Poor handling, or just an XJ jeep thing?

[Beefcake]

Now that I've racked up a few Km's in the XJ, there is still something that doesn't feel right. When I first get in and drive it it makes me nervous, it feels really twitchy on the road. It feels like castor is out and also like the back end is steering me a bit. Once I've done a few Km's I settle into it, but I'm going to get under tomorrow and have a good look at everything. Is there specific parts that are known to wear on these animals or just the usual, seek and you will find? It doesn't appear to have had a hard life off road or anything like that and it's got about 215K km on the clock. Some may be aware I fitted a set of 2nd hand lower control arms as the original were bent from a tow truck driver, but the bushes in the replacements are in good nick, and I simply bolted them in and made no other changes (that I'm aware of).
Any ideas folks?

[Doctor W]

The lower control arms (at the front of car end) is where the Castor adjustment bolt and cam is on ZG's and TJ's......some people fit these arms (and cam and bolt) to their XJ's to enable an adjustment to castor angle.....especially after lifting near 2" or greater. More than 2" lift is better with fully adjustable lower arms. Are you sure you know which LCA's you have???

[anthonygubbin]

Definitly not a Jeep thing unless something is not right. XJs handle pretty well on road even with a mild lift (2"). If you have a 2" lift or less I wouldn't be concerned about front castor as that will unlikely be the cause. I have fixed CA's and have no issues with 2.25" lift and mine could use a little more spacing out.

Regards A

[darksidecustoms]

I'd check tie rod ends, track bar bushes etc. mine are shot at the moment and it wanders on straight road and goes rounds banked corners at speed with the wheel straight o_O

[Escapable]

I have the ZG and have changed all 4 arms. If they have been fitted with adjustment on yours and the arms have been changed without attention to alignment it will handle like the steering and wheels are about to fall out (going through this at the moment).
They are easy to identify: At the front of the arm there is an adjustment cam under the bolt (only on the lower arm) on each side.
If these are maladjusted the diff housing will not sit directly across the vehicle and yup, it is scary (with only a minor alignment problem).
These arms are not really expensive in their cheaper versions, why go 2nd hand?

[junglejuice]

Originally Posted by Doctor W

The lower control arms (at the front of car end) is where the Castor adjustment bolt and cam is on ZG's and TJ's......some people fit these arms (and cam and bolt) to their XJ's to enable an adjustment to castor angle.....especially after lifting near 2" or greater. More than 2" lift is better with fully adjustable lower arms. Are you sure you know which LCA's you have???

Xj, Tj and Zg arms are the same, there is no difference in the arms or bushes to allow for caster adjustment....

[junglejuice]

Originally Posted by Escapable

They are easy to identify: At the front of the arm there is an adjustment cam under the bolt (only on the lower arm) on each side.

There are no cams on an Xj diff, the caster adjustment is done at the rear of the LCA using shims, there is approx 7mm of adjustment available...