JK pulls to the left

[jktom]

Hi all. My Jk 4 door pulls to the left. I have really only noticed this since the last wheel alignment. It was aligned at 7.3 deg castor for the right, and 7.1 for the left. The right LCA was probably about 5mm longer than the left. I phoned the wheel aligner and his comments were "Its a Jeep thing" my response was, funny, it did not do it before, however they agreed to take a look at it. I have not taken it back in the last month as after that wheel alignment, the DW returned and I have had all my balljoints and drag link replaced. I have since changed the front coils, and wound the castor back myself to about 5.5 deg, but left the drivers side slightly longer than the left. I noticed that teraflex and several other US suspension companies also recomend one LCA longer than the other to help with the camber of the road. The odd thing is the that Teraflex suggest the passanger side should be about 5mm longer which is the right side in the US (Dah). This leeds me to suggest that the left side should be longer here in Oz, or have the larger castor.
So what have others done. Same length and same castor, or made made one LCA longer than the other increasing the castor on the longer side, and if so, which side is longer / increased castor? If my theory is correct, i will get them to do it again to my specs?

[WHHEMI]

Have you checked all your tyre pressure's

[jktom]

Yep, all four are about 31 psi

Originally Posted by greenjk

Have you checked all your tyre pressure's

[Yom]

Can't hurt to swap the settings from one side to the other.

Don't get excited though. All front solid axle vehicles will have typically have more pronounced pull to the low side of the road than an IFS vehicle. I got used to steering to the right when going down the highway while driving patrols so in the jeep it doesnt bother me

[SeaComms]

I still want to know how having longer LCA's on one side are managing to twist the SOLID front diff assembly to give different castor angles on each side of the vehicle Personally I would be aiming to have no difference in length either side to reduce premature wear on the LCA and UCA bushes? Adjust both sides at the same time to get the castor you want.

I also would have thought over 7 degrees was quite a lot? How much lift have you got, cant remember from previous posts off the top of my head.

As another point to ponder - since we are not physically able to twist the diff housing to get different castor settings on each side, having the drivers side LCA longer will only result in the drivers side of the diff being further forward. In otherwords, you will have a longer wheel base on the right hand side of the vehicle causing it to want to turn in left hand circles all the time.... Sound familliar?

[JasperJ]

jktom, I don't know if the 2.5" lift you have came with a new panhard rod or bracket but if it didn't then I think your problem may be due to the 2.5" lift and the rear wheels steering the Jeep to the left. Jeepfan (US website) put a 2.5" lift kit in their JK and found that theirs pulled to the right, as the panhard rod set up is reversed between the RHD/LHD variants this seems like it could apply to yours as well. For the explanation swap left and right and it seems to fit. They fixed it with a drop bracket for the body end of the panhard rod.

From the Jeepfan website
"The apparent cause of the problem is the rear axle. The control arms attach to the axle at an angle from the frame. When the lift was installed the increased angle on the track bar caused the axle to shift to the passenger side. This also caused the axle to turn slightly and lose it's parallel relationship to the front axle. What does this mean? The rear axle is essentially trying to steer the rear of the Jeep to the left. The rear axle steering to the left will give the feeling that the Jeep is turning to the right, causing the driver to steer into the turn - to the left."

Jas

[jktom]

Similar thoughts to mine. I would have thought that if you were to have a longer LCA, than the passanger side would be the one to have longer, to help with the camber of the rd, same as the US do. I think that Hammonds may have just read of the US specs?? Don't they adjust the Toe on passanger cars to get around this? I have a 2.5" lift. (2" at the moment with the new PP coils, need to add some spacers).

I have an adjustable Panhard in the front, and a Teraflex axle bracket in the rear. The axles sit pretty close to centre, give or take 2mm.

I have not driven a live axle 4wd since I owned a 60 series 16 years ago. Although i drove my mates Patrol to Armidale a few months back and noticed the shimmy problem, and also the way you can feel the coils oscilate. I sugegsted he should get it looked at, as it was the same feeling when the JK was just about to get the DW.

I can't recall the JK pulling to the left before the wheel alignment, so I might adjust the arms back to the same length, if it still pulls, then make the passanger slightly longer and see what happens?

Still wondering what everyone else does with their LCA's.