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Pulling right

ColinJL

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Yellow Cake Kid

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The total toe is a bit more than the Jeep JL spec, and the driver's side front wheel is pointing in, towards the right more than the passenger front wheel is pointing in towards the left.

The Thrust angle of -0.16 is in spec, but not as low as one might hope. The negative angle will cause the vehicle to crab to the right creating the need to counter steer left for compensation. To most people this would seem a lot like "pulling to the right".

If the Jeep is stock, there's not much you can do about the thrust angle, but the measurement can help explain what you are feeling.

The before Toe on the front driver side was way off, and while it was corrected it probably should have been corrected further.

This may be evidence that the tie rod or some other aspect of the steering fared a bit worse in the fender bender than was initially appraised.


You might ask the repair shop to review the specs and offer any insights regarding the tie rod's condition. Then ask them if they are able to set the toe so the adjustment will counteract the road crown rather than readily succumb to its influence.
 
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mwilk012

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That right rear toe seems high to me. Weird.
 
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ColinJL

ColinJL

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The total toe is a bit more than the Jeep JL spec, and the driver's side front wheel is pointing in, towards the right more than the passenger front wheel is pointing in towards the left.

The Thrust angle of -0.16 is in spec, but not as low as one might hope. The negative angle will cause the vehicle to crab to the right creating the need to counter steer left for compensation. To most people this would seem a lot like "pulling to the right".

If the Jeep is stock, there's not much you can do about the thrust angle, but the measurement can help explain what you are feeling.

The before Toe on the front driver side was way off, and while it was corrected it probably should have been corrected further.

This may be evidence that the tie rod or some other aspect of the steering fared a bit worse in the fender bender than was initially appraised.

You might ask the repair shop to review the specs and offer any insights regarding the tie rod's condition. Then ask them if they are able to set the toe so the adjustment will counteract the road crown rather than readily succumb to its influence.
Did the frame specs seem fine to you?
 

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ColinJL

ColinJL

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Rotate your tires.
I have already tried rotating the tires and ruled out the tie rod being bent since the steering wheel still sits at the 12 o’clock position when driving straight, guess I’ll have to bring it back.
 

Yellow Cake Kid

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I don't have any way to make sense of that frame info.

I would ask the shop that has the specific equipment which produced that data to help you interpret it. They should be able to explain what the info is supposed to mean, and what you would expect on a factory fresh vehicle.

Speaking for myself, I don't know how much faith I could put into body shop frame measurements, as I think that running a handful of factory fresh vehicles through the very same measuring protocol would reveal a significant amount of variation in the readings.

Proof that the frame is near spec, will be the ability to successfully set a good alignment adjustment.

Good luck.
 

Yellow Cake Kid

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Upon further consideration I realize that the before and after "alignment" process documented on the print out likely amounted to a technician turning the steering wheel closer but not real close to the center.

Note that the total toe has not changed before and after. The change in relationship of the driver and passenger before and after toe settings is matched by the change in the "steer ahead".

In other words, they turned the steering wheel nearer to the center, and documented the "after" state.

I know the before "steer ahead" is highlighted in bright RED but it never occurred to me that someone would even bother to record alignment data without setting the steering wheel as near to center as possible, so I glossed over what should have seemed obvious.

If they had actually gotten the steering wheel dead center the toe would have been something like +0.13° driver and +0.14° passenger, which means that the toe settings are actually near to symmetrical, and I was wrong about the toe characteristic comments I made in the first post.

It is unlikely that there were any actual before/after adjustments made.

You'll find all sorts of recommendations for the "best" toe settings, but I think its safe to say that 0.13° toe in is heavy handed and will contribute to the front end following the crown.

For example; my 2020 JLU Rubicon is set at approximately 0.025° which is 1/32 inch and that setting works ok for me.

Maybe ask the shop to back off on those toe settings and get closer to 0.06° to see how the front tracks on a side slope.

Good luck.
 

mwilk012

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Upon further consideration I realize that the before and after "alignment" process documented on the print out likely amounted to a technician turning the steering wheel closer but not real close to the center.

Note that the total toe has not changed before and after. The change in relationship of the driver and passenger before and after toe settings is matched by the change in the "steer ahead".

In other words, they turned the steering wheel nearer to the center, and documented the "after" state.

I know the before "steer ahead" is highlighted in bright RED but it never occurred to me that someone would even bother to record alignment data without setting the steering wheel as near to center as possible, so I glossed over what should have seemed obvious.

If they had actually gotten the steering wheel dead center the toe would have been something like +0.13° driver and +0.14° passenger, which means that the toe settings are actually near to symmetrical, and I was wrong about the toe characteristic comments I made in the first post.

It is unlikely that there were any actual before/after adjustments made.

You'll find all sorts of recommendations for the "best" toe settings, but I think its safe to say that 0.13° toe in is heavy handed and will contribute to the front end following the crown.

For example; my 2020 JLU Rubicon is set at approximately 0.025° which is 1/32 inch and that setting works ok for me.

Maybe ask the shop to back off on those toe settings and get closer to 0.06° to see how the front tracks on a side slope.

Good luck.
Giving them the BOD, the steering wheel was probably off center and they adjusted the drag link to recenter.
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