DvsKin

Well, I finally found someone to show me the ropes. Took my jeep wheeling for the first time. All in all it was a fun, but I have a question. I tagged a rock with my passenger front tire pretty good and threw my steering wheel out of alignment. Everything underneath seems to still be intact, so is it just as simple as adjusting the rod that goes to my pitman arm? (can't remember the name.)

Chad

Battlefrog

Loosen those 2 bolts (15 mm socket) and twist the linkage till the steering wheel lines up. It's VERY common for the steering wheel to come unaligned.

Freewill

First thing, check your toe-in. Jeep uses almost none - maybe 1/16" - so if a tape measure does not show the front tires to be almost parallel that needs to be fixed first. The trick to measuring toe-in is to find equal spots to measure from at the front and back of the tires.

Most likely the tie rod has been tweaked a bit, but a bent "C" bracket or axle housing tube could also throw toe-in off. If the toe-in has changed because of bent axle parts, the toe can still be reset with the tie rod, but the camber and/or castor will be off until it gets fixed right.

Once the toe-in is correct, the steering wheel may end up centered again. If not, adjust the relay rod* to center the wheel as the last step.

There is one other possibility: I've heard of the track bar ends moving a little if the bolts aren't fully torqued. This can also throw the steering wheel off.

*The relay rod runs across the front above the tie rod. The relay rod has a 2-bolt clamp; the tie rod has a knurled plastic adjusting nut. Most folks call the relay rod a drag link nowadays, but when I learned auto mechanics 50 years ago they taught us a drag link runs fore-and-aft in the vehicle while a relay rod runs left-to-right.

DvsKin

Wow, thanks for the fast and very detailed reply Freewill!! I will check the toe in and go from there. I will keep ya posted!!

Battletoads errr frog!!! Thanks too, I assumed it was that simple. How do you like that goodyears?? Got 35's on mine, I had to air em down to 30 psi, and finally got a decent ride out of them. When I got them back from the alignment shop after mounting them, they had them at 65 psi.... I know their load range is rather high for the jeep. I grew used to the ride though.

Thanks again for the fast and detailed replies!!!

Battlefrog

They are a beast off-road. I run them at 28 psi. My last 2 sets of tires were load range D & E so these are a bit softer at C. So far, no complaints...

69mach1

I'm betting it's a simple drag link (bar to pitman arm) adjustment. I've bent mine a couple times playing in the rocks. Lengthen the drag link to have the steering wheel go CCW

Freewill

69Mach1 (great car and a VERY good year) have you been able to actually see that the relay rod/drag link has bent? I've used the tie rod and relay rod to get my toe-in and steering center back, but I never figured they had bent - rather that I've used those links to compensate for something else that I bent. Looking at those rods, its hard to figure they would bend unless they get hit on a rock or log. Not trying to turn this into an argument or anything like that - just interested in what you think about it.

69mach1

Somehow when other folks have bent their stock tie rod my has stayed straight... but my stock drag link you can see the slight bend after I've been in the rocks and at that it was only crawling, no boony wamping. A simple adjustment of the drag link and the steering wheel is straight again. I have since replaced both drag link and tie rod with HD units (& JKS sector shaft brace)and no more adjusting the drag link. Now I will have to see where the weak link moves too hoping it's not my sector shaft. Also I'm careful to not lean into a big rock and turn the wheel...

Freewill

Interesting. Next time it gets off-center I'll sight down those rods more carefully.

Thanks for the reply