Jeep steering pulls right slightly

Hi All

I have a '92 XJ I-6 auto tran. I've installed 1" pads between the front springs and the body and have Rancho heavy duty leafs. I have a TrueTrack in the front dif.

My jeep pulls right slightly. If I stear it straight at 60 in the center of a freeway lane, then let go the steering, it takes about 5 seconds for the wheels to reach the right lane boundary.

Problem appeared last week after I installed 4 new BFG AT 30X9.50 R15 tires. After I noticed the pull I had the vehicle front alligned. There was no adjustment necessary (yes they charged me anyway) and jeep is now well within factory allignment specs. I have carefully checked tire pressures and swapped the front tires. Jeep continues to pull right and swapping tires has no effect.

Prior to new tires, and prior to installation of the TrueTrack the jeep had a steering pull that followed the tires when swapped (pulled right, then left after swap). This pull went away when the TrueTrack was installed. I explained this as the TrueTrack preload locking the dif slightly and giving me the well known locker resistance to turning. But now the pull is back.

Anyone have any experience with this or suggestions? Is there anything more that can be done besides alligning the front end?

Thanks!

Hmm.

I know if I turn my front ARB on on the road it pulls pretty hard to the right. But unlocked the Jeep tracks straight.

Your tires balanced?

Yep, they have been on for only a week now and all 4 were balanced when installed. At freeway speed they roll without vibes.

roads are crowned for water run off and just about any car will eventually pull to the right...

we usually notice when we get new tires because we are paying attention.



Peace.............................BartG

GodSpeed said:

roads are crowned for water run off and just about any car will eventually pull to the right...

we usually notice when we get new tires because we are paying attention.

Click to expand...

True, but the old tires definitely went straight after I put in the TrueTrack in the front. Our freeways here in CA don't seem to have a lot of crown in them. My other cars (sedans) don't pull on the same roads. I'm just at a loss to guess why my XJ goes right...

Does it PULL or does it eventually drift over? My 2000 follows tire ruts in the asphalt and the rain grooves in concrete now that I have MT's instead of the the original all-season car type tires. Now I have to pay more attention and do more correction with a 2" lift and the MT's to stay in my lane. It's not dangerous, it just wanders a bit more than before, right in right lane, left in left lane. Did you get the thrust angle checked on the alignment. If the rear axle is slightly angled it can push the XJ to one side.

also check your control arm bushings. I don't know why alignment shops don't tell you when they're bad. I had my jeep aligned twice and niether said anything. I crawled under and they were all cracked up. This will make it wander also

mhead said:

Hi All

I have a '92 XJ I-6 auto tran. I've installed 1" pads between the front springs and the body and have Rancho heavy duty leafs. I have a TrueTrack in the front dif.

My jeep pulls right slightly. If I stear it straight at 60 in the center of a freeway lane, then let go the steering, it takes about 5 seconds for the wheels to reach the right lane boundary.

Problem appeared last week after I installed 4 new BFG AT 30X9.50 R15 tires. After I noticed the pull I had the vehicle front alligned. There was no adjustment necessary (yes they charged me anyway) and jeep is now well within factory allignment specs. I have carefully checked tire pressures and swapped the front tires. Jeep continues to pull right and swapping tires has no effect.

Prior to new tires, and prior to installation of the TrueTrack the jeep had a steering pull that followed the tires when swapped (pulled right, then left after swap). This pull went away when the TrueTrack was installed. I explained this as the TrueTrack preload locking the dif slightly and giving me the well known locker resistance to turning. But now the pull is back.

Anyone have any experience with this or suggestions? Is there anything more that can be done besides alligning the front end?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

My BFG AT's did the same thing and from what I was told (even before I asked or drove it with them) they are known for this.

Zipdrive007 said:

My BFG AT's did the same thing and from what I was told (even before I asked or drove it with them) they are known for this.

Click to expand...

Throughout the years I had at least 6 sets of BFG AT's and I've never encountered that problem. What is your source for that info?

Tim_MN said:

Does it PULL or does it eventually drift over? My 2000 follows tire ruts in the asphalt and the rain grooves in concrete now that I have MT's instead of the the original all-season car type tires. Now I have to pay more attention and do more correction with a 2" lift and the MT's to stay in my lane. It's not dangerous, it just wanders a bit more than before, right in right lane, left in left lane. Did you get the thrust angle checked on the alignment. If the rear axle is slightly angled it can push the XJ to one side.

Click to expand...

Yes, pulls. You can feel the force on the steering wheel when driving (I have to drive straight by turning the wheel slightly left), and it takes slightly more force to turn left than right.

Rear axle: Here's an interesting idea!! I just swapped in a D44 for the D35 in the back. I don't know what a 'thrust angle' is...? But I'm guessing it is the angle that the rear axle makes with the front axles when the vehicle is steered straight ahead. I guess that these axles should, ideally, be parallel and in the same plane. No, I didn't have that checked when the vehicle front end was aligned. How is this done? What do I ask for when I call up a auto repair shop?

And I guess the last question is how do I correct such a thing? If I remember right the D44 had pegs on the perches that simply dropped into the leafs. This is how I reasoned that the alignment of the new D44 axle would be established. I do not recall that there was very much clearance and therefore not much adjustment available.

I should mention that the XJ went straight with the old tires, even after the new D44 axle was installed. I didn't drive it long in this condition, but long enough I should have noticed a pull.

Also, I doubt that the tires (that is the construction of the two individual tires now on the front of the Jeep) have anything to do with the pull. I've swapped them a couple of times and the Jeep always pulls right.

The rear axle alignment is the best idea I've heard so far! I just don't know how to measure or change this.
Thanks!

Swap the front tires side to side. Pulling is a common tire complaint. If you swap them and it doesn't change, then it isn't tires and you just cut your list of possibles way down. If it does change, then you have a tire with a defective belt.

mhead said:

What do I ask for when I call up a auto repair shop?

I just don't know how to measure or change this.
Thanks!

Click to expand...

"4-wheel" alignment

from a website i found through google:

If the rear is not adjustable, then the front toe must be set to compensate for the thrust angle, allowing the steering to be centered.

Click to expand...

That sounds bad on your tires.

I don't get how it can't be tire related. If it didn't do it before the tires and does it now after them. Find some other wheels and slap them on there and see what happens.

WobblesXJ said:

That sounds bad on your tires.

I don't get how it can't be tire related. If it didn't do it before the tires and does it now after them. Find some other wheels and slap them on there and see what happens.

Click to expand...

The old tires had a definite pull. I swapped them and the pull reversed. I installed a TrueTrac in the front diff and the pull went away. Drove in this condition for a few weeks, then swapped the D44 in for the D35. Still OK. Then I installed 4 new BFG AT and noticed the pull. Pull now doesn't change directions when front tires are switched from side to side.

Maybe the old tires had enough bias that they could correct the pull...?

Other wheels are a good idea. I'll ask around. I'll also try swapping front pair to back and see if anything changes.

You can see if you have a bad thrust angle if your wheelbases are different between the left and right sides... just another thought I had, as an alternative to paying someone to use a machine to find out.

My '91 Laredo does the same ... it did it with the Rancho lift, and now the RE lift. The slight right-side pull appeared many moons ago after I went to Wrangler AT 30x9.50's on stock OEM wheels... at stock height... and it had "perfect alignment".

Shortly therafter, I installed a Rancho 3" with BFG 31x10.5 on the same OEM wheels ... the slight right-side pull was amplified even after a "perfect alignment".

I always questioned the alignment monkeys ... and the "crown-on-the-road" theory---just drive in the left lane on the freeway where the crown breaks left and see if it goes straight.

After I had the RE lift installed, I took it to a real alignment shop ... one that specializes in high performance and racing vehicles in Orange CA. After being on the rack twice to fine tune the alignment ... it still has a slight pull or wander to the right.

The reason is too technical for me to explain ... basically the guy who owns the shop said the only way to correct for the anomaly is with a camber adjustment.

Here's a short course on wheel alignments.

You can call this guy to explain your problem .. he does a lot of Jeeps and vehicles with modified suspensions:

Accurate Alignment
971 N. Batavia St. Suite A
Orange, CA 92867
(714) 538-1916

mhead said:

Hi All

I have a '92 XJ I-6 auto tran. I've installed 1" pads between the front springs and the body and have Rancho heavy duty leafs. I have a TrueTrack in the front dif.

My jeep pulls right slightly. If I stear it straight at 60 in the center of a freeway lane, then let go the steering, it takes about 5 seconds for the wheels to reach the right lane boundary.

Anyone have any experience with this or suggestions? Is there anything more that can be done besides alligning the front end?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Mine pulls to the right just like yours.I noticed this right after I put on a new set of 33x10.50 TSL Swampers.I had my lift done and drove it a day on the old 31x10.50 MT's and didn't noticed a pronounced pull, but after those swampers were put on it was there.I can drive on the wrong side of my residential street and it pulls to the other side though.Last week driving to hemet I was driving down the ramona expressway and for a while it was pulling to the other side as well.Seems like with 6 1/2"s of lift and skinny 33" swampers my rig is sensitive to
road crown.It drove me nuts for a while, had the alignment done twice by two different shops and it still did it.Another thing I noticed is the pull is more pronounced the faster I go.I've put a detroit in the rear and a no-slip in the front and that made no difference at all.I have noticed driving my wifes honda and my bosses mini van that eventually they will 'drift' to the right, but with the xj its much much more pronounced.

Not sure if this is true or not but I was told by the guy that aligned my truck that most all vehicles are designed to "slightly" pull to the right. The reason he gave me was in case you doze off while driving you be less likely to head into oncoming traffic. (I guess off the road is better?) I just installed my RE 5.5 with 35X12.50 and it seems like it is all over the place, not bad but it is constant to the right and the left. I'm going to start with an alignment and go from there.

When my jeeps pull to either side, I compensate by adding a shim the lower control arm on the side that pulls. Thus adjusting the caster on that particular side.