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Truck pulls to right

K

katarn444

NAXJA Forum User
Location
northeast
Most vehicles pull to the right from the factory. This is so that if you fall asleep or something, it will go off the road and not into oncoming traffic. This is what I have heard anyway. All of the cars I have driven pull to the right ever so slightly. Now if it pulls hard then you need and alignment.

Katarn
 
No matter the slope of the road, my truck pulls to the right. Not very much but it does.

What would cause this, already checked brakes.

I assume it is alignment, but where? Are the control arm mounts adjustable?
 
it dosnt matter what it is, something needs to be aligned, and you cant do it yourself. bring it to the shop and have them realign it, and find out what was wrong. and no the stock control arms arent ajustable. only the drag link and tie rod
 
Is your replacment axle square in relation to the frame? Has it always done this? Did it start after you started beating the crap outta it?

Rev
 
I dont beat the truck like that, im, not going to jump it!

Its done it since ive had it. Never got better or worse with the spacers I put in the front. Although it is slightly toed out from the lift.
 
Fix the toe and see if that fix's it. Should be -0- toe.
There should be no drift.
Your LCA's can be shimmed to set the caster and it should be 6-9 positive.
If you don't have enough caster you will have to always hold the wheel to keep from drifting one way or the other, and the slope of the road will favor the right.
 
None of my vehicles pull to the right and in most places the slope isn't enough to even affect the vehicle. Get an alignment.

Sarge
 
stupidfast said:
it dosnt matter what it is, something needs to be aligned, and you cant do it yourself. bring it to the shop and have them realign it, and find out what was wrong. and no the stock control arms arent ajustable. only the drag link and tie rod
Click to expand...


As a matter of fact, your wrong.

Behind the stock control arm (in the mount) are shims to adjust it. After my last lift, I had to move my passenger side lca forward 1/4". I pulled the shims off a parts jeep, you can get them at the dealer too. ;)
 
Most of the stuff I work on goes dead straight- but when there's a slight drift it's usually to the left. I've been told by one of the Hotline engineers that's intentional to keep it straight on crowned roads, and to not attempt to fix the drift.

Some of the Econolines and F-150's actually need 1.5 degrees less caster on the left to go straight.
 
In general, "pull" is a function of camber and road crown. There's no pefect solution to going down the road straight unless you always drive in the same lane and the road crown is always the same. The idea is to bias the camber about a quarter of a degree so that the vehicle pulls to the left a little. This allows you end up going straight when you're in the right lane of a nominally crowned road. On your newer XJs, camber has to be adjusted by installing offset ball joints. On the '84 to '89 models (maybe a little later) there were some aftermarket bushings that would offset the lower ball joints to achieve the same objective. Yes, this can be done at home but you need a tool to measure the camber. Want to learn more: http://aligncraft.com/terms/terms.html

Here's the measuring tool: http://www.racecarsupply.com/html/cambergage.html
 
0 degree toe-in will cause a loose drifty feeling in the steering. you need a degree or 2 of toe-in to tighten it up.
The first thing that I look at when I hear of a vehicle pulling to one side or the other, is even tire pressure. I'm sure you checked that out first though.
Just my .02
 
Kyjeepdude said:
0 degree toe-in will cause a loose drifty feeling in the steering. you need a degree or 2 of toe-in to tighten it up.
The first thing that I look at when I hear of a vehicle pulling to one side or the other, is even tire pressure. I'm sure you checked that out first though.
Just my .02
Click to expand...
Only if you have lose parts, the FSM say's -0-
 
When my trac bar was loose (bad), my 88 would like to follow the slope of the road. I'd have to noticeably steer against the direction of wander. It got noticeably better after the new trac bar. It actually tracked better with bad top ball joints, it seemed more stable.
On my 87 (that went to XJ heaven) I had adjustable ball joints and a couple of extra degrees of negative camber, which really seemed to increase high speed roadabilty.
I've seen a lot of guys with caster problems, mostly the complaint was the steering wheel didn't want to self center after a turn. You always had the feeling, you had to help it out of a turn.
 
Last edited:
8Mud said:
When my trac bar was loose (bad), my 88 would like to follow the slope of the road. I'd have to noticeably steer against the direction of wander. It got noticeably better after the new trac bar. It actually tracked better with bad top ball joints, it seemed more stable.
On my 87 (that went to XJ heaven) I had adjustable ball joints and a couple of extra degrees of negative camber, which really seemed to increase high speed roadabilty.
I've seen a lot of guys with caster problems, mostly the complaint was the steering wheel didn't want to self center after a turn. You always had the feeling, you had to help it out of a turn.
Click to expand...
X2 Wrong Caster is the cause of wondering all over the road.
As you lift the front, the axle rolls towards -0- caster, with up to 3" of lift the caster can be corrected with shims, after 3" you need longer controll arms to retain proper caster.
 
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