Alignment Way Off - Best Place to Take my 392?

[alksion]

Best place to take a solid axle rig for an alignment…the driveway with a tape measure.

Someone else told me this. Can you enlighten me? Still learning things around here. Funny thing is I did not go with a lift because everything was so perfect and I did not want issues, but here I am haha. We'll get it figured it out

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[Zandcwhite]

As mentioned by others, the tie rod and drag link are the only adjustable parts on a stock JL. If your steering wheel is straight, the drag link doesn’t need adjusted. The only adjustment is toe. Measure the same spot on both tires in front of the axle at center line height and behind. If the front measures more than the rear, you are toed out. If the rear measures more than the front you are toed in. The JL spec is .20° toed in, which is barely any. Try to get the front and rear measurements as equal as you can with the front barely less than the rear.

 

[californiajeeping]

Possible fixes:

1. Do you have the factory tires? If yes, try rotating the tires first to see if it might be a bad tire.

2. Did you change out the tires to new tires? If yes, did the steering problem start with the new tires? Might be a bad new tire. Try rotating tires.

3. Only toe and steer ahead can be adjusted on Wranglers by most alignment shops. Unless these are way off of the spec range, you won’t notice too much of a difference.

4. Camber can be adjusted by replacing the factory shims with a different sized factory shim.There is a couple of posts in the long steering thread that explains how. Usually only 4x4 shops will have the know how for this particular modification.

5a. Caster - A very slight caster adjustment can be made by loosening the bolts on the lower control arms and pushing the front axel accordingly then retightening the bolts.

5b. Caster - Or you could get the slightly longer lower control arms from the Mopar lift kit and just use one to add caster to one side. You could use aftermarket adjustable LCAs but some Jeep dealers will claim if violates the warranty.

6. You might have a bad steering box.

7. Have them check torque on all steering components. Drag link, ball joints, front and rear track bars, LCAs, steering stabilizer, pitman arm, everything.

8. Might be a bad steering stabilizer.

9. You probably already checked, tire pressure could be different/off. If your tire pressure on the passenger front tire is way low, it could pull to the right for example.

Be sure to document all alignment specs before adjusting anything. Some alignment shops will give you an alignment report for $20, which doesn’t include any adjustments. If they make adjustments, insist on a before and after report.

 

[Renegade]

I can’t believe no one has asked what tire pressure is being run yet.
OP- What tire pressure are you running?

 

[alksion]

I can’t believe no one has asked what tire pressure is being run yet.
OP- What tire pressure are you running?

Right now the dealer filled those puppies back up to 46PSI but I have been running them around 36PSI.

 

[alksion]

Possible fixes:

1. Do you have the factory tires? If yes, try rotating the tires first to see if it might be a bad tire.

2. Did you change out the tires to new tires? If yes, did the steering problem start with the new tires? Might be a bad new tire. Try rotating tires.

3. Only toe and steer ahead can be adjusted on Wranglers by most alignment shops. Unless these are way off of the spec range, you won’t notice too much of a difference.

4. Camber can be adjusted by replacing the factory shims with a different sized factory shim.There is a couple of posts in the long steering thread that explains how. Usually only 4x4 shops will have the know how for this particular modification.

5a. Caster - A very slight caster adjustment can be made by loosening the bolts on the lower control arms and pushing the front axel accordingly then retightening the bolts.

5b. Caster - Or you could get the slightly longer lower control arms from the Mopar lift kit and just use one to add caster to one side. You could use aftermarket adjustable LCAs but some Jeep dealers will claim if violates the warranty.

6. You might have a bad steering box.

7. Have them check torque on all steering components. Drag link, ball joints, front and rear track bars, LCAs, steering stabilizer, pitman arm, everything.

8. Might be a bad steering stabilizer.

9. You probably already checked, tire pressure could be different/off. If your tire pressure on the passenger front tire is way low, it could pull to the right for example.

Be sure to document all alignment specs before adjusting anything. Some alignment shops will give you an alignment report for $20, which doesn’t include any adjustments. If they make adjustments, insist on a before and after report.

Wow a lot to work off of here. Greatly appreciated.

1. No to factory tires. BFG K02 37 C Load. Although I didn't have issues after getting them installed and driving with them over a month.

2. See number one. I will still try a tire rotation though but I don't think it's that.

3. Sounds like a reason to skip a standard alignment shop.

4. I would like to see if I can get it fixed without adding anything yet. Most of the alignment issues came after installing the parts listed early in the thread.

5a/b. See number 4. I am open to adding things but not quite yet.

6. Could be but the drive home from Arizone when I picked it up, no issues. I put the tires on a few days later and drove it around a few weeks, also no issues. So I don't feel this is it.

7. This is a good idea regardless. I will look into this. Thanks.

8. Could be but see number 6.

9. All tires are 46PSI. I need to lower them again back to 36. That was the dealers doing a few days ago.

 

[californiajeeping]

Wow a lot to work off of here. Greatly appreciated.

1. No to factory tires. BFG K02 37 C Load. Although I didn't have issues after getting them installed and driving with them over a month.

2. See number one. I will still try a tire rotation though but I don't think it's that.

3. Sounds like a reason to skip a standard alignment shop.

4. I would like to see if I can get it fixed without adding anything yet. Most of the alignment issues came after installing the parts listed early in the thread.

5a/b. See number 4. I am open to adding things but not quite yet.

6. Could be but the drive home from Arizone when I picked it up, no issues. I put the tires on a few days later and drove it around a few weeks, also no issues. So I don't feel this is it.

7. This is a good idea regardless. I will look into this. Thanks.

8. Could be but see number 6.

9. All tires are 46PSI. I need to lower them again back to 36. That was the dealers doing a few days ago.

Is it pulling or is just the steering wheel not centered? If pulling, you could test drive it without the steering stabilizer for troubleshooting purposes. Obviously new rails, bumpers and lights won’t cause alignment issues so it must of been coincidental that the steering related problems started right after the upgrades and not after the new tires were installed.

 

[alksion]

Is it pulling or is just the steering wheel not centered? If pulling, you could test drive it without the steering stabilizer for troubleshooting purposes. Obviously new rails, bumpers and lights won’t cause alignment issues so it must of been coincidental that the steering related problems started right after the upgrades and not after the new tires were installed.

I want to say both. The steering wheel appears to be titled to the left but it wants to pull right. Correct it might be coincidental.

 

[Rob97RR]

I want to say both. The steering wheel appears to be titled to the left but it wants to pull right. Correct it might be coincidental.

This is probably a stupid question on my part, since this is a solid front axle vehicle, but since you don't have any suspension mods yet, and you mentioned it started after adding all the new parts, not when you changed tires...

Did the front ride height drop much after the installation of the winch? If so, could that have anything to do with this?

 

[alksion]

This is probably a stupid question on my part, since this is a solid front axle vehicle, but since you don't have any suspension mods yet, and you mentioned it started after adding all the new parts, not when you changed tires...

Did the front ride height drop much after the installation of the winch? If so, could that have anything to do with this?

They were supposed to measure before and after but I think they forgot. I do see a little sag but nothing drastic. This lead to me wondering the same thing.

 

[Rob97RR]

They were supposed to measure before and after but I think they forgot. I do see a little sag but nothing drastic. This lead to me wondering the same thing.

Yeah, my thinking was that dropping only the front, (or at least dropping the front more than the rear) would change the rake of the vehicle, so I was wondering if that could be the issue, but I have no clue if that even CAN impact the steering on a solid axle vehicle like a Jeep.

Either way, I hope you find the culprit soon!

 

[dshark1]

I had a very similar issue on my fairly new Rubi. Seemed like I needed a alignment. In order to track straight, my steering wheel was 95% of the time at 10-11 o”clock. When I took it in for the first oil change recently to my purchasing dealer. Alignment was spot on. However, they adjusted the steering wheel which made all the difference. Steering wheel is at 12 o”clock now & no longer gives the illusion of pulling to the right. I am a happy camper…. Long story short. Check the steering wheel. Good luck

 

[Renegade]

Right now the dealer filled those puppies back up to 46PSI but I have been running them around 36PSI.

Drop them to 30, test drive, and report back.

 

[AFdude]

OP, I had 37” KO2’s installed right when I got my 392 in June. I had a hard pull after that. No changes to the suspension so that ruled out the alignment. Discount tire said it may be a radial pull and offered me to swap to something different. Swapped to KM3’s and all is well again.
Maybe you can swap tires?

 

[alksion]

OP, I had 37” KO2’s installed right when I got my 392 in June. I had a hard pull after that. No changes to the suspension so that ruled out the alignment. Discount tire said it may be a radial pull and offered me to swap to something different. Swapped to KM3’s and all is well again.
Maybe you can swap tires?

Can you elaborate?

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