Drag link ball joint

[kansasboy91]

I had to re-centered my steering wheel and noticed rotating front to back movement in the drag link. There is no up and down or side to side. Is that normal or do I get to play with a new set of ball joints? The front skid took a good hit but none of the links got hit so just curious, I just don’t know what’s normal

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[Some Random Guy]

Seems normal, it allows the axle to flex and rotate without stressing the steering box.

 

[jessedacri]

I'd say that's normal, and it's typical for them to have even more movement than yours is showing. My Synergy one probably moves 3-4x the distance back and forth. Rotational movement is okay, but play in any other direction is when you should be concerned.

 

[Roky]

I had to re-centered my steering wheel and noticed rotating front to back movement in the drag link. There is no up and down or side to side. Is that normal or do I get to play with a new set of ball joints? The front skid took a good hit but none of the links got hit so just curious, I just don’t know what’s normal

That’s normal…..tie rod does the same thing……

 

[kansasboy91]

I guess my next question is how does the steering wheel get off center?

 

[jessedacri]

I guess my next question is how does the steering wheel get off center?

Big front end hits and loose bolts or both - did you have a hit and the steering is now off center? You can adjust the steering center by loosening the bolt around the neck of the silver adjustment ring on drag link , and twisting the adjustment ring until the steering wheel is straight.


Not to alarm but more in the name of due diligence - this can be trivial or it can be catastrophic. I had a big hit on one side after veering off a dirt road to avoid a speeding biker coming over the crest in the opposite direction. Bent my axle slightly (you could see one of the wheels had actually gained camber) which sent the steering wheel off center. I was able to straighten it again by adjusting the drag link and get the Jeep home but that was a $5000 incident.

If you did hit something really hard, go under your axle and look at all the areas where the tube goes into a cast metal housing - so, both sides of the pumpkin and both sides of the front axle disconnect unit. The areas that will show cracks/bends/movement is the spot welds that look like this, it's where the axle tube is physically welded to the cast bits. These JL axles are known to break at the FAD, which is where mine did. Not to alarm, but I just went through something involving a big hit and axle issues about 6 months ago. All of the stock steering components were unbent in my incident.

 

[rkwfxd]

15mm ratcheting wrench is your friend.

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