centering front axle

after installing my lift its pretty close, like it sticks out 1/2" further on the driver side. im just curious as to how the rest of the world centered their fronts. i was thinking that id put my jeep up on blocks and the axle on a floor jack and use a come along to pull it over.

NOOOOO! Come along idea of yours is really really bad. No offense, I like hitting things with hammers and the like too.

What you need is an adjustable track bar. Or you could redrill the hole where the track bar goes into it's framerail mount. Or you could torch off the track bar mount from the axle and reweld it a little farther toward the driver's side.

Forcing the axle over will only bend/break/destroy the things that hold your axle in place. It will do collision-quality damage to your front end.

BTW - The track bar is the bar that looks alot like a tie rod, but attaches to the front of the axle on the passenger side, and attaches to the bottom of the framerail near the steering box.

Jared

man i know what a track bar is what im trying to figure out is how can i center the axle under the jeep as it is sticking out 1/2" in farther to the drivers side

get an adj track bar

small pederson said:

man i know what a track bar is what im trying to figure out is how can i center the axle under the jeep as it is sticking out 1/2" in farther to the drivers side

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Dude, based on that comment, you DONT know what a track bar is.

The Adjustable track bars allow you to ADJUST Them over to where you AXLE is CENTERED!! Thats what track bars do. So go order an RE Adj track bar, tighten it up, crank the lil bolt, and watch your axle get centered!!

Not to sound redundant or anything, but the track bar is the very device that does center the axle underneath the vehicle.

You can either relocate one end of it, or replace with one that is adjustable in length. The factory unit is not adjustable and does not allow for any centering of the axle when the vehicle is lifted. Trying to force it WILL break or bend something.

you guys, im not gonna shell over the cash for an adjustable track bar right now, and i guess im not talking clearly here. the axle is too far to the driver side by a half inch. i want to move it a quarter inch to the passenger side so it will be PERFECTLY CENTERED. then i will take my stock track bar and figure out where i need to drill a new mounthing hole on the axle trackbar mount to make it remain PERFECTLY CENTERED. so without turning a little nut and watching the magic happen, has anybody else done it the way im gonna do it, and if so give me some details. thats all i want to know.

Take out bolt at axle end, center axle, drill new hole and rebolt bar. To center the axle AFTER removing the bolt, yes a come-along will work fine.


Rev

small pederson said:

you guys, im not gonna shell over the cash for an adjustable track bar right now, and i guess im not talking clearly here. the axle is too far to the driver side by a half inch. i want to move it a quarter inch to the passenger side so it will be PERFECTLY CENTERED. then i will take my stock track bar and figure out where i need to drill a new mounthing hole on the axle trackbar mount to make it remain PERFECTLY CENTERED. so without turning a little nut and watching the magic happen, has anybody else done it the way im gonna do it, and if so give me some details. thats all i want to know.

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<sigh> You ARE missing the point here. </sigh>

Fine. You don't want to spend the money.

The stock bolt is a 10mm. You want to move it by 1/4" which is around 6.3mm. That's less than the diameter of the bolt. You'll want to fill in the old holes, or weld a couple of flat washers in the new location.

BTW, the EASY way to move the axle a short distance like this is to start the engine, and just turn the steering wheel, no jacking required.

Me, after all the fun I've had with my brackets, I won't even consider redrilling the axle end.

The axel should center its self if you push side to side on the front end of the truck. If all of the parts are installed prperly the axel will want to settle in the centered position. When I installed my lift, the axel was already centered when I took it off of the jacks.

seanR said:

The axel should center its self if you push side to side on the front end of the truck. If all of the parts are installed prperly the axel will want to settle in the centered position. When I installed my lift, the axel was already centered when I took it off of the jacks.

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No. This is NOT possible due to the geometry.

The trackbar is connected at the axle end on the passenger side, and the frame end on the driver's side.

The frame end is fixed, and can only rotate around the end. As the 4 control arms locate the axle fore and aft, this restricts the axle movement to a plane. Okay, that's a little oversimplified, but that'll do.

Now, look at the suspension from the front. And uncompress the suspension on a stock XJ. You'll see the axle being pulled towards the driver's side. Note that this really only becomes apparent when you get close to the limit on stock setups. As long as the trackbar ends are close to being located in the same horizontal plane, movement up and down is close to vertical. As soon as the axle end drops significantly below the frame end (such as say a basic 3" lift) the axle will drift left and right due to the sine/cosine factors.

With a 3" lift you get a noticeable pull to the driver's side. There are a number of ways to correct this, and these are in no particular order:

1: use a longer trackbar, or an adjustable.
2: Move one end point so that the stock trackbar can be used.
3: Lower the frame mount or raise the axle end mount so that it becomes a horizontal bar again.

#1 is pretty popular. #2 is occasionally done, but I for one do not like what can happen with the bracket (2 holes far too close together.) #3 has problems with steering and bumpsteer when the trackbar and draglink go non-parallel.

EDIT: Okay, I've gone back and rethought what you've said......... what you're suggesting is just to find the "natural" center, not necessarily using the stock trackbar, right? Mine certainly didn't do that, on either lift or the major job I did in May.

thanks guys i got it figured out, sorry for the confusion

small pederson said:

thanks guys i got it figured out, sorry for the confusion

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Have a write up on moving the axle end hole on my site. Never needed a winch of any sort as you only need someone to turn the steering wheel with the trackbar off and the body will move over to the new hole position!

Rev Den said:

Take out bolt at axle end, center axle, drill new hole and rebolt bar. To center the axle AFTER removing the bolt, yes a come-along will work fine.


Rev

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I still dont think he gets it.

I'm about to be in the same boat, as I'm installing a 4" lift. I don't think that it'll move it too far, but I want the axle to be centered, so I'm going to install an adjustable track bar.

Here's my question. After I have everything installed, track bar included, how do I go about making the adjustment so that the axle is exactly centered? I don't have a front end alignment machine so that's out. I've heard something about turning the wheels full lock from one side to the next; am I anywhere close?

Thanks,
Robert

I think that most of us just eyeball it and/or take measurements from some known location like fenders or flares. You could probably also take a straight edge from the rear wheels and line it up that way.

XJWheelie said:

Here's my question. After I have everything installed, track bar included, how do I go about making the adjustment so that the axle is exactly centered?

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Leave the trackbar attachment until last. Set the Jeep down on its wheels and turn the wheel left-right and even bounce the front end to settle things. Adjust the trackbar until the eye fits the bracket. Be aware that your draglink is gonna be out of whack and will need to be adjusted to eliminate toe-in and until you do that the steering wheel will be out of whack turned to one side. Don't use that to decide whether the wheels are straight ahead or not.

so to clarify it to the best of my understanding;

1) complete all front end work EXCEPT track bar.

2) install track bar at NON-AXLE mount point.

3) adjust axle to center of vehicle by cycling the steering wheel, from lock to lock then back to center. center is determined by measurements from a stationary set of point on each side of the vehicle, rear tire, fenders, etc.

4) adjust your track bar axle mount to align with the axle bracket and bolt it up.

5) have vehicle aligned.

I realize this is what YUCCA-MAN said, I think, but just rewritten in a step by step format.

if I am wrong let me know.

It would depend on who's trackbar your using!Attacht the non-adjustable side first(usually the axle end)!

XJWheelie said:

I'm about to be in the same boat, as I'm installing a 4" lift. I don't think that it'll move it too far, but I want the axle to be centered, so I'm going to install an adjustable track bar.

Here's my question. After I have everything installed, track bar included, how do I go about making the adjustment so that the axle is exactly centered? I don't have a front end alignment machine so that's out. I've heard something about turning the wheels full lock from one side to the next; am I anywhere close?

Thanks,
Robert

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It sounds like you're confusing centering the axle with centering the steering wheel.

To center the axle, you need the Jeep on a level surface. It can slope front to rear, but has to be level side-to-side. Drop a plumb bob from each front fender flare and measure the distance from the line to the tire on each side. That will tell you how far off-center the axle is.

Next, with the track bar removed, you want to shift the body over the axle until it is centered. You can do this by pushing, pulling, or having someone turn the steering wheel. (However, once you turn the wheels you lose you reference point for measuring.) Once you have the body centered over the axle, attach the frame end of the track bar, then adjust the axle end until it liners up with the hole in the bracket. Bolt it in place and that's done.

If the steering wheel is now off-center (probably will be), you adjust that by the adjusting sleeve on the drag link. Look where the drag link comes off the pitman arm at the steering box. You'll see a sleeve with two clamp bolts. Loosen the bolts and turn the sleeve until the steering wheel is centered, then tighten the clamp bolts again. Test drive. It may take two or three tries to get it zeroed in.