roguejk

I was wheeling Saturday jan 17 up at Rausch creek in PA. Which was all frozen and made green trails quite challenging since it was all ice.
I tried several times to make it up an icy slope with a log imbedded on the passenger side so everytime I gassed it to get up n over the ice would slide me sideways and my front passenger tire would hit the log dead on. After several tries with the same outcome I finally made it over. As I drove straight my steering wheel was not centered , in fact the jeep logo was vertical P
E
E
J
The jeep drives fine in 4 lo and was able to wheel the rest of the day with no prob's and did some great rocky hillclimbs for hours but the steering wheel not centered was freaking me out. After wheeling I simply re-adjusted my rockrawler drag link to re-center it and drove home 1 & 1/2 hrs with no issues. WTF? Any one hear have any ideas? I'm gonna have my mechanic check but this is the Jk- forum so it's the best place to start. Thanx

09rubicon

You bent something. Recentering your wheel kept your esp/bas from going nuts (smart move!), but you still have the underlying problem to address. Take it to a good mechanic or alignment shop and have them check it out.

BlackNorthernJK

Maybe...but it could have simply been a loose drag link as well, hopefully that's all it was. Roguejk did you notice if the draglink was loose before you went to readjust it? I'm just trying to give you some hope that nothings bad...you don't mention but did you smack that log pretty hard? I just got back from wheeling yesterday same situation as you, wonderful thing about the snow...tends to hide things, I smacked a log buried under the snow, not bad and it was only like a 8" round log so really just a little more gas to pop over it and I was good...well good luck

roguejk

The nuts on the rockrawler draglink were tight
I'm gonna take it to Ok auto & 4wd in NJ and have em check it out
I'm gonna replace the OE tie rod with a HD rockrawler one so I'll post up what they find...

Duffy

Please do post what they find. I hit a ditch (hidden in overgrowth) with my right front too. The steering wheel is canted left. It drives straight and doesn't pull to either side. I was gonna re-center via drag link, but it's "slushing" out right now... no garage.

Thanks, Duffy

BlackNorthernJK

sorry dude, I was kinda hoping it was something simple...then again I'm sure you would have thought of it already to...good luck

jerzeyjeep

why are you yelling up there steering boxes going bad is for older jeeps. i have only heard of some severe damage caused by funning huge tires and a drop pitman arm causing steering box issues

anyway it happened to me on the trail and it was a lose bolt on the trac bar and it moved a little allowing the steering to be off a little. quick fix

roguejk

im getting under it on monday since im off to take a better look at it.
i didnt even check the track bar but i guess i will now as well as the steering components for anything unusual. when you get your jeep back from the auto body give a holler back when you drive it around for a few days with your thoughts as to how it rides, like nothing ever happened or feels different!

Hophead

I would say to check your alignment first. With my TJ, I had the same problem, and after serious deathwobble, my alignment was off. Measure outside of front tires in front pointing and rear pointing areas. This measurement should be within 1/8 of inch, if not your alignment got out of wack from your offroad "experience". SImply realign via tie rod, and fix steering wheel with draglink realign.
I have only had my JK 2 months, and haven't monkied with it, but I knew my TJ if I was blind and this is what worked for it.

pastorsteve

Agreed on the alignment. Just take it in for a front alignment since you were hitting things with your tire anyway. Make sure to tell them to align your steering wheel or they may not look. Otherwise you may wear out your front tires and that's a lot more expensive than an alignment.