"Like" Bump Steer

[ezbuzzsaw]

Hello All,
It has been quite a while since I posted here but my son and I have an issue with his XJ. Here is some back ground spec's He has a RE 61/2" lift with OME shocks. (I know too much lift but he is 19 and you try telling him LOL). We installed a drop Pitman Arm to try to get better overall highway handling and now if you hit the brakes hard (like is constant in Houston traffic) you get a hard pull to the driver's side. Of course with 6.5" of lift you are getting some severe spring compression in an emergency stop (Like what could happen in bump steer). We had the brakes all apart today checking for a caliper not functioning but they are working well. We did a driveway alignment and it is very close to dead on, and after the alignment it tracked better than ever before.
So does anyone have any ideas of what could cause this? We put on the Drop Pitman Arm to get rid of the sharp angles of the drag link and tie rod and try to eliminate these kind of issues and of course now we have a safety issue. ARGH We love our jeeps!

Thanks,
EZ

[4.3LXJ]

After reading your post, I am not sure what you mean by bump steer. All I am getting is pulling to one side while barking. Is this correct? Or you getting a dive to one side or another due to hitting bumps?

[Brasscatz]

Mine does the same thing from time to time and yes, I live in Houston too and have had to slam on my brakes too lol. I think I have an intermittent caliper issue, I know you took yours apart though.

[ezbuzzsaw]

Hey thanks for your reply, it is only showing up when in an emergency braking situation when all that spring compression is happening. That is why it is a little like bump steer. when applying the brakes at road speed and not emergency stop there is no pull. That is why I doubted the brakes had a problem. I will take a picture of the linkage and post so all can see the angles.
Thanks Again,
EZ

[cantab27]

bump steer ......


http://www.quadratec.com/jeep_knowledgebase/article-68.htm

;)

[ezbuzzsaw]

OK so I had that correct the track bar and drag link need to be parallel and if you look in the attached pic, they are very close. I am going to look at the disco's next and see if one of them could be hanging up on something during a dive of the suspension. I guess it could be a intermittent caliper problem but they are fairly new and don't act up at all when not in hard braking. Well no pic for now, did not know I had to host it. Will do later.
Thanks,
EZ

[jdougn]

I think I'd take a closer look at the brakes. Get in some loose gravel or some "slippery" surface and try hitting the brakes hard. See if that one tire doesn't lock up before the other. Just an idea....
dn