the wandering CJ

[smichaelR22]

I have a good one!

Put my CJ away for the winter, got her out and back on the road last weekend....

steering is dangerously all over the road which i know when i put it away it was never like that.  since storage this weekend, I added a new ebrake cable, new shoes front and rear, bleed the brakes, tore the front hubs apart and re packed the front bearings and preloaded the spindle nuts, some electrical gremlins, oil change, put the winch back on the front end, and loaded up with my trail gear.  

Entire front end from wheel to nuckles was new last year- no slop problems in entire system (manual box).   new wheel bearings last year, ball joints seemed really tight so i left them.  brakes were a little tight with no pedal sponge, so i even backed the adjusters off a little to make sure none of the drums in any of the corners were dragging.  

from what ive read, lifted CJ\'s you should start with castor angle.... except its always been lifted and ive never had this problem.  never the less stopped and got an anglometer and will see where im at tomorrow.... only thing i figure is springs settled and somehow changed the axle angle just a bit....


another detail- dented my steering stabilizer first time i used my winch... but that was early last summer- it still seemed functional all summer.  


thoughts?

[gCracker]

any sign that the stabilizer leaked?  Maybe it is not masking the wiggle anymore.

[GTJake]

if it leaked and got water inside and froze? i had that problem with my 87 wrangler, just one day couldnt keep it in a straight line. stablizer was an ez fix

[smichaelR22]

i thought about that, but i smashed it really early in the spring, drove it all summer and had no problems.  i checked it this weekend, it still seemed too feel like it had good resistance.... i supose i should order one anyway.

[Wingman]

re-check the pre-load on your spindle nuts, just to be sure...

[smichaelR22]

That was in my list of things i did Sunday.... and it was actaually 1/4 turn loose... but didnt make any difference with some preload back on there...

on my way out to measure the angle with the thingy i bought at home depot last night, and i made some 4degree shims at work today before i left real quick.

[smichaelR22]

well i put about 4 degrees of shim under the front end... looked like i was between 1-2 degrees, spec is 2-4 i believe.  Also i noticed there was some play in the front shackles, so i tightened up the bolts and bent them in a tiny bit, but still enough so they dont bind.  

Between those two things i think its much better now, or to the point where its close to where it use to be.  i must just be too use to power steering i guess all winter.