XJ Pulling?

My 2001 XJ is pulling to the right. I just had it aligned and the steering wheel is straight. Also just got my tires rechecked and rotated side to side and it is not a tire problem... they have about 1200 miles on them. What could it be?

Could be a sticking brake. Possibly the rear axle has moved. Assuming your alignment shop would catch a bent front axle, or other worn parts on the front end.

I was thinking it could possibly be a bad sway bar bushing. I don't drive offroad much so a bent axle sounds a little extreme. Wouldn't I be getting some vibration from that too in addition to pulling? Brakes sticking sounds like a good possibility. I had pads, rotors, drums and shoes replaced about a month ago.

A bad sway bar bushing shouldn't cause it to pull. A broken link might make it pull on braking, but the bushings will just clunk.

If you have a brake dragging enough to pull, I'd expect to be able to feel the heat. It shouldn't be too hard to check anyway.

My guess is that they didn't get the alignment right and need to try again.

btownbrewcrew said:

My 2001 XJ is pulling to the right. I just had it aligned and the steering wheel is straight. Also just got my tires rechecked and rotated side to side and it is not a tire problem... they have about 1200 miles on them. What could it be?

Click to expand...

Sitting stock or lifted? It could be the rear axle isn't sitting right, off just a little.

Stock.

Take it back to the alignment shop if they are decent they will have some type of warranty on the alignment that they did.

if its pulling to the right with the steering wheel straight that doesn't mean the alignment is good. If you drive down a flat road (coast at 40-60mph, dont give gas or brake) (most are crowned, best bet for true flat is an interstate road, in the middle lane) and release the wheel see if it goes straight at all (don't pay attention to if the steering wheel is straight, just on whether the truck goes straight)

If the truck goes straight but the steering wheel is off, then the alignment of just the steering wheel is off not the actual toe/camber. Even if the car never goes straight it could still be the alignment being off (such as both tires being toed-out or both toed-in).

Was your truck pulling before the alignment?

Could be axle uncentered, bad alignment, sticking brakes, tire pressure etc. If it always pulls the same way (not direction, but as in it doesnt get worse or better at times) then it most likely isn't a worn bushing on anything.

I would just to see if the brakes are sticking first.

The problem with Cherokees is that, besides the toe, aligning it requires extra parts. The only way you can adjust the camber is with offset ball joints and spacers on the lower control arm to adjust the caster. Shops will set the toe and then give you an estimate on the parts and labor that you need if the camber and caster are out of tolerance. It's a good idea to get a printout of the alignment to make sure everything is within specs because they might not have taken the extra step to inform you if your caster and camber are off and needs extra work.