First post: Steering puzzler??

Hello all, I've been lurking quite a while, decided to finally register because quite frankly my steering has me stumped.

My '89 XJ has a 3" lift, 31" mud terrains, Detroit lock rite in the back, etc...

I purchased this rig already set up this way and the steering was pretty sloppy when I bought it. I checked all the joints...pretty good shape, found slop in the steering box and adjusted that out, found a loose pinch bolt on the lower end of steering shaft, snugged it up. Also found a lot of slop in the front sway bar so I put new grommets in and snugged it up.

Now to the point (finally)...why is my steering wheel 90 degrees off center??

I adjusted the drag link so that the pitman arm is straight ahead in conjunction with the front wheels and it literally threw the steering wheel a complete 90 degrees off to the right (normally flat top spokes in wheel are literally straight up and down).

I checked pitman arm indexing...its a no brainer as it has index detents in it. Checked steering shaft on the bottom end...another no brainer as it has index detents as well. The steering wheel even has the hash marks from the factory aligned correctly as well.

Is this normal on these rigs???

This is my first XJ but not my first Jeep....I had a totally tricked out CJ-7 that I built a few years ago that I'm still kicking myself for getting rid of. I did a spring over to it, winch, ARB's, NP-435 tranny, etc...

Thanks

adjust drag-link till the steering wheel is straihgt.

Well yeah...I tried doing that, but that is just the problem. By the time the wheel is fairly straight the pitman arm is wayyyy catty wompus.

I would think that the pitman should be at least fairly close to straight after adjusting the wheel but its not even close.

The problem is that you lifted the rig 3" & I assume you're still using the stock track bar. There's nothing wrong with this, but your front end will be pulled to the side because the trackbar is now too short. With the front end offset to one side than the pitman arm also is offset to one side. At 3 " of lift I would just adjust the steering wheel straight & not worry about it as long as you're getting full steering right & left. If it really bugs you than get an adjustible trackbar & straighten things back out.

Matt

Yeah, adjust the collar on the drag link so the steering wheel turns the same amount each direction lock to lock, not worrying about if the wheel is straight. Later, if you drill a new hole to move the track bar mount over slightly on the axle, or if you get an adjustable track bar, then you can center the axle and center the steering wheel again.

We've found that centering the wheel doesn't always center the steering (lock to lock), depending on other factors with the front suspension.