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Alignment Good, but wheel is still 90* to the left

Samersen

Samersen

Active Member
Location
Heber City
So I knock my alignment out good on the HITR trail last week. Thought it was just the alignment so I took it in to get fixed, They told me they can't get the wheel to go straight, but should be able to get it straight, if they undid the steering linkage and straightened the wheel and connected it that way. Any way got it back and it would turn much sharper to the right then to the left. So I took it back it they checked it over again and told me that its because the frame is bent. When the alignment was knocked out I was in 4 low 1st gear on rocks in a 6 speed Rubicon, lets just say that its not the fastest gear so i highly doubt the frame is bent (fairly certain the top speed is 6 mph).
They are going to check the steering linkage that comes out of the firewall down to the steering box, the drag link, and pit-arm. If they can't figure it out I will drive it up to SLC to my friends dad's shop to look at. But is there anywhere else I should have them looking?
Thanks!!
ps if you want to see the video that got put together for the HITR trip here is a link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ViFR_zzSkE
 
B

B2-Bomber

Guest
Location
SL, UT
if your centering pin on your leaf spring is broken it will cause the exact same situation because the axle slides on the leaf-spring, but yours has a link suspension which rules that out

truth be told if your drag link wasn't that far off before whatever "knocked out" the alignment, it shouldn't be the cause. was the tie-rod bent?
on my '97 wrangler i bent the trac-bar which moved the axle over to one side causing it to need a little extra length on the drag link to compensate.
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
I'd like to know what moved to put the steering wheel off-center to begin with, but either way there is no reason it shouldn't be able to be corrected. The only reason it wouldn't, is if your drag link is out of available adjustment one way or the other--which would mean something is bent or broken. Drag links bend, pitman arms bend, panhard bars can bend, axle or frame-side panhard brackets can tear away from where they're supposed to be. Check all that, then do what BCGPER said. :)
 
Samersen

Samersen

Active Member
Location
Heber City
black_ZJ said:
Which "shop" are you taking it to, sure they have a clue what they are doing and aren't just crooks? I do my alignments in the driveway with a tape measure, several threads here https://www.google.com/search?q=jee...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
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I think that I will start doing my own from now on that's for sure. I have never been to this shop before they were recommend from a friend. So I hope they aren't just crooks. I usally deal with Hinckley Jeep and Utah Valley Tire (its a Goodyear shop on 400 S 500 East by the Cafe Rio) they are awesome! The owner of the Goodyear shop is an honest guy and has a '70 Chevy with 37's and a FJ on 33's. He knows what he is doing! I am kicking myself for not just taking it to him in the first place, and trying to find a local shop being lazy ha.
 
B

B2-Bomber

Guest
Location
SL, UT
I Lean said:
Ipanhard bars can bend, axle or frame-side panhard brackets can tear away from where they're supposed to be
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just to be clear a "panhard" bar is when it is used on the rear axle, and a "trac" bar is when it is on the front? right? we are talking about the same thing i think
 
Samersen

Samersen

Active Member
Location
Heber City
black_ZJ said:
Which "shop" are you taking it to, sure they have a clue what they are doing and aren't just crooks? I do my alignments in the driveway with a tape measure, several threads here https://www.google.com/search?q=jee...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Click to expand...

I think that I will start doing my own from now on that's for sure. I have never been to this shop before they were recommend from a friend. So I hope they aren't just crooks. I usally deal with Hinckley Jeep and Utah Valley Tire (its a Goodyear shop on 400 S 500 East by the Cafe Rio) they are awesome! The owner of the Goodyear shop is an honest guy and has a '70 Chevy with 37's and a FJ on 33's. He knows what he is doing! I am kicking myself for not just taking it to him in the first place, and trying to find a local shop being lazy ha.
Thanks I will be checking all of them and letting you guys know. Thnaks!
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
B2-Bomber said:
just to be clear a "panhard" bar is when it is used on the rear axle, and a "trac" bar is when it is on the front? right? we are talking about the same thing i think
Click to expand...

As far as I know, they're both the same thing. Panhard is the proper name, Track bar is the common name.
 
B

B2-Bomber

Guest
Location
SL, UT
weird, all i've ever heard was the nomenclature should be trac-bar on front, panhard bar on rear, and radius arms on front, trailing arms on rear i believe "locating arm" is used on upper links regardless of front/rear. not that it matters
 
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I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Call 'em what you want, as long as we all know what each other is talking about it doesn't matter much. :D

I just googled around, and most things I can see refer to both. Examples: from Nascar.com http://www.nascar.com/2002/kyn/nascar_101/02/02/glossary/
TRACK BAR
(Also referred to as a "Panhard bar.") This bar locates the vehicle's rear end housing from left-to-right under it.
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From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhard_rod
A Panhard rod (also called Panhard bar or track bar) is a component of a car suspension system that provides lateral location of the axle.......Some vehicles with live-axle suspensions, where Watt's linkage is not an option, (including Land Rovers) use a Panhard rod as a component of the front suspension.
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4554x4

4554x4

always modifing something
Location
Sandy Utah
Could it be that they pulled the Pitman arm off of the steering box and clocked it a 1/4 turn? Most Pitman arms will fit at four positions, 90° apart.
 
Samersen

Samersen

Active Member
Location
Heber City
After some god amount of time playing with the drag link it finally got fixed. I went to Trent's Campus Tire in Provo and Hans was helping me he has had a few Jeeps and once he saw what was going on he recognized what was happening and helped me out! Its a great little shop and very easy to work with. Thanks for everyones help on here!
 
thenag

thenag

Registered User
Location
Kearns
Samersen said:
After some god amount of time playing with the drag link it finally got fixed. I went to Trent's Campus Tire in Provo and Hans was helping me he has had a few Jeeps and once he saw what was going on he recognized what was happening and helped me out! Its a great little shop and very easy to work with. Thanks for everyones help on here!
Click to expand...

so what was going on?

I had a similar thing happen to my xj, I never did come up with why it moved 90 degrees

Nathan
99 xj with stuff
 
Samersen

Samersen

Active Member
Location
Heber City
The problem ended up being the drag-link. When playing around with the drag-link, found out that it was almost two inches off. Thus causing the limited turn to the left.
 
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