Steering question - Clear-afied

Ok, let me try this again.

I have a 94' XJ with a 4.5 lift in the front. The steering was AWFUL, so I added a track bar relocation bracket, and had the front aligned. This improved the steering. But I still have this problem:

When I'm driving, and turn to the right, the steering reacts normally.

But, when I turn to the left, it takes significantly more steering wheel turn, (about 3/4 steering wheel turn to the left equals 1/4 turn to the right.), than turning to the right.

Help,....please help....drives like crap. I want my steering back.

put the axle up on jackstands (weight still on suspension) and have someone turn the wheel back and forth while you look at the steering. watch how the pitman arm turns relative to the knuckles and just for anything strange in general.

I don't know specifically what your problem is, doesn't make any sense, and I doubt anyone else will without actually seeing it.

mad maXJ said:

put the axle up on jackstands (weight still on suspension) and have someone turn the wheel back and forth while you look at the steering. watch how the pitman arm turns relative to the knuckles and just for anything strange in general.

I don't know specifically what your problem is, doesn't make any sense, and I doubt anyone else will without actually seeing it.

Click to expand...

Thanks man, I know what you mean. It makes no sense to me either.

At the amount of the lift you shouldn't need a dropped pitman arm but I would get a adjustable track bar. Don't know if you have adjustable control arms but this is a link to the right lengths for them.
http://home.earthlink.net/~jeepcherokee/Suspension, Steering, Axles and Brakes/Control Arm Chart.htm

Juice

Stick said:

When I'm driving, and turn to the right, the steering reacts normally.

But, when I turn to the left, it takes significantly more steering wheel turn, (about 3/4 steering wheel turn to the left equals 1/4 turn to the right.), than turning to the right.

Click to expand...

I still don't understand what you're trying to tell us.

The steering ratio in the box is the same as it was before, so 1/4 turn one way cannot be equal to 3/4 of a turn the other way. And in your first post you made it sound like you need less turn to go to the right, and more steering wheel input to get it back to straight.

Okay, we don't know what you're really saying, so let's try to zero in:

1. When the new track bar and bracket were installed, was it adjusted so the axle is centered under the chassis?

2. BEFORE the track bar was installed, was the steering wheel straight when the vehicle was going straight ahead? If not, which way was the steering wheel off?

3. AFTER the new track bar was installed but before the alignment, was the steering wheel straight when the vehicle was going straight? If not, which way was the steering wheel off?

4. After the alignment, was/is the steering wheel straight when the vehicle was/is going straight? If not, which way was/is the steering wheel off?

5. IMPORTANT: With the vehicle parked and the road wheels (not the steering wheel) pointed straight ahead, does the pitman arm point straight ahead?


Fire off answers to these questions and I think we can help you figure out what's going on. I'm guessing that whoever did the alignment mucked up the adjustment on the drag link and didn't properly center the steering wheel, but let's see if the field data support that guess.