Steering Angles

Groo · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:20 am

My Kj keeps pulling to the right, I have had it aligned at a shop, and at the dealership, and it still pulls hard to the right. I go to the local 4x4 shop to see if they will put on my Jeepin Al's A-arms,and they try to tell me that my steering angles are off and putting Als A-arms on won't help, and an alignment won't help. The guy says we need to fix the problem, not just treat it. I like that he wants to fix and fix it right, but is he trying to talk me into an expesive customized fix that I may really not need? I know my jeep drove straight for the first 7k miles. I know I should put the arms on myself, just don't have time right now, and won't for about the next six months. Thanks for your help.

Jeger · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:40 am

Did ask him what he meant when he says "your steering angles are off"?

Also does it do it all the time or just sometimes? ex, pulls while accelerating but not while coasting, or only pulls when braking, etc. Give us all the details.

Did it start this right after the lift?

How long has the lift been on?

Have you checked your tire pressures? Front and back.

I have never heard of anyone getting any "steering angles" fixed with a 2.5" lift that involved more than an alignment.

And Welcome to lost Groo!

LiLredLibby · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:23 pm

Jeger wrote:

Did ask him what he meant when he says "your steering angles are off"?

Also does it do it all the time or just sometimes? ex, pulls while accelerating but not while coasting, or only pulls when braking, etc. Give us all the details.

Did it start this right after the lift?

How long has the lift been on?

Have you checked your tire pressures? Front and back.

I have never heard of anyone getting any "steering angles" fixed with a 2.5" lift that involved more than an alignment.

And Welcome to L.O.S.T. Groo!

As Jeger said,we really need more info.Try swopping your front tires and see if it pulls the opposite way.Sometimes a tire can wear funny and cause it to pull.

Welcome to L.O.S.T.
Ron

TDI4BY · **Joined:** Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:56 pm **Posts:** 644

If you already own Als arms then have them put on.
I have stock arms even and Les Schwab was able to get it right on the edge of specs. It drives really good.

Groo · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:14 pm

I have been running a lift from day one, I now have 15k miles. It did not start pulling until I had about 7k miles on it, now it pulls all the time. I have had the dealer align it several times, every time they say it is with in factory specs, but the vehicle still pulls. I had the LBJ recall done a couple of months back, and that seemed to make it worse. I have checked tire pressure, I actually check it every two weeks I keep all four sitting at 35 PSI. I have even tried switching tires out to see if there is a radial pull, but nothing has helped. I picked up Als A-arms because I am hoping to move into a
Frakenlift when the new front springs are available, and after I get back. I also hoped that they would help my pulling issue. I have a feeling this dude is trying to sheist me, but I would like to see what other, more experienced ,people think before I slip into that negative frame of mind.

Thanks again

1300ZUK · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:28 pm

mine pulls to the right too, and its stock

they told me at the alignment place that it was my tires, i swapped tires around for a day, still pulled to the right.

now i just live with it

but it sounds like yours might be a little more severe than mine

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:32 pm

Mine also pulls to the right. It did before and after the lifts and after 2 alignments. If the road is straight, my steering wheel is turned to the left.

I have the stock upper A-arms but the guy didnt seem to have any problems getting it aligned.

scoobybri · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:04 pm

Does not sound right. On my KJ, steering was spot on stock, pulled a little to the left after the lift as installed, and a proper alignment brought it back to spot on. Alignment shops are only as good as the techs that do the work. I usually take my cars to a specialty alignment shop that does the work old school style and will set it up whatever way you want. (especially important for my Miatas that I race.) I could not get over there for the Libby so I took it to a local shop close to work. I was a little leary at first, but once I talked to the shop manager, who just happened to have his lifted/armored Samurai at work that day, I knew I was in good hands. Alignment was done properly!

TDI4BY · **Joined:** Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:56 pm **Posts:** 644

When I had mine aligned he said something about adjusting the specs to counteract the effects of the crown in the road.

1300ZUK · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:16 pm

TDI4BY wrote:

When I had mine aligned he said something about adjusting the specs to counteract the effects of the crown in the road.

well the place that i took mine, i told them that it was pulling to the Right, they put it on the Machine, it needed alignment, but nothing that would make it pull to the right, they did the alignment, drove it and said it still pulled to the right, so they checked the alignment again, it was in spec.

Wonder if its a trait of these vehicles, i think the rear axle might be steering mine to the right, its really the only thing i can conclude from it.

Jeger · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:59 pm

1300ZUK wrote:

TDI4BY wrote:

When I had mine aligned he said something about adjusting the specs to counteract the effects of the crown in the road.

well the place that i took mine, i told them that it was pulling to the Right, they put it on the Machine, it needed alignment, but nothing that would make it pull to the right, they did the alignment, drove it and said it still pulled to the right, so they checked the alignment again, it was in spec.

Wonder if its a trait of these vehicles, i think the rear axle might be steering mine to the right, its really the only thing i can conclude from it.

thats a possibility I suppose. When they do a front end alignment, do they still hook up the rears to make sure its tracking straight or is it all based off of the front end?

1300ZUK · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:32 pm

i guess it would depend on the shop and the machine, i would think they would check it, but there isn't any rear adjustment, so they might not even bother with ?

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:51 pm

They always hook up the rear on mine also.

jason thompson · **Posted:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 7:38 pm

Steering angles will make a rig do funny things and that could very well be the problem ,bad outter tie rod wich was caused by the angle
I think that may be somthing to look at
This one of those "problem spots" that needs to be adressed on the KJ
This also could be very well why all the lift we may ever see is ~2.5" steering will become an issue

Look at it like this
a stock hight KJ has a nearly horizontal line for the steering wich allows the R&P to push out strait when turning ,on the road
now a KJ with 2.5" of lift does not have this "clean line" for steering so insted the ball joint is being pushed funny all the time wich will cause it to wear funny
at some point I think we will see steering joints failing on older lifted KJ's
I hope that I am wrong on this one but I will not complain if some one makes a steering "fix"
I think a tie rod with a Z bend would work great
It would keep the ball joint flat at rest or on normal driving ,just like stock

Steering Angles

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