What causes a pull to the right driving down the road?

Alright, my jeep is pulling to the right. My question is, I'm having a hard time picturing what needs to be adjusted toe-in wise to cause it to track straight. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I've gone through all the basics, checked tire pressure, etc. Just about all "consumable" items have been replaced in the front end within the last 6 months (ball joints, wheel bearings, tie-rod ends, u-joints, control arm bushings, etc), so I'm pretty sure it's not something worn, more likely something out of alignment. It does not seem to be wearing the tires abnormally.

I'm trying to form a picture in my head of how the steering tie-rod ends are adjusted... firstly, I'm thinking I should pull the toe in a tad (it's about dead-on right now) by turning the tie-rod, and adjust the drag link to center the steering wheel... but I'm not seeing how either of these adjustments will correct the right pull. Is there something I'm over looking? Come on out of the woodwork all you alignment techs, I know someone on here does it for a living.

I really don't want to take it in and pay 50 bucks for an alignment, seeing as how all they're going to do is adjust the toe and tell me it's in spec. I can do that with a tape measure. I just need to figure out what's causing the right pull that seems to have cropped up in the last few weeks. Is there anything else that could cause this sort of thing?

Did you check tire pressure? Or maybe, threw a wheel weight? mud cake up on the inside of the wheel? Or maybe, it could be the brake caliper is sticking on that side a bit. If it is lifted, I would take the spec sheet in and get it aligned. It sounds like you did about everything possible, so I would just take it in and have it aligned. Just some ideas off the top of my head, but theres a couple of things to consider. GOOD LUCK.

Before going too far with realignment, I'd get under there and check again for anything worn or binding, get tire pressures right on, and check also for any differences in tire diameter. It might even be worthwhile switching some tires around. Some tires tend to take a "set" and will pull or feel very numb on center, and some will track road camber more than others. Look at the brakes too. Also check to see if there's any difference in the pull between accelerating and coasting, which would indicate a problem unrelated to front-end alignment. Then go out and test it, not on a road, but on a known flat area like a big parking lot, where camber or slope of the pavement won't affect the results.

If there is a little toe-out, that might well cause a pull to one side or the other., so if it's only "just about right," that would be a suspect. But before playing with that, you need to make sure there isn't something else happening.

One important question before you go nuts chasing this down--does it pull to the right when you drive on the LEFT side of the road?

Roads are crowned. A vehicle with a normal alignment will "drift" slightly right when driving in the right lane, and "drift" slightly left when in the left lane.

If you drive in the left lane (on the left side of the crown) , and it still pulls right, then maybe you have some issues to investigate.

Well, I've checked the tire pressure over and over. One thing I haven't done is swapped the two fronts and see if it makes it pull the other way or makes any difference. Wheel weights are all still there, other than the pull it drives real smooth. Brakes are good, inspected them a week or so ago and both spin freely with just a little bit of drag. The pull is both acceleration and coast, and it pulls right even on the left side of a crowned road. What I meant by "dead on" is that it's right at 0, no toe in. I'm going to double check the toe this afternoon and adjust it and give it a little toe-in and see if that corrects things, might swap the tires left to right as well and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the input guys, I'll chase it down eventually, even if it means I have to let the professionals look at it.

I have the same issue going on with my setup, 96 XJ.

I took it to an alignment specialist, they only adjusted the toe and said the rest of the specs were correct.

On the drive home, it was exactly the same, pulls to the right. So I called them and questioned it, they said there is nothing they can adjust except toe. They said if all else is good, then there is some part of the suspension that is worn out, and that since its non adjustable that I would have to replace things until it worked.

I dont have the spec sheet on me, but they gave me the specs of the readings. I'm guessing I would need to shim something or get adjustable upper or lower control arms and play with stuff.

So in the end, I still am pulling to the right. I guess I need to find someone that knows XJ's and how to adjust their 'non-adjustable' parts.

at this point try to rotate and or cross rotate tires and see what happens. if the alignment specs are correct it is probably a tire problem

Have exactly the same problem. Did a bit of reserch on the internet and came across some info that the front-to-back wheel base is shorter by a very slight amount on north american vehicles so if you let go of the wheel your vehicle will drift to the right. This is to prevent you plowing into on-coming traffic if you fall asleep at the wheel. Could be BS. Has anybody heard anything similar??

:twak: What year of XJ are your running and roughly how many miles?

A tape measure is your friend. Something isn't square or where it's supposed to be if it isn't a tire. Start like was said by setting the toe in to about a quarter to an eight of an inch difference on the front tires.

Next have a friend help you hold a tape measure to check the distance from the rear wheel on each side to the front wheel on its corresponding side. The measurements should be the same on both sides. Then measure from the RR to the LF and vice versa. This will tell you if the front and rear wheels are tracking straight. I have seen it where the unibody was tweaked enough that there was a quarter inch or more difference in these measurements. In most cases it wouldn't cause you a problem but lots of little things can add up.

The last thing that can cause problems is a bad ball joint. They aren't the easiest things to diagnose and are worse to replace. My bet is on sloppy steering joint and tires. LOL and keep us posted.

caster is definately adjustable...at the lower control arm...the rear mount at the body is slotted, newer ones and ZJs use an eccentric cam bolt at the axle,
caster is usually adjusted different on the right side to compensate for road crown. Some shops do it, some don't
camber can be adjusted but this requires an eccentric upper ball joint.

Alot of shops get lazy and if the machine says the alignment is in specs, they don't bother to see just where the specs are sitting.

XJ caster spec is 7* +/- 1* So that means that caster has a range of 6 to 8*... if the left side is 6* and the right side is 8*, thats a cross caster difference of 2*...doesn't sound like much but it sure will cause a pull.

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Digger87xj said:

caster is definately adjustable...at the lower control arm...the rear mount at the body is slotted, newer ones and ZJs use an eccentric cam bolt at the axle,
caster is usually adjusted different on the right side to compensate for road crown. Some shops do it, some don't
camber can be adjusted but this requires an eccentric upper ball joint.

Alot of shops get lazy and if the machine says the alignment is in specs, they don't bother to see just where the specs are sitting.

XJ caster spec is 7* +/- 1* So that means that caster has a range of 6 to 8*... if the left side is 6* and the right side is 8*, thats a cross caster difference of 2*...doesn't sound like much but it sure will cause a pull.

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All of the above is true, but the XJ has a solid front axle and I'm having a hard time visualizing how you can tweak the alignment to get any significant cross-caster on a solid axle vehicle. Seems like all you can accomplis is to preload the bushings on one side or the other, which I would expect to cause bump steer rather than pull.