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Problem re-centering steering wheel after lift

D60

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I'm not convinced you can achieve perfectly centered stationary in a driveway.

I've personally left the clamp nuts loose and head down the highway. Granted, my "highway" is straight and very rural. Then I observe where the wheel is while actually driving, get out and adjust, then go again.

You can just take a socket and ratchet with you if you're concerned with leaving the nuts loose. It's probably not a great idea to leave them loose anyhow, even for short periods.

Also there are some caveats which should be obvious, but common sense isn't common. Just a few:
-tire pressures should be close left/right
-road should have little to no crown
-crosswinds will skew any meaningful results
-don't drink and drive
-don't keep a hair dryer on the edge of bath tub, especially if it's plugged in
-don't run with scissors
-look both ways before you cross the street

and others I've forgotten
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Headbarcode

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I'm not convinced you can achieve perfectly centered stationary in a driveway.

I've personally left the clamp nuts loose and head down the highway. Granted, my "highway" is straight and very rural. Then I observe where the wheel is while actually driving, get out and adjust, then go again.

You can just take a socket and ratchet with you if you're concerned with leaving the nuts loose. It's probably not a great idea to leave them loose anyhow, even for short periods.

Also there are some caveats which should be obvious, but common sense isn't common. Just a few:
-tire pressures should be close left/right
-road should have little to no crown
-crosswinds will skew any meaningful results
-don't drink and drive
-don't keep a hair dryer on the edge of bath tub, especially if it's plugged in
-don't run with scissors
-look both ways before you cross the street

and others I've forgotten
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Headbarcode

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I didn’t have adjustable control arms when I installed these parts, I do now. But in retrospect it seems obvious that I could have adjusted the SteerSmarts track bar to not make contact with the diff cover. The SteerSmarts is a 3 piece unit with 2 adjustment points, if I’d have removed it and adjusted it so the bend was moved about an inch to the passenger side everything would have been just fine.

F4FB4570-28D0-4BDD-9932-7AA7FA046875.jpeg


499D4E4B-75DA-4FA8-909F-A41B54D338E0.jpeg
My buddy suggested the same thing, when I had interference between my Yeti bar and arb diff cover. But with the axle centered, only the adjustment sleeve could be oriented back and forth, whereas the bend stays put. The axle would have to be offset to the drivers side to clear the diff.

Not at all trying to nitpick, just don't want you thinking that you could've avoided the 2nd track bar.

Glad to hear of your lift project getting done and in the record books. How bout some pics of the beast?
 
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Chocolate Thunder

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My buddy suggested the same thing, when I had interference between my Yeti bar and arb diff cover. But with the axle centered, only the adjustment sleeve could be oriented back and forth, whereas the bend stays put. The axle would have to be offset to the drivers side to clear the diff.

Not at all trying to nitpick, just don't want you thinking that you could've avoided the 2nd track bar.

Glad to hear of your lift project getting done and in the record books. How bout some pics of the beast?
Yep, you’re right about not being able to shift the bend side to side. Where the bend made contact is toward the passenger side, the axle would need to be shifted further that way for it to clear.

No good pictures of it yet, here’s one I snapped at lunch today for the “Jeeps parking next to Jeeps” thread.

BB4907F3-6ED2-4CC5-90B6-C089A15BB8C9.jpeg
 

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Headbarcode

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Yep, you’re right about not being able to shift the bend side to side. Where the bend made contact is toward the passenger side, the axle would need to be shifted further that way for it to clear.

No good pictures of it yet, here’s one I snapped at lunch today for the “Jeeps parking next to Jeeps” thread.

BB4907F3-6ED2-4CC5-90B6-C089A15BB8C9.jpeg
Has a nice stance to it. Looking forward to a full centerfold spread.

Looks like we are both coming from the same place and headed in a similar direction, as far as lift setups.

Left or right stuff wasn't a problem, but I'd get a nice grazing contact between my front track bar and diff cover when the whole axle compressed. Seems to not happen with the taller lift, but I'm still gonna swap out the ss bar for the mc one.

Congrats on the new setup!
 

Vinny2002

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Anyone know what the draglink should be re-torqued to when tightening?
 
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Chocolate Thunder

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me109stock

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Could you have tweaked the drag link while wheeling causing the problem? I know that when my bud came off the Rubicon Trail with me, He had tweaked the drag ling as the steering was 15 degrees off center and we had to stop and recenter the steering wheel as it had put the Jeep in limp mode and would only do about 35 mph. He went had an alignment done the following morning to fix it.
I think I did something similar running Sourgrass this past weekend. When I exited the trail I noticed the wheel was off to the left when the Jeep was pointing straight. It never seemed right though from the time I finished my 3.5" MC Lift Install because with the wheel straight the lock to lock was different left vs right (it turned tighter to the left than to the right). After alignment same thing. Now after my first hard articulation wheeling the steering is off. I am thinking something in the suspension was not settled quite right and the hard off-roading settled it in. But it sucked driving home on twisty roads because the vehicle kept seemingly shutting down at around 35mph. My buddy told me it was because of all the sensors and with the vehicle moving straight with the wheel turned the vehicle was sensing that it was in a skid. Too much gee-whiz gizmos for my liking - I prefer old school where the driver drives the vehicle, not a bunch of computers. Glad to hear that I'm not the only one that has experienced this and getting it aligned again should fix the limp mode issue. Also fortunate that once I got to straighter roads the limp mode issue seemed to go away - we didn't have wrenches with long enough handles with us to break the lock nuts.
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