This was buried as a response to another post, thought I'd dig it up and make a topic out of it so folks can find it better.

I've been dealing with steering vibes off and on since I first lifted my TJ. It's an ongoing process as things wear. I don't run a steering stab as it can mask problems, the vibes I mention are small things that I catch right away and fix before they affect vehicle control. Since I don't know what all you have on there, here's some things to check:

1) Trackbar axle bolt TIGHT, hole still round, correct size bolt, bushings/joints in good shape.

2) Tires balanced? Super Swampers are notorious for being way out of balance. I use Centramatic dynamic wheel balancers to keep mine balanced.

3) Upper adjustable control arms to set correct castor. A good self check can be performed by placing an angle finder on the flat plate next to the shock just behind the axle tube. (Check each side.) If it's about 3 degrees below 0, you should be OK, less than that and you will likely have some trouble. Here's an example!

4) TRE's in good shape, you may even have to disconnect the joints and move them by hand to verify smooth operation. Remember, easiest way to remove TRE's is to hit the surrounding metal piece with a BFH to loosen, don't hit the threaded end or use a pickle fork.

5) Solid lower control arms to prevent unwanted movement and flex, if you still have the factory ones they could be the problem.

6) Control arm joints tight, my RE superflex joints can be disassembled, cleaned, lubed, rebuilt, and reassembled as required. Alternately I can just tighten them up with an inexpensive tool. RE told me to rebuild after tightening 3 or 4 times.

7) Factory washers on the lower control arm to axle joint. My RE arms came with new washers, so I used 'em. They were slightly smaller in diameter and thickness them the factory, and didn't have the tapered edge to ensure correct axle alignment. Once I replaced them with the factory ones, it tightened things up nicely.

8) Check the joints in the steering shaft, one under the hood and one under the dash. I had one loosen up, and it took forever to find it. Felt like problems elsewhere in the steering system because it allows play between steering wheel and the rest of the steering system. I ended up replacing my intermediate steering shaft and it was good to go.

9) Wheel bearings (hubs) in good shape? Cheapest I found for my wifes TJ was about $150 at Autozone, made by Timkin, highly respected bearing company. Everybody else wanted around $200. Don't do what the previous owner (idiot!) did to hers, he only tightened the axle nut to hand tight instead of 175 ft/lbs.

10) How about your ball joints? Same goes there, a good way to check is to jack the tire off the ground and see if there's any top/bottom play.

Basically do an inspection of every part from the steering wheel to the tire. Verify each fastener fits correctly in the holes provided with no slop. Each time you find a component worn, or loose, and you tighten or correct the problem, your alignment will be off again. Get a factory service manual or Chilton's to ensure correct torque specs. Near the end of ORO's U-turn install instructions, they give a good step by step procedure for doing a self alignment that you can follow. Get it here! I do this about once a quarter anyway just to check. Make it part of your routine maintenance as it only takes about 20-30 minutes.

Stock Jeeps don't have castor/camber adjustments, so many shops will only adjust toe unless you tell them specifically that you have adjustable upper arms, then they'll probably want to charge you more. An honest shop will tell you that the alignment stand may not even read your vehicle correctly, depends on the equipment they have, so talk to the manager.

HTH,
Mark

Great list - I have been having very good luck with a dynamic wheel balancer for my TARRS - really helped with road mileage - extended my tread at least 20%.. Called CentraMatic. Have them on my road trucks so I thought I'd give them a try for my Jeep. $200 for a set of four.

very good info mark, thanks! recently found that the lower bolt in my track bar was not thick enough and allowed a little movement. this issue just takes a lot of time and patience to isolate the problem.

i need to look into the centramatic balancers. so you dont run any wheel weights besides those.

Centramatic says to leave the weights on if they've been recently balanced. I put the balancers on within a week or so of putting on the tires, so I left the weights. That was 1 1/2 years ago and about 38k miles. I haven't looked to see if the weights are still there, I'm sure I've spun the tires on the rims when aired down and wheelin, and I haven't had any trouble. Last time I measured, I had used about 40% of the safe usable tread in about 25k miles. Not bad for an MT/R from others estimates of mileage.

Same with me - I had been using them on my Fords and liked the milage I
was getting on the tires (TARRS?) so I figured I try them on my Jeep.
I had been living with the inside stikkies but they sorta melt off out
here in AZ. Run two years and have not damaged the Centramatics which
was my major concern - all they are is a Aluminum plate with a little
ring to hold the balance material.

I knock a tread block off every time I'm out so it actually got me to the
point where the tire wore OK on the road - something I had not seen for five
years. I do rebalance my tires - I noticed the there was a limit to how much
balance they could counteract so I still do my tarrs once a quarter freebee rebalance
at my tire store.