Feeling unstable after lift

[Trlr8tdd]

Hi y’all, last year I installed a Clayton 3 1/2” lift on my 2020 Rubicon on 37’s, she wondered like a battleship on the hiway, almost scary. Too much rake so I added 3/4” spacers on the front with smooth foxes. Looked better but the handling was still bad (last jeep was a JKU with 4” lift and 35’s, currently also own another JKR on 35’s with 3 1/2” lift on foxes), feels like a battleship in heavy seas!
Added Falcon adjustable stabilizer, mainly just to get rid of the stocker but also hoping it would help, it didn’t, shocking!
Felt the shocks were just Too soft so added Rough Country Vortex, NO one could help with Falcons, not even a ship date. They helped a little, I should add I’ve played with tire pressures, 26-36 and everywhere in between, 35 feels the best with the 37” General ATX’s. Next, Clayton came out with the diesel springs, I added diesel 3 1/2” coils, the rake is now gone ? but still has the battleship feeling. I’m probably at +4 1/2” at this point.
I have not checked castor at a shop but angle checker says right about 6 degrees.
After the diesel springs, now I have some shimmy after hitting a bump, I had a Ram that developed DW so I KNOW what that feels like, I’m not there yet.
Im thinking about a drag link flip/track bar lift to gain some geometry and eliminate the shimmy? Any other suggestions to eliminate the battleship feeling? I see a lot of y’all love your 3 1/2” Clayton’s and I feel its a Great kit, just want a Little more control on the hiway.

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[ShadowsPapa]

Hope all of the steering components were upgraded to really heavy-duty stuff - drag link, tie rod, track bar should be top of the line.
Both axles centered? Thrust angle ok?

Do what you can to get the control arms as parallel to the ground as possible, as well as the track bar and such. The more angle you have on those, the more mushy it will feel.
The wheels - you've changed them impacting scrub radius which impacts stability, mushy steering, wandering, etc. - if off the wrong way can even cause shimmy.

 

[Zero_Accel]

First things first, what tire pressure are you running? When I had my 37's put on, the shop inflated them to 40 PSI, and I felt like I was on stilts. Reduced them to 30 and now I feel much more planted and I'm getting even tread wear.

And another question, did you upgrade to adjustable front lower control arms? Check your caster angle, if you're running under the 4-6 degree recommendations, the vehicle can start to feel unstable at speed.

Most lift kits past the 2.5 inch range will replace at least the front lower control arms so that the front axle geometry can be corrected after the lift. If this isn't done, what happens after lifting the vehicle upwards is the front axle will be drawn back towards the cab of the truck due to the control arms being shorter, reducing your caster angle. Less positive caster means that the front tires are more sensitive to steering feedback from the road/driver input. And now the truck will feel boaty. Having positive caster will make the vehicle have a tendency to want to travel straight ahead.

The only bad thing about running the factory style 4-6 degrees caster is now with the lift, you're putting more wear on the drive shaft U-joints. But I would personally rather accept a bit more wear and tear on that in exchange for more stability on a daily driver. They all wear out eventually anyways, and can be replaced/upgraded.

Another thing that is always good to check is the torque on the control arms, track bar, and sway bars. If these are loose, you'll get all sorts of weird inputs while the truck is moving. Don't bother with a shake test, take your torque wrench and CHECK the bolts. I had a float-y feeling coming from the front end of my truck. When I shook the front track bar, it felt fine. Only after I put the torque wrench on it did I realize that the bolts had gotten loose, was able to rotate the bolts with one finger.

 

[Trlr8tdd]

I’ve ran everything from 26psi to 36psi 34 feels most stable. All control arms are adjustable, torqued and double torqued, marked with torque stripe to see if they back off (they don’t) checked all linkage, caster currently at 6•. Iron gearbox TSB installed just after lift
Steering is all stock. Adjusted toe in several times looking for an improvement. Adjustable track bars are adjusted and tight.
Im not worried about drive shafts, they’re replaceable!
im actually leaning towards a high steer. Just looking for all other options that maybe I Haven’t tried!

 

[kickingaz]

Try the SteerSmarts Yeti XD JL/JT Adjustable Front Track Bar (75040001). You can get it here in town from Rob at AZ Offroad Professionals.

 

[Wet Willys]

I would try adding another degree of caster as well to help with wandering.

I myself am fighting with a slight steering wheel shimmy when hitting bumps on my 2.5" Clayton Overlabd Plus lift. I've checked and double checked everything, and all seems tight and torqued to spec. The only thing that seems suspect is a slight amount of deflection (~1/16") from the frame end of the track bar end bushing when turning the wheel back and forth. It's the bushing itself, not moving within the hole. Not sure if this is the normal amount of deflection you'd expect to see or not....

 

[hjdca]

First things first, what tire pressure are you running? When I had my 37's put on, the shop inflated them to 40 PSI, and I felt like I was on stilts. Reduced them to 30 and now I feel much more planted and I'm getting even tread wear.

And another question, did you upgrade to adjustable front lower control arms? Check your caster angle, if you're running under the 4-6 degree recommendations, the vehicle can start to feel unstable at speed.

Most lift kits past the 2.5 inch range will replace at least the front lower control arms so that the front axle geometry can be corrected after the lift. If this isn't done, what happens after lifting the vehicle upwards is the front axle will be drawn back towards the cab of the truck due to the control arms being shorter, reducing your caster angle. Less positive caster means that the front tires are more sensitive to steering feedback from the road/driver input. And now the truck will feel boaty. Having positive caster will make the vehicle have a tendency to want to travel straight ahead.

The only bad thing about running the factory style 4-6 degrees caster is now with the lift, you're putting more wear on the drive shaft U-joints. But I would personally rather accept a bit more wear and tear on that in exchange for more stability on a daily driver. They all wear out eventually anyways, and can be replaced/upgraded.

Another thing that is always good to check is the torque on the control arms, track bar, and sway bars. If these are loose, you'll get all sorts of weird inputs while the truck is moving. Don't bother with a shake test, take your torque wrench and CHECK the bolts. I had a float-y feeling coming from the front end of my truck. When I shook the front track bar, it felt fine. Only after I put the torque wrench on it did I realize that the bolts had gotten loose, was able to rotate the bolts with one finger.

Nice Truck. I agree with Zero_Accel. I have the Clayton 3.5" Overland Plus kit, and I installed it exactly to Clayton specs. I measured 6 degress of Camber after the installation. After that, I shortened the upper front arms by half a turn and lengthened the lower arms by 1/2 a turn, and that really helped my ride, and made me happy. I think the camber is somewhere between 6.5 to 6.8 now. Give it a try.

 

[TrailTitan]

I know this is a old thread just installed same kit on my Rig was wondering if anything helped to fix the issue because I’m going through the same problem

 

[TrailTitan]

 

[Camaroboi13]

My guess would be all the weight in the rear has your front end feeling floaty. I am not 100% sure on how to fix that. I really can’t see steering components resolving the issue, seems more like a suspension piece to me.

 

[Free2roam]

Been battling the same thing myself. Sitting at 55k miles +- running 6+ on caster seems to only be the left side that's affected. Hit that bump or overpass joint and it feels like a bouncy up and down. Swapped shocks side to side no difference. Thinking ball joints (Metalcloak) and Fusion 4x4 steering. Seems to be the least expensive route to go before dropping a ton of money. Also running -6 Icon Rebound Pros on Rubicon take off tires.
Edit:
Ran perfect for the first 7k miles smooth as butter.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I know this is a old thread just installed same kit on my Rig was wondering if anything helped to fix the issue because I’m going through the same problem

Wow, how much does that rear end weigh now?
I bet it's "light steering"
My guess is the whole thing is over-weight, but if not, then too much of the weight is behind the rear axle, meaning you've taken weight off the front axle.
You have some Carolina squat going on there - likely blinding folks with your headlights as well.
If @Camaroboi13 is correct, there's one fix - take weight off - especially behind the rear axle.
I bet it feels a lot like someone pulling a heavy trailer with too much tongue weight and no weight distributing hitch.
I can make mine feel just like that if I load one of my cars too far forward on my trailer - the steering is light and squirrely - fix is take the weight off the rear end

You need to weigh that rig - make sure you aren't way over payload, move weight from behind the rear axle, and get a weight on the rear end alone and make sure you aren't over the tire's weight rating (that's the one thing that IS illegal - overloading tires)

 

[3VOLVE]

I’ve been running Clayton’s 3.5” diesel lift for a bit over 3 years and 25k miles. I experienced the same and worked with my local off-road shop and Clayton to get rid of 99% of the unstable feeling. It equated to increasing caster >6 degrees and reducing the tire pressure of my 37s, ~26 psi in my case. Its greatly improved the drive ability and comfort on long trips and handles as good, if not better, than stock.

BTW, I upgraded to Clayton’s HD Triple Rate springs due to bed load and towing a Patriot camper. the highest rear tire pressure I run is ~28-29 psi when fully loaded and towing, return it back to ~26 psi when unloaded.

 

[mtbjeeper]

Get an alignment. Have them give you slight toe in, make sure the thrust angles are in the green.

After that geometry correction brackets help a lot with driveability (front track bar relocation, rear track bar relocation [really helps with the rolly feeling], rear control arm relocation brackets). As a last resort I would try the front control arm relocation brackets. They hang a little low so if you don't wheel don't worry. I would suggest looking at metalcloak for these items.

Lastly upgrade the shocks. Your taller center of gravity and steeply angled rear control arms really want to push the vehicle around. A good shock can make all the difference. I highly recommend the adjustable falcons as you can really dial in the ride.

I have the 3.5 MC Rocklander (4.5" in the rear), front and rear track bar relocation brackets, sector shaft brace and rear control arm relocation bracket and I'd be damned if I could tell the difference from stock. I even have a 325lb camper on the back!

I learned the hard-way on my JL by slowly piecemealing all of these components over time chasing the drivability. When I got my JT I took my lumps right out of the gate and added them all from the start. Best decision I ever made.

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