I recently installed a Rough Country 3.5" lift kit on my jeep, my wife's jeep and my buddy's jeep. Since the installation, my buddy is having a hard time keeping his steering wheel centered. We adjusted it several times now and after a few days of driving it is going off center again. Today he took it to the dealer to have the car aligned. The dealer was not able to properly align the jeep because of the steering issue. Neither my wife's jeep nor my jeep is having the issue my buddy is having. The only difference between the 3 jeeps is mine and my wife's have an adjustable track bar installed and he is using the track bar bracket and drop pitman arm.

Any idea on why the steering would change over time? Obvioulsly when the steering wheel moves off center he has issues with the traction contol coming on. The only thing I can think of is maybe the track bar or the bracket is loose, but I would think if that was the issue the dealer would have noticed that. Any other ideas?

 

Is the front axle off centered?

 

I'm not sure about that. I never checked after installing it because there is no adjustment with the bracket setup he has. The bracket was designed for the specific kit so I assume they designed the bracket to center the axel

 

Maybe check that out

 

Are you sure that the bolts on the drag link turnbuckle are tight enough, or have they been overtightened and stripped? The trackbar should have nothing to do with the steering wheel going offcenter.

 

Are the trackbar bolts tight?

 

Make sure when you're checking torque on all your bolts that the Jeep is on the ground as well. After/while checking torque, do a visual inspection of all the steering linkage to make sure nothing is stripped out as mentioned above.
Then, if everything looks good, try having your buddy start the Jeep and turn the wheels from side to side while you watch the linkage to see if you notice anything binding/out of place/loose. Just make sure the truck is in park and/or chocked first!

Keep us posted on what you find out, and good luck!

 

Everything was tight and torqued to spec when the kit was installed. I'm not sure if things loosened up after some road and off-roading miles. The jeep is still at the jeep dealer so I don't have access to check anything.

Rough Country was contacted via email and gave a similar reply to everyone here, make sure the track bar bracket isn't loose.

Hopefully he gets this sorted out soon.

 

Also I forgot to mention that this is on a 2011 jku. All of the steering components are in excellent condition.

 

There is no doubt that something is loose. My guess would be either a turn buckle or the track bar or track bar bracket. Yes the track bar being loose can effect the steering wheel.