Steering Steering Stabilizer issue?

[ColoradoDerek]

Hello.

I have attached 3 pictures, 2 of them are the before photos and the other one is the after.
I'm not sure what happened which is why I'm reaching out but it seems like something has failed or broken here?
Do you think it was the bolts were too loose? or do you think the stabilizer itself has failed and caused this?
Is the bar that is "bent" in the "after" picture still okay?
do you think I need a new stabilizer?

I'm definitely leaning towards getting a new stabilizer but I was hoping to get some ideas of what may have caused this so I can avoid it in the future.

I have only been street driving this jeep but 1 time, I went "off road" (barely) and drove through some ruts and up and down some super tiny hills. (like 10-15 feet height max and 100's of feet long, so nice and easy) and then I drove home on the road, noticed it was pulling hard to the right, but didn't think much about it since the tires on the front are trash.

Then I noticed the stabilizer....
The picture with the green on the top of it is the "after" picture.
These pictures aren't great, sorry about that. I should have done better.
The bar that is bent is the one that the orange sleeve is pushed into in the after picture.

 

[CJ]

Looks to me like you backed up on something and it bent the drag link. It is bent to the front. I do not see anyway the stabilizer did that. It looks ok, un bolt it and see what it looks like and if it compresses and extends. Even if you keep the bent drag link (common problems on Dana 30's) you have to have the alignment repaired.

Can you get a better pic of the bent area?

 

[Patrick]

It’s mounted in the wrong location and hangs too low.

 

[CJ]

It’s mounted in the wrong location and hangs too low.

LOL - I was wondering if it got twisted and moved but forgot to type it.

 

[Patrick]

Right on CJ.

 

[ColoradoDerek]

I will get better pictures, sorry again about the bad ones.

I am 99.9% sure I did not back up and hit something. In fact, I rarely back it up except to move it into its parking spot. The stabilizer did get moved, about 8-10 inches to the left (in the pictures) and it rotated at least 90 degrees (which is why it is below the drag link now).

My guess is something failed on the stabilizer itself (perhaps because it was mounted improperly??) and then when I drove off-road a little bit, it had already shifted and then it not being in the right spot caused the drag link to bend?

This makes like zero sense.
I'm half tempted to go to where I was "off-roading" and take a video and show you guys what this was and then be like "see! now how did this happen!" lol! This spot, I drove my 2007 Yukon XL Denali right up to my jeep and had zero problems. The denali sits like 1/3 of the height of the jeep and it didn't hit anything or fall into the ruts either.

Now that I think about it more, the jeep was pulling super hard to the right after coming back from the desert and not before so it had to happen out there. I only drove on a dirt road that had some ruts in it but nothing deep, in fact, my tires are more wide than the ruts so I couldn't even fall into them. I didn't drive over anything sticking up and I didn't drive for more than say, 1000 feet off-road and 70% of that was at slow speeds and the "high" speeds were like 15 mph.

Is there anything else that can fail that could then cause this to happen?
even if I took a turn hard and put some pressure on the tires themselves, this shouldn't happen right?
If the stabilizer was sort of loose (not tightened enough on the axle or drag link) is it possible just "normal use" would cause this?

It seems like something like this should take a "noticeable" event to happen and such an event just didn't happen. It was basically a 15 minute joy ride on the road and then I was turning around on the "off road" part.

so frustrating not knowing why it happened. at least it doesn't seem like a big deal to fix though. I'll have to look up some pics on where the stabilizer is supposed to be mounted, maybe it was wrong to being with and this is just the result of that.

at this point, I think the stabilizer moved for some reason before the drag link bent, and THEN the drag link got bent because the stabilizer had moved and when I was turning the bar couldn't handle the pressure? maybe I don't even know how this thing works and I'm completely wrong. I don't think the movement was caused by the bar being bent, but I don't really know. the 2nd and 3rd pic were "before" pictures and are the only ones I have but you can see where it was at before the shift.

thanks for the assistance.
I'll get some more pics and possibly go take some video and I'll also get it disconnected and see if it still moves like it is supposed to. one of my guesses is it didn't even "open up" or "stretch out" when it was supposed to and that's what caused it to move and then it being moved made the drag link fail when I hit the "off road".

all this being said and happening though, that 3 minutes of being on the off-road part was AWESOME and I can't wait to get this fixed and go do it again.

 

[Belizean]

I just installed HD tie rod and drag link flipped to the top. Decided after 37 years I would keep the stabilizer off

 

[Patrick]

This where it goes...

 

[hagar]

Possible your LF tire was up against something, bank, rock, tree.
When you turned left, the tie rod bowed out; power steering will not give you
true "road" of "trail" feel sometimes. Pat attention to where your front wheels
always are.
Only explanation I can offer.

 

[jammer1]

First pic looks like when turning to the left the stabilizer bottomed out, Tie rod continued to try to compress the stabilizer. Axle housing isn't going to move so the tie rod bowed out. If you lock the steering in the left turn you should be able to compress the stabilizer a little beyond a full left turn lock up.

 

[boney]

This where it goes...

And if you have a sway bar, then there's a little bit of work that's needed to get 'er in there, but it's not bad. Using the quoted picture above as a guide, and having not been satisfied with the manner in which previous owner had installed the one on my jeep, I managed to get a little bit of extra room.

I have shock mounts on the front axle and a sway bar, both of which can complicate moving the stabilizer outside the springs. However, if you drop an end of the u-bolt through the shock mount and then swing it under the axle, you can get it attached to the axle end bracket, then space the tie-rod end appropriately. I shaved one of the rubber bushings on the axle end and trimmed the post so that it wouldn't hit the sway bar. The biggest problem with mine is that the tie-rod end hits the diff cover, so I rotated it up then matched that on the axle end. It sits a bit higher than we're used to seeing it but I checked the clearance, it won't hit the frame at full flex and doesn't hang down low where it might be the first thing to meet a rock.

 

[Patrick]

Boney, the factory configuration might work for you. I just can’t remember how it mounts.

I am debating whether to reinstall my sway bar back. The older I get, the more I restrict my CJ to on road use, lol. Heck, I turned my CJ into a donk with 20” wheels and mud terrains. I could turn off the sway bar using special links, just like you have in the picture.

 

[boney]

Boney, the factory configuration might work for you. I just can’t remember how it mounts.

I am debating whether to reinstall my sway bar back. The older I get, the more I restrict my CJ to on road use, lol. Heck, I turned my CJ into a donk with 20” wheels and mud terrains. I could turn off the sway bar using special links, just like you have in the picture.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Last time I checked, the salvage yard thought the factory parts were made of unobtanium.

Yeah, my CJ is really my wife's. She commandeers it when the weather gets nice and lets me drive it once in a while. I like the sway bar for her country-side trips here and there.

Every once in a while we flat tow it somewhere for some fun, and that's the only reason I want the stabilizer. There doesn't appear to be any drivability advantage on pavement.

 

[Patrick]

Consider yourself lucky that your wife shares the joy of CJ ownership! My girlfriend has no interest in it and for the most part, I go it alone. My son and older sister, on the other hand, can never get enough of the joyful ride. My sister seems to really enjoy the attention and compliments we get.

“There doesn't appear to be any drivability advantage on pavement.”

I’ve heard this before but never tried it. They say that proper alignment is key to the absence of a stabilizer. I think it’s going out.