Video Review & Installation

Hey, what's up guys. Ryan here from ExtremeTerrain. Today I'm here with the SkyJacker Black MAX dual steering stabilizer kit fitting your 2007 to 2018 Jeep Wrangler JK. Now this is for those of you Jeep owners that are modified and are either looking to replace or upgrade that factory steering stabilizer to a stronger and more functional unit. Whether your steering stabilizer is bent, broken or just plain blown out, you should be checking out this dual setup from SkyJacker. This is a great addition for any Jeep owner especially those of you that are running larger tires and really like to rip through those tough trails. Now with this you're getting the benefit of having two steering stabilizers up front. This is really gonna stiffen up that wheel reducing bump steer, which is gonna provide better on an off road driving performance and handling characteristics, also reducing any premature wear that you may experience on your front end.Now this system is a completely bolt on setup. It comes with all brackets and hardware needed to install and it works directly with your factory setup on your Jeep. One thing I like about this setup is that it mounts high. It mounts above the tie rod which is gonna keep it safer when you're driving on those trails. Now this is very reasonably priced for a dual steering stabilizer setup. At right around $185, I think this is a great option to go with. Now as far as installation goes, I'm gonna give this a two out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter as you can get this installed in about two hours just using basic hand tools. Now with that being said, let's hop into the install.Tools that we used for this install, 3/8 drive impact, a pry bar, tape measure, 3/8 drive ratchet, channel locks, three-quarter inch socket, 17-millimeter socket, 11/16 socket, 14-millimeter socket, half inch socket, 18-millimeter socket. So the first thing we obviously have to do is get the stock steering stabilizer up. Now this is connected in two spots. You have a spot over here, what's bolted to the axle, we have a bracket over here that's on our tie rod. We'll need to open this bracket all the way up and get it off of the tie rod for our new setup. So what we're gonna do is start over here at the axle first, we're gonna use an 18-millimeter socket to get this bolt out. So this has a flag nut on the back so you only have to use a ratchet on the front. We'll get this bolt completely out, and that way we can swing this section down.So next we're gonna disconnect it over here and get this bracket off. So we're gonna use a 17-millimeter socket to get this nut off. Your factory size may be a little different, I think it's a 15-millimeter. Anyway what we're gonna do is just get this nut completely off and then we'll pull out the stud and bend this bracket open so we can get off of this tie rod. So after that you're going to need to get a pry bar. We'll need to bend this bracket open. We can bend it enough just to slide it down here and get it off at the very end of the tie rod set up.So as you can see I got all these pieces laid out, there's a ton of pieces that come with this kit. Most of this stuff is gonna get installed when we're actually over on the vehicle working on that, but there is one thing that we need to do before we start getting this stuff installed. We have this main base plate that's gonna wrap around the axle and we have two studs that we need to install. That's what these steering stabilizers are gonna hang onto. The other is gonna be these exterior brackets and that's what's gonna connect to the tie rods. So the first thing we're gonna do is get this squared away. So I'm gonna clear some of this stuff out, we're gonna get these installed and then we'll go on from there. So as you can see, this bracket has a very unique shape. We're gonna point this bend down and then this 90 degree is gonna face up. The way we're gonna install these studs, they're gonna go through the front side like this and you have this long shouldered shaft, that's gonna be towards the outside because that's where the actual steering stabilizer sits on.So these are gonna bolt through there. Now with this kit you're gonna get two different sized nuts, two different sized lock washers and then you'll get a flat washer for the front. So we're gonna use the larger stuff for the back and we'll get these two installed. The first thing we're gonna do is slide the large lock washer on there and then we're gonna screw the large nut on there. So you can use vise-grips or pliers to hold this still. What we're gonna do is use a three-quarter inch socket to tighten up this nut. We just want to tighten it down until this lock washer crushes, then we'll get the other one installed.Now of course you want to assemble most of this on the vehicle which I'm gonna show you how to do in a second, but I put it all together just so you can see exactly what this thing looks like. Now while I have both of these here, this new setup versus your factory one, I wanna take a moment just to talk about some of the benefits that you're gonna get with a dual setup like this, how it compares to your stock one, and of course the whole point of a steering stabilizer. Now the steering stabilizer, the whole point is to dampen the steering. So when you're driving down the road, your tires are picking up bumps in the road, it's creating negative feedback which is transferring through your steering linkage. So rather than feeling this in the steering wheel or have it going back and forth, steering stabilizer dampens that and gives you a nice, smooth ride. Now a steering stabilizer is just a 50-50 valve shock. What it does is it just resists movement in both directions. That's gonna give you the dampening effect. Now this is specifically designed for factory angles and factory tires. So when you throw larger tires on there, you're picking up a lot more negative feedback from the road, especially when you go off roading and you're hitting those really tough trails and it's really sending that steering back and forth. So that's where a dual steering stabilizer setup is gonna come in handy when you start throwing 35's, 37-inch tires this is going to handle all of that abuse. So now you have two steering stabilizers, you're getting the benefit of a dual steering stabilizer effect and all of that dampening of that negative feedback.So let's break this whole kit down. You have a center bracket. This is going to bolt to the axle and that's gonna be the middle mounting point for both of these stabilizers. Now stretching out to the end you have these mounts. These are gonna go on the tie rod. Now you have a certain size U-bolt and this is designed for the factory tie rod so some aftermarket options may not work with this. This is designed directly for the factory. One thing I'd like to mention is this is not a fix for a death wobble. Death wobble is a compilation of worn out steering components as well as worn out suspension components such as tie rod ends, control arms, track bar such like that. Now another thing is when you do add larger tires and you're getting that feedback, if your factory steering stabilizer is not holding up and providing that dampening effect, it can cause a wobble up front not associated with dead wobble but it can cause a vibration, and this is going to cause excessive wear on things such as ball joints, tie rod ends. So a dual steering stabilizer, having the benefit of both of those steering stabilizers dampening, that's really gonna save all of that wear and tear on those suspension and steering components.So with that being said, I'm gonna tear this back part and then we'll get it installed piece by piece. The first thing we're gonna do is mount this bracket on the axle. Now this bracket, this little V is gonna sit underneath of the axle. These are gonna poke over so you want these on top of this tie rod setup and we're gonna drop these big U-bolts down through.So once you get that on and secured, it's pretty tightened up but it's still loose enough for nuts to move. What we're gonna do is measure over an inch and a quarter from our axle housing right here, our center section. So we want an inch and a quarter gap. Once we get that, we're gonna use a 14-millimeter socket. We're gonna lift this up so it's pretty level and then we'll tighten these U-bolts up.So next we're gonna install our steering stabilizers on these studs. Now it will be a good idea to grease these studs up, that way these bushings will slide on a lot easier. We're just gonna wiggle these on into place. Once we get those on, we're gonna put the SkyJacker plate on and each one is going to get a flat washer, a lock washer, and then a nut. Now we'll pretty much leave this loose for now and we'll get these end brackets on. So before we mount these end brackets and to figure out exactly where they're gonna be positioned, we have to pull these shocks out about halfway. So we're gonna measure from the center of this islet to this flange right here, about 13 and a half inches and that's gonna give us the location for these end brackets. We'll do that to both sides and then we'll get our brackets installed.So now we're ready to install our bracket. As you can see there's gonna be a flat side over here. There's gonna be a curved section, these brackets are gonna face in so we're gonna do our driver side first. You want this curve to be on the outside facing towards the front of the vehicle. Now as far as bushings go, we have this metal washer that we need to place on there, we're going to slide that, and that's a cup washer. We want the cup to face outward. Next we're gonna slide this bushing on there and we'll slide our new bracket on and then the same thing, we'll slide another bushing. Now these bushings have a flat spot and they also have this raised edge right here. We want that to face and squeeze in between this bracket. So we'll slide that on, slide our cup washer facing the other way, that way, it's containing everything, and then we'll throw that nut on there. So then we can get that nut finger tight, sandwich all that together, and then we can get that attached. Now to attach this to the tie rod, we have U-bolts, more U-bolts to install. So these are going to go up through the bottom and then we're to use the supplied nuts, flange nuts, to install on top of it. When you're tightening these up, you want to try to make them as even as possible.So we're gonna do the same thing for the other side. Start with our cup washer, our bushing, sliding that bracket, another bushing, cup washer and then the nut.So now that we have everything installed, we're ready to go around tightening everything up. Now the one thing that I want to point out is that you need to have your wheels completely straight. You want to have your wheel straight, you wanna make sure that these measurements are 13 and a half from this flange to here, then we can tighten everything up. So the first thing we're gonna do is recheck and tighten up that axle bracket. We want to make sure that when we roll this tie rod up, that we have at least a quarter inch of gap in there. That way if it does ever roll up on the trail, you don't contact this. So we're gonna recheck that, tighten up those bolts, then we'll do these two front ones right here. So with a tie rod up, you can see that we have a good amount of gap in there so we're all good with that, we can go ahead and tighten these front ones down.Now to tighten these up, you need an 11/16 socket. So I want to crush this down so we crush that rubber bushing in there and lock this lock washer down. That way that hardware is not gonna come back off. So the next thing I want to do is tighten up this stud right here and compress these bushings. So when you use a 14-millimeter socket, go ahead and tighten those up. And that way if this bracket is gonna slide a little bit at all, then it will slide over, then we'll re measure this section and then we'll tighten these up.So next we're gonna tighten up these U-bolts. Now you want to make sure that this bracket is flat on top and you want to make sure that your tie rod is not kinked one way or another. So we want that pretty much in the middle. Once we do that, we're gonna use a half inch socket to tighten all these up. And we'll do that same thing on the other side, leaving this bracket loose and tightening up these bushings.So now that you have this system completely on and installed, you want to drive it around and then recheck all the torque on all those bolts. However, that's gonna wrap up my review and installation. For more videos and products like this, check us out at extremeterrain.com.