Alright, I was down in Stillwater, OK last weekend to visit a buddy about to graduate from there and before the football game I went to see, I decide I’d like to do some vaycay wheeling.

We call up one of his buddies who might know and he says the best thing close, is an old crummy red dirt road. Not gonna lie, actually was pretty fun. Unfortunately, at one point I decide to pull a 1 point U-turn on this road and hit the lip on the side of the road a little faster than I ought to have. As I’m driving after that I notice that my steering wheel is no longer centered, probably a solid 20 degrees.

The alignment is still right on, maybe a very light pull to the left (impact was to the right wheel, steering wheel is rotated to the left) but very light, hard to distinguish from the grade of the road. Looking down the profile of the car with the wheels strait, both appear strait forward (not that I actually did it right and got a tape measure out…) and theres no camber on the afflicted wheel. But… it might kinda look like the front axel is shifted to the left. The wheel comes out from the fender a little more on the left than the right.

Im taking it to an alignment shop, I just wanted some suggestions on what you might think the problem is, so I’m going in there with some idea of what might be the problem. Thanks

 

Save the money and do it yourself WOL has a write up somewhere on here its easy

 

If your axle if off it sounds like your track bar is messed up. Could have bent the track bar bracket. Also you may have just bent something in the sterring assembly. I would start with teh track bar and work your way from there. Look under write up and you will find one on doing an alinment

 

Do you have a lift? Did you hit the lip with anything other than the tire?

Re-centering the steering wheel is easy. Locating which component you bent may not be.

Here is the DIY Alignment write-up:
http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write-...-end-alignment

As mentioned, the trackbar brackets would be a good place to start. Then check the tie rod and the C's.

 

Keep in mind that the tie rod does not have to bend very far to see a dramatic difference in the steering wheel alignment. I willing to bet that's where your issue lies... I purchased the Rock Krawler Tie Rod and I have never had a issue since..

 

Yup... its more than likely your tie rod or drag link. Happens to me all the time. I have a 5 year alignment garantee from NTB and am a regular customer. Problem is the JK tie rod and drag link are weak.

 

If your axle is off center its the track bar or the bracket.

It possible to bend the drag link but not likely unless you slammed something really hard. Then like a few have also said..Check the tierods..

If all is square:

If your wheel is canted to the left turn the drag link adjuster counter clockwise till you get it straight...Or clock wise depending on how your steering wheel is sitting..

I just did this last week...Easy stuff.

 

You bent something, re-center your steering wheel, check torques on suspension,steering, live with it until you can up grade.Also, I see you have a tf 2.5, your axle was probably already off.

 

Fastest fix:

Go back that same dirt road and make that same U-turn in the same place at the same speed going in the other direction (left to right instead of right to left or vice-versa).

If that doesn't fix it, it will probably make it worse...


Ok, kidding aside, like the other guys said, something is likely bent and they pointed you in the right places to look.

Good luck.

-Randy

 

Hmmm yes, thinking about it, keeping the track bar the same length but raising the Jeep up would cause the slight shift to the left of the axel. So ya in all likely hood it was already like that.

So probably the tie rod huh? I kinda thought it was something there... would a steering stablizer have absorbed some of this shock and helped take stress off the tie rod? Or is the lesson here "if your gonna hit something that hard, at least hit it head on?"

The ESP/BAS lights are on, but they usually are after an extended wheeling session, i guess i'll just center the wheel and take some measurements on the tire's spacing and see how everything rides... one thing i was reading was that i want about 1/8th inch toe in... is that across the board? would i still want something like that on 35's?

Also... this got me looking at adjustable trackbars and control arms... i dunno bout the Track bar, but i have been interested in the control arms to eliminate some 'flightyness' from the highway drive... any thoughts?

Thanks for all the responce everyone. I mostly read the buildups here and didn't know what kinda responce i'd get to a "Dun' fu#%ed up mah Jeep!" thread