pwain

Over the weekend I installed a teraflex 2.5 coil lift and added an adjustable tracbar.

At the end of the install I had a axle that was slightly off center and a steering wheel slightly off center, neither being much of a surprise.

Yesterday I attempted to center the front axle following the instructions on project-jk. After doing so my steering wheel was straight, but upside down.


The toe looked a litttle funny to me and I am not crazy about my alignment skills so I decided to take it to a shop today for an alignment. An hour or so later they came out and said:

"The steering wheel is straight, but it turns more to the left than the right. To correct this you need a pitman drop bracket, come back when you get one."

Driving home the ESP/BAS and traction control lights were still on.

Not really sure how to proceed. I know I dont need the drop bracket for the lift I installed, but I don't know what adjustments need to be made.

Thanks for the help everyone!

aristobrat

Is your steering wheel now right-side-up and straight?

After I straightened mine out, it took my JK a bit before the lights went out. I don't know if it was key-cycles or just mileage (as I ran a few short trips that day, so I had both), but it eventually turned off.

As for it being upside down after you adjusted it, could you have rotated the sleeve the wrong way?

pwain

The steering wheel is now right-side up and is rather straight.

Everything seems okay except for the dash lights and that it hardly steers towards the right. However, I have only put 4 miles on it since picking it up from the shop.

aristobrat

Cool, hopefully after a few more short trips your lights will correct themselves.

As for them saying it turns more to the left than the right, I wonder if the sleeve was rotated too far in the other direction to straighten the steering wheel?

Like, if your steering wheel was off center to the right, instead of rotating the sleeve a little so that the steering wheel went back to the left, I wonder if it was rotated so that the steering wheel continued to the right, like a clock, until it was back at the top position again?

I ran the same lift as you and def. didn't need a pitman drop arm!

Hopefully someone with more experience pops into the thread soon!

RubiRedRider

Like arisot said, I bet they recentered with the steering wheel a full turn off.
While driving very slow, turn your wheel lock to lock and then determine where the wheel would be centered based on turns of the wheel. If your steering wheel is somewhat centered, but your wheels are turned, that is what they did.
Have them readjust it back by one revolution.

I doubt your lights will ever go off being out a full turn, if that is what has happened. This will also reak havoc on your clock spring if you continue very long.

RB

pwain

Thanks for the help so far. I went out to look at the steering wheel and it does seem it was one revoluction too far.

However, I then realized how far off center the axle is. Yesterday it was at about 3.5cm from tire to outer fender on both sides. Now it is flush on one side and 7cm on the other.


Looks like I am going to head back over the the alignment shop.

TeraFlex

Do not install a drop pitman on your JK. That shop is incorrect on that. Unless you have adjustable control arms, you can't really set the alignment. The only thing they can do is adjust the toe-in and recenter the steering wheel. Don't let them install cam bolts either.

pwain

I went back to the shop and looked underneath the jeep with them and they swore up and down I needed a pitman drop. I explained as well as I could that it was just adjustments needed, but I could tell I was getting nowhere. At this point I have given up on them and will go back to my origional plan of doing it myself.


Right now the Steering wheel is "centered" but the axle is 7 cm off on one side. Do I address the steering wheel or the axle first? The instructions seem rather straightforward for both steps, but I get a little confused on how they relate to one another.

Thanks again for all the helpful responses!

JK Rocker

That sucks. I would not go back to that shop. All you need is to adjust the steering by a revolution as stated above. Do not install pitman arm, do not install cam bolts.

A while back I got in an accident and the body shop did the same thing to my steering. I had a dealer correct it.

I would take it someplace that knows 4x4 lifts well and have them do it. With adjustable trackbars, you can get it pretty close, but you cant correct the caster angle without adjustable control arms. Your ride might be a bit stiff, but you should be able to get it to ride straight.

nthinuf

Center the axle first, and then center the steering wheel.

This is what would worry me. Maybe put the front axle on stands and have someone turn the steering wheel slowly from lock to lock while you look at all the components?
Check the threads on the draglink turnbuckle to see if it is off-center? Don't know how this would affect turning right, but something to look at.
Steering stabilizer not centered, maybe?
Bent components? Or hitting somewhere preventing the turn?

Maybe post a few pics of the front end and see if anyone here notices anything? Or throw a vid on youtube and post the link?