even though they use the same springs.

So what I've seen is that all trucks with a similar ride height will all use the same components and all run as expected, regardless of what springs/shims were used to get to there.

Install the springs and gear, then take the hub to flare measurement to determine ride height and then move onto correcting suspension geometry.

3" springs in my experience can go either way on what is needed. A light truck can be more than 3" in ride height and a heavy truck less than 3". And the spring rate between manufacturers is different and influences that as well. This seems to be a transition point where you really need to get the measurements because the solution is not as hard set as a 2.5" or 4" lift is.