Installed a 1" steering bracket lift with surprising results

[GregBelleville]

Yesterday I installed this MORE 1" steering riser bracket with some surprising results. My TJ has a 2" body lift on it right now (yes I know) and some 1.5" lift springs. My eventual plan is to swap in a 3" spring lift and 1¼" body lift. Anyway, I wanted to install this steering riser bracket to improve the steep angle caused by the 2"body lift.

From what I've read on here I wasn't expecting much improvement in steering feel or to really even notice much of any change, however that was definitely not the case with my situation.

After completing the install of the new bracket and reattaching the lower steering shaft to the upper, this took a fair amount of pushing, pulling and adjusting to get the upper steering shaft u joint to slide all the way on the lower steering shaft. I went for a test drive and immediately noticed way more weight to the steering, it was so much more weight than what I was used to with this Jeep (owned it for 2 years) I was questioning whether I'd screwed up the install somehow. Driving the Jeep at highway speed was a very different experience, the Jeep felt more stable and the steering had little to no dead spot.

I guess the purpose of this post is to hear from others more knowledgeable about steering and suspension, should I have expected the steering feel and weight to improve this much given that it was probably way out of alignment with the wonky 2" body lift?

 

[tworley]

Following. I have had one of these on my watchlist for quite some time now.

 

[OldBuzzard]

When I installed mine, I didn't notice any change at all in the way the steering feels. It just made the shaft stop rubbing on the body.

How did the roller bearing and shaft look when you had it apart?

 

[GregBelleville]

When I installed mine, I didn't notice any change at all in the way the steering feels. It just made the shaft stop rubbing on the body.

How did the roller bearing and shaft look when you had it apart?

To my untrained eye, all looked fine, certainly nothing looked obviously worn.

 

[GregBelleville]

Following. I have had one of these on my watchlist for quite some time now.

I might have the deal for you then, I ended up getting 2 of these MORE brackets by mistake. DM me if you're interested.

 

[Andy-WhiteTJ]

When I installed mine, I didn't notice any change at all in the way the steering feels. It just made the shaft stop rubbing on the body.

How did the roller bearing and shaft look when you had it apart?

Greg did say that he has a 2" body lift. That would make it much more of an angle than yours.

 

[TheBoogieman]

I need an "AFTER" pic to compare angles.

 

[GregBelleville]

I need an "AFTER" pic to compare angles.

I should've taken one, I'll try and snap one today and post it

 

[JMT]

Following. I've always wondered, though I have no complaints about my steering, I may be missing something.

 

[GregBelleville]

Following. I've always wondered, though I have no complaints about my steering, I may be missing something.

That's essentially my question with this upgrade. Is the heavier steering feel the way it should feel and I just have no basis for comparison?

Should reducing the angle of the steering shaft result in these symptoms of heavier steering weight and reduced play on center?

 

[TheBoogieman]

I've always wondered, though I have no complaints about my steering, I may be missing something.

That's why I bought the dash speaker baffles that everyone raved about. No difference in sound quality.

 

[JMT]

That's why I bought the dash speaker baffles that everyone raved about. No difference in sound quality.

I’m so glad I never fell into that ruckus. I still run 4x6’s too, and I can hear them just fine.

 

[BIGMike]

That's why I bought the dash speaker baffles that everyone raved about. No difference in sound quality.

I’ve also been unimpressed by them. To me the angle brackets that I took out to install them made a bigger difference. I just haven’t swapped back yet. I also have one of these risers waiting to go in.

 

[dbbd1]

When I installed mine, I didn't notice any change at all in the way the steering feels. It just made the shaft stop rubbing on the body.

My results as well.

 

[PNW_LJ]

Yesterday I installed this MORE 1" steering riser bracket with some surprising results. My TJ has a 2" body lift on it right now (yes I know) and some 1.5" lift springs. My eventual plan is to swap in a 3" spring lift and 1¼" body lift. Anyway, I wanted to install this steering riser bracket to improve the steep angle caused by the 2"body lift.

View attachment 565557

From what I've read on here I wasn't expecting much improvement in steering feel or to really even notice much of any change, however that was definitely not the case with my situation.

After completing the install of the new bracket and reattaching the lower steering shaft to the upper, this took a fair amount of pushing, pulling and adjusting to get the upper steering shaft u joint to slide all the way on the lower steering shaft. I went for a test drive and immediately noticed way more weight to the steering, it was so much more weight than what I was used to with this Jeep (owned it for 2 years) I was questioning whether I'd screwed up the install somehow. Driving the Jeep at highway speed was a very different experience, the Jeep felt more stable and the steering had little to no dead spot.

I guess the purpose of this post is to hear from others more knowledgeable about steering and suspension, should I have expected the steering feel and weight to improve this much given that it was probably way out of alignment with the wonky 2" body lift?

View attachment 565556

Are you aware of any interference with the 2" body lift? Particularly at the passenger side motor mount bracket hitting the frame?

 

[GregBelleville]

Are you aware of any interference with the 2" body lift? Particularly at the passenger side motor mount bracket hitting the frame?

No, I'm not aware of any interference because of the body lift.

I just installed jks 1" motor mount lift blocks on this TJ recently, so I was in there with eyes on the motor mounts recently and all seemed fine.

 

[jjvw]

Years ago, I added the steering shaft riser long after I had installed a squishy JKS 1.25" body lift. I could not tell a difference at the time.

Years later, I replaced the squishy JKS body lift with an aluminum Savvy 1.25" body lift. During that process, I found that my prior squishy body lift was really only about an inch.

During occasional moments of reflection on a sleepless night, I sometimes wonder if there would have been some noticable difference in the raised steering shaft if the original body lift was a real 1.25". I do not know.

Regardless, it satisfies a sensibility that the angle of the steering shaft ought to be restored back to something closer to factory after a body lift disrupts it. Even if the disrupted angle after a body lift is not perceivable from the driver's seat.

 

[primetime4]

I had one of these installed when I did my 1.25 body lift and feel no difference which I took as a good thing. If your steering feels heavier you might have some binding going on.

 

[g.hayduke]

Are you aware of any interference with the 2" body lift? Particularly at the passenger side motor mount bracket hitting the frame?

How would a body lift change the relationship between motor mount and frame?

We're you possibly thinking about a mml?

 

[PNW_LJ]

How would a body lift change the relationship between motor mount and frame?

We're you possibly thinking about a mml?

Oops you are correct. I read that as a 2” body and 2” MML.

@GregBelleville with the 2” BL and 1” MML, I assume you had to also redrill and trim the fan shroud? No other mods to accompdate the 2” BL?