leveling kit on jk

wranglerrambler

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Location
oxford,nc
put a terafllex leveling kit on my wifes jk and it pulls right. after two alignments the shop said the caster differed from side to side, which agrees with what 4wheelparts also said along with a raleigh dealership when i checked with them. tires have been swapped from left to right to rule bad tire out. just need to get this straight so i;m not replacing brand new tires soon. ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks
 
Is it chopping or feathering the tires. Does she drive in the right lane, if so the crown in the road is going to naturally pull it right.
 
cant tell wear on tires yet because they literally have 100 miles or less on them but it pulls right regardless of lane choice. let steering wheel go and instantly about a 5 degree instant "veer/drift" right
 
If the caster differs from side to side, that is a manufacturing issue, or the axle is bent. If the jeep is unwrecked and still under warranty, I'd be having a talk with the dealer and begin escalating from there if necessary.
 
I built s tj like this last year. It had very low miles and the guy that had it was the second owner who bought it from a local small dealership. I long armed it front and rear. When I finished all my work. It would dive to the right anytime you hit the brake or let off the gas at speed. Finally realized the caster was like 4 deg. Different side to side. We then saw where a lower control arm bracket had been replaced and they used a torch to heat the inner c to straighten it.


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well according to the dealership and 4wheelparts, the caster difference from side to side is normal on jks.... sounds stupid to me though. i'll check out the other link too
 
if i remember correctly its like 2.2 on the right and 2.6/7 on the left side. 4wp said i just needed to install lowers and that'd fi it. (but originally was told nothing else was needed when installing the terafle leveling kit too)
 
might have my numbers backwards but i think thats correct. also put my angle finder on my hubs and have the same degree (90* to the ground) on both sides.
 
I just put a teraflex leveling kit on the wife's JK Rubi a few weeks ago and didn't even have to get it aligned as everything was still straight as an arrow and tracked well down the highway. It's such an insignificant amount of lift its hard to imagine it causing that much of an issue. So it was just fine before the lift, and then went all caddywhompus directly after? I may be wrong as I haven't dug much into the JK side of things, but I have overheard that a slightly off-centered steering wheel can cause an issue with the EPS and a number of other smaller gremlins, maybe its trying to compensate in one way or another. Not sure if this is the case. If all you did was add that small spacer lift and throw a set of tires on, It's hard to imagine a bent axle tube or knuckle.
 
wranglerrambler said:
might have my numbers backwards but i think thats correct. also put my angle finder on my hubs and have the same degree (90* to the ground) on both sides.
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So your camber is fine, but your caster is almost out of spec. What tire size did you go to or did you keep the factory size?
 
teraflex leveling kit (2in front 1 in rear) and put on 295/70/17 toyo mt's. wheel may be just a tick hair off but from what I've read if it was the EPS i would have a dash light indicator coming on... right? gonna end up ordering adjustable FLCA's and going from there. will try and adjust the steering wheel that tick hair tomorrow afternoon too
 
Set your toe at zero and tighten the crap out of your control arms. You cannot use factory specs if you lift it or put bigger tires in it. You may also need a front track bar drop bracket or an adjustable track bar to center the front axle.
 
I've installed that exact kit, it doesn't jack the axle that far over at all... no way should you need a drop track bar bracket or adjustable trackbar. Heck its barely even noticable as a lift. Something else has to be going on here.
 
wranglerrambler said:
if i remember correctly its like 2.2 on the right and 2.6/7 on the left side. 4wp said i just needed to install lowers and that'd fi it. (but originally was told nothing else was needed when installing the terafle leveling kit too)
Click to expand...
That isn't much caster at all. I'd like to see more like 4 or 5 degrees. Im not sure what factory spec is on a JK though. They may have less but in general 4* would be the minimum on a lifted application with oversized tires in my book.

On IFS vehicles many alignment shops add more caster on the drivers side to account for the crown in the road. Like Alex said that probably shouldn't be more than .5*. It's definitely no unheard of.

Whats the history with the Jeep. Did you buy it new? how long have you had it before the lift? Any chance while working on the lift a brake line got pinched making the right front caliper stick?
 
2" puck in the front will move the front axel about 1/2" to the passenger side and the 1" puck in the rear will move the rear axel about a 1/4" to the drivers side. The JK is very touchy when you start changing things. The caster change is probably fine but the axles being off center will definitely cause the jeep to pull. The bolt holes in the control arm brackets are also bad to wallow out. When you tighten your control arms, do it with the weight of the jeep on the tires. The easiest fix would be a fox steering stabilizer. That will put pressure on the tierod pushing your tires to the drivers side. You have to adjust the prssure on them though to get them right. wish you were closer, you could swing by. I have an adjustable track bar that you could have to see if that would fix it.
 
JK factory caster is around the 4 degree mark. I rock them back to about 4.5-6 degrees depending on lift and tires. 2.2 and 2.7 degrees of caster isn't too good.
We do a lot of JK work and I have JK front lower adjustable control arms in stock if you need them.
 
levellinebrad said:
You may also need a front track bar drop bracket or an adjustable track bar to center the front axle.
Click to expand...
Do not put a drop bracket on it for the front tracbar, thats only to be used with a drag link flip when changing the steering angles. The use of a drop bracket would cause bump steer and thats the last thing you need right now, plus the bracket should be rasied at the axle, not dropped at the frame.
If the axle is off 1/2" its really not going to cause any issues, its not how I would do it though. The ESP system wont be able to tell because the draglink adjusted properly will keep the steering box/steering wheel centered so it doesnt become a ESP/torsion bar issue.
Steering stabilizers are bandaids to cover up problems, I understand the reasoning behind it but I would use that as a last resort here.
 
well this afternoon i recentered the steering wheel and redid/rechecked the toe. i am sitting at pretty dead on at 3/16ths toe in. drives better but still has a slight pull to the right but not as bad. pretty sure brake line wasnt touched. jeep was used and we've had it for 5months or so. honestly looks like its never left pavement. thanks to all for the responses
 
3/16" of toe in is a little much depending on tire.......but either way that would not have changed on the JK with the BB install since the tie rod goes knuckle to knuckle. The only thing that would have changed is caster and the steering wheel alignment......
 
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