Learned something today.

[Rollie]

Up until today my Jeep was one of those that just wanted to dodge to the right or the left for no apparent reason. Especially if the road was not nice smooth concrete. At first I thought that it had something to do with the ball joints. At least that it what a mechanic who looked at it said, and I believed him. But the more I drove it the more I analyzed it the more I started thinking that it wasn't the steering, it was the back end trying to skitter off one way or the other. I wasn't trying to keep the front end on the road, I was trying to keep it in front of the rear end. The PO had installed brand new front shocks. Probably trying to fix the same problem. But the rear shocks looked like the ones that it was given on the assembly line back in 75. So today I put new shocks on the back. It was so easy. If I hadn't had to stop to drink a mango smoothie I could have done it in twenty minutes easy. Guess what, it made a world of difference in the steering. Two things that I have learned with this Jeep. It isn't always synchronizers that cause a three speed to pop out of gear, sometimes it is a broken sift rail in the top cover. Second is that sometimes steering problems are in the back of the Jeep, not the front.

 

[hole]

I love it when it turns out to be an easy one

 

[gert]

that is awesome glad you got it fixed

 

[Rollie]

Here is an update. So after I changed the rear shocks the handling was considerably better. I could get it up to 55 and still feel fairly comfortable. It still wanted to jump from one side or the other if I hit a big bump, like a rail road crossing. So this week I mounted a winch on the front of the jeep. It didn't make the front end squat in the least, but I got to thinking that it was a lot of weight out there and thought that perhaps it would affect handling. Yesterday I took it out on the highway just to see if there was any change. So I got to 55 with no problems at all. I hit the rail road crossing and didn't even slow down. So when I got out on the open road I ran it up to 60, then 65. I have to say that the engine sounded like it was really rapping at 65, but it handled fine. I then took it through some curves at around 50 on a back road on the way home, and it felt much more stable in the curves. Interesting that the weight in the front seems to have helped a lot.

 

[hole]

Out of curiosity, did you check out the ball joints yet? New ones made all the difference in the world at highway speeds for me.

 

[Rollie]

Out of curiosity, did you check out the ball joints yet? New ones made all the difference in the world at highway speeds for me.

I think that my ball joints are part of the problem. It has gotten a lot better, but there is still room for improvement. I'm thinking that ball joints are on the list this spring when it gets a little warmer in the garage. Shocks were a twenty minute job, and the winch was just something I did, and of course not with improving handling in mind.

 

[Torxhead]

Have you added tie rod ends to that "Consider List"? That can cause a front end to wobble after a bump like railroad tracks. I check mine by squeezing them ith channel locks,

 

[Rollie]

Have you added tie rod ends to that "Consider List"? That can cause a front end to wobble after a bump like railroad tracks. I check mine by squeezing them ith channel locks,

I'm planning on replacing the rod ends and the ball joints this spring.