Folks bought a Jeep with a lift kit on it for hill country driving. It had poor handling and a shop convinced them that the lift kit installed was bad and so the installed a new one.

I drove it and was scared at any moment the damn car would ever off the road. The steering wheel felt loose as if you could move it an inch either way with little effect. It also feels incredible squirrelly all over the road. They took it to shop and the mechanic said they can't find anything loose or wrong..

I was reading forums and it seems like there are all sorts of potential issues. They have large tires, so checking air pressure is number one, castor/alignment. Then checking underneath wheel lock to lock to see if the frame/joints move when the tires twist. Then I started reading about the pitman arm and the stabilizer bar. Yikes... big list.

Anyone have personal experience or extra advice?

What kind of Jeep, ie CJ, YJ, TJ, JK, JL?

I think 2007 Wrangler X 4dr.

They all have tractor steering which comes with its issues. Since its an early JK, they may have slack in the steering box, pretty common issue. The stabilizer is a non factor, so dont go wasting money on that.

If nothing is loose it sounds like caster. Do you know how much lift the Jeep has? If it's 3-4 inches and you still have the stock front control arms it most likely is caster. You should have +4 of caster, below is a good write up for a do-it yourself check.

https://wayalife.com/showthread.php/3861-Basic-Do-it-Yourself-Jeep-JK-Wrangler-Front-End-Alignment

Thanks! It is 3-4". I was looking for a photo.

Will post one tomorrow.

Look at your front upper and lower control arms and see if either of them are adjustable. If they aren't that's probably your biggest problem (crappy lift that didn't fix the caster). Its possible but unlikely they could have put aftermarket fixed arms on there.

Regardless - if the caster isn't right or was never even corrected I suspect the whole lift was a crap job too.

Even with the corrected caster 4" lift is a lot so don't expect it to drive like stock.

https://imgur.com/a/uYfGMFq

Maybe that is only 2"...unsure. I'll try to get the specs/paper work, but thanks for that guide. I'll check for adjustable front upper or lower arms first.

take it to an NTB have them do an alignment check. they will do the check for free and give you the print out.

take a photo of the print out and post it here.

I am by no means an expert, but when we bought our '04 LJ in 2016 it had a 3" lift and stock control arms. It was very loose at low speed turns, etc. I had the front lower control arms replaced with adjustable arms and had a Jeep specific shop install and complete the post install alignment. Made a significant improvement in the low speed handling characteristics.

Last year I also upgraded the rear sway bar to a larger Hellwig and it helped improve the low and moderate speed handling over small bumps and sweeping turns at a level that I consider nice, which is more than I really expected out of of a somewhat budget lift (Terraflex) on a 15 year old Jeep.

My purpose is only to let you know there may be solutions, but it will likely cost some money.

Where are they? Your best bet is looking for a local jeep shop and have them take a look at it.

That's exactly what they are doing. Taking it to 4WP off-road and Jeep blah blah in SA.

No NTB near by from what I could tell.

evan_aggie said:

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That's exactly what they are doing. Taking it to 4WP off-road and Jeep blah blah in SA.

No NTB near by from what I could tell.

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4WP is hot garbage as far as shop service goes. Theyll try to sell them some ****ty dual stabilizer set up.

Who would you recommend?

evan_aggie said:

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Who would you recommend?

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i just saw you said something about San Antonio. if it's near New Braunfels, take it to Exodus Jeeps. Vernon aka Bubba is the shop owner. i drive from Austin down there if i need real work done.

Any votes for Bikini Off-road? Silly name but 4.7/5 90+ reviews. I'll call Bubba too. Thanks!

*Update*

Taking Jeep to Bubba!

evan_aggie said:

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Any votes for Bikini Off-road? Silly name but 4.7/5 90+ reviews. I'll call Bubba too. Thanks!

*Update*

Taking Jeep to Bubba!

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Good choice.

evan_aggie said:

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Any votes for Bikini Off-road? Silly name but 4.7/5 90+ reviews. I'll call Bubba too. Thanks!

*Update*

Taking Jeep to Bubba!

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Excellent! Bubba is a straight talker and will take care of you.

Family took it in, and I suppose he gave it to them straight: "I'd sell it and buy yourself a 2012+ that is stock".

Funny. Not sure if that is what they wanted to hear or not. He tightened up a few things that he said were loose underneath, but told them he could do steering box work for $700 and a few other things, but it may not completely solve the issues and didn't want to promise all would be well.

I had read that the caster (based on the link above) should be 4 deg and he said closer to 2.5 deg...