handling problems after new UCA's

[hadtomer]

Hello

Time to re build my JBA UCA's - I replaced the ball joints with new JBA units and also the rubber bushings. and from that moment the handling went to sh..

If i go 30 miles per hour into a bend- traction control blinks. when i point the steering wheel forward- the handling feels really loose. very bad experience. EVERYTHING was checked, and re checked. When i hit a pothole - traction control goes insane. I had to visit a friend 20 miles away - after 2 highway minutes i stopped the jeep on the hard shoulder- it is really unsafe.

Any ideas?

 

[tommudd]

Have you realigned it yet ?
Back when 06-07s came out if alignment was not dead on after a lift then you had those issues

 

[hadtomer]

Have you realigned it yet ?

Hey tom - how are you man?

I did not get the alignment yet- Of course i will.

Thing is i did not expect such a violent response from the jeep (sorry about my english- i hope u know what i mean)- and i have taken the UCA's apart so many times in the past- never needed an alignment. cause it does not control left to right movement (again sorry for the english-of course i am aware of camber and castor).


Again - i am not one of those folks who "dont think you need it" - of course i will do it ASAP - its just...so unsafe!!!!.

 

[tommudd]

Hey tom - how are you man?

I did not get the alignment yet- Of course i will.

Thing is i did not expect such a violent response from the jeep (sorry about my english- i hope u know what i mean)- and i have taken the UCA's apart so many times in the past- never needed an alignment. cause it does not control left to right movement (again sorry for the english-of course i am aware of camber and castor).


Again - i am not one of those folks who "dont think you need it" - of course i will do it ASAP - its just...so unsafe!!!!.

Fully understand you no need to explain
Just throwing it out there that I know we had similar issues when lifting later model first generations
Acted the same way
But as far as what else , Im not sure since I know that you know your KJ way better than a lot of owners

 

[hadtomer]

Cool - thank you - you sure did put my mind at ease. It has to be the alignment cause it all started with the new ball joints. its so strange - the sheer loss of control when simply going forward.

Like so many others- i have owned many poopboxes and some offroaders- and sure they needed alignments but they just kept going....if i had a couple of days till my alignment i just drove it slow...lol...i was young and dumb. but the kj is so delicate! It truly scared the sh.. out of me.

 

[Johnny O]

Hello

Time to re build my JBA UCA's - I replaced the ball joints with new JBA units and also the rubber bushings. and from that moment the handling went to sh..

If i go 30 miles per hour into a bend- traction control blinks. when i point the steering wheel forward- the handling feels really loose. very bad experience. EVERYTHING was checked, and re checked. When i hit a pothole - traction control goes insane. I had to visit a friend 20 miles away - after 2 highway minutes i stopped the jeep on the hard shoulder- it is really unsafe.

Any ideas?

I can confirm what Tom says. My 07 behaved like this before alignment. Still felt loose after so upgraded to Moog sway bar links. All is well.

 

[hadtomer]

thanx guys. my sway bar links are JBA's and they are no longer made-so i can only re build those. but you were super helpful. jeep will be resting until i will get to the shop.

 

[John Summerlot]

Hey tom - how are you man?

I did not get the alignment yet- Of course i will.

Thing is i did not expect such a violent response from the jeep (sorry about my english- i hope u know what i mean)- and i have taken the UCA's apart so many times in the past- never needed an alignment. cause it does not control left to right movement (again sorry for the english-of course i am aware of camber and castor).


Again - i am not one of those folks who "dont think you need it" - of course i will do it ASAP - its just...so unsafe!!!!.

I some how managed a 4" lift on my '02 with 255/70/r18 without having new LCA machined for the front and i had the same exact problem. Running the red jba UCA's with replacable ball joints and it felt like the wheels were damn near horizontal. Got it to the shop for an allignment and it 100% took care of the problem. It felt like the front end was falling apart but it was just the cambre was that far off. It blew my mind. Hope this helps

 

[tommudd]

I some how managed a 4" lift on my '02 with 255/70/r18 without having new LCA machined for the front and i had the same exact problem. Running the red jba UCA's with replacable ball joints and it felt like the wheels were damn near horizontal. Got it to the shop for an allignment and it 100% took care of the problem. It felt like the front end was falling apart but it was just the cambre was that far off. It blew my mind. Hope this helps

LCAs machined ? OK
I ran over 5.5 inches of JBA coilover lift , with JBA UCAs and stock lowers , no need for any kind of macjining of the lowers
Have you regeared ? If not , sad

 

[Duster]

Yeah you have to get it aligned even putting back stock parts. It would be really sketchy I'm sure with aftermarket.

If the traction control keeps acting up after the alignment take it and have it scanned with a decent tool that can check ABS etc to see if there are any codes stored.

If your 06 is like my 07 the Traction Control, ABS, ESP, BAS are all connected. Mine would light up after hitting a sharp bump like train tracks or rough bridge transition. Turned out to be a wheel speed sensor.

 

[John Summerlot]

LCAs machined ? OK
I ran over 5.5 inches of JBA coilover lift , with JBA UCAs and stock lowers , no need for any kind of macjining of the lowers
Have you regeared ? If not , sad

Yes regeared. And the stock lca keep the strut against the frame half the time so sure it can be done but its not worth a **** for the springs when they rubbed. Could only find aftermarket uppers, so wasnt much i could do. Anytime suspension is flexxed very far, the strut spring scrapes the frame. I was told anything over 3 inches required heavy modification. If thats not right then oh well...im not a jeep engineer, i just know what I got and what ive done. 4 inches was a *****.

 

[hadtomer]

the wheels were aligned and all is well - thanx guys

 

[GatorBoots]

Yes regeared. And the stock lca keep the strut against the frame half the time so sure it can be done but its not worth a **** for the springs when they rubbed. Could only find aftermarket uppers, so wasnt much i could do. Anytime suspension is flexxed very far, the strut spring scrapes the frame. I was told anything over 3 inches required heavy modification. If thats not right then oh well...im not a jeep engineer, i just know what I got and what ive done. 4 inches was a *****.

I’m having the same issue right now with a 3” spacer. My strut is pinned against the body. Adding the JBA Off-road uppers here soon but I was wondering if there are any offset aftermarket struts.