Yeah, remote starts are awesome but they do kill your mpg in the long run per tank. I lost 50 miles per tank per week average using the remote start working 4 days per week. And I normally only get around 200 per tank now.

If you loose 1 mpg that would be alot lowering it to a better pressure. It'll cost you more money in tires when you have to replace them because of wear issues because you wanted to run them at higher psi. Been there done that. You'll think "oh, I'll run higher psi and save on mpg and they'll even look a little bigger" Can't go by that. I'd rather burn 1mpg more and have no more pull.

 

how hard did you have to press the caliper pistons? If it was way hard on one side, it is most likely a sticky caliper. but you said that they both spun freely, so possibly not.

 

I don't believe a caliper is sticking. I had no problem compressing the pistons on either side with just channel locks. Both wheels spin, as good as they can while rotating the axle shafts and driveshaft. I wish these had lock out hubs.


I lowered the tire pressure to 28 psi today and the Jeep still pulls to the right. Can I put in a larger shim on the lower control arm. It has an 1/8" on the right side only now. Should both sides have equal shims?

Do I relocate the track bar, get adjustable control arms, add a thicker shim to the control arms or just put in a few more psi in the right side tire?

 

I lowered the tire pressure to 28 psi today and the Jeep still pulls to the right. Can I put in a larger shim on the lower control arm. It has an 1/8" on the right side only now. Should both sides have equal shims?

Did it even help the pull? 28 may still be too high. You should do the chalk test on the tire to make sure you are getting full patch to the ground. You may need to go down further. Even down to 25.

Do I relocate the track bar, get adjustable control arms, add a thicker shim to the control arms or just put in a few more psi in the right side tire? [/QUOTE]

I don't know all the work that you had done to your jeep yet. Just going by what the problems you are having. 3 inch and up you should relocate your track bar. But that will center your front axle and may not affect the alingment always. But it is good to look in to. Adjustable arms are great but you should do uppers and lowers together if you are going that route. If you just do adjustable lowers and extend them more you wind up killing the caster and pinion angles. Same as if you put too thick of shims in the front. If you look at the lower control arm bolts where they mount to the unibody, you'll notice the holes are oval. These are to position the bolts when adjusting the caster. See if the bolts are in the same spot on both sides. If one is way off then you need to make adjustments. There is no set size of shims to use. You really need an angle finder to figure that out but you can get it close temporarily.
Was this Jeep ever in an accident?

 

Did the chalk test and 28 psi seemed to work. It still pulled to the right.

The Jeep hasn't been in an accident that I can tell.

The front lower control arms are not in the same location in the hole. The right side has 1/8" shims added by the alignment guy and the left has none. Still pulls to the right slightly.

I didn't think relocating the track bar was necessary on only a 2" lift so I haven't explored that route.

It's not a terrible pull, just enough that you have to steer left a little going down the highway or you will gradually drift to the right into the ditch. If the road is sloped a little to the left it will drive straight as will it if I drive down the middle of a crowned road.

 

Well, to be honest, I don't know that there is any Jeep or lifted vehicle that doesn't tend to "wander some" with wider than stock tires. I've been under mine many times. Adjusted it where it's perfect and no pull all day. Park it, wake up the next day and it pulls again. Jeeps just have their own minds sometimes. But here are some more suggestions......

I don't know everything you have checked on your Jeep so far or what your exact set up is so I will just give some more suggestions.

1. Check the tie rod ends and ball joints for play in them.
2. Check all the control arm bushings. If you have one that has a lot of play, the axle will almost "float" around and give you intermittenet drifting
3. Check the drag with the brakes untouched. You may have more resistance on one wheel bearing, could be dirty (causing binding) but not making noise.
4. Look in to the rear axle as a problem. You mentioned you put shackles on the stock leafs? Is this correct? You may have a twisted the position of the rear and not realized it. Meaning if 1 side is slightly forward the the other side (kinda like the front LCA's) the rear is actually trying to steer you in that direction.
5. Look in to upgrading the steering system. You could have play in the steering box, or really weak and flexing tie rods. My FIL and I are looking in to the Currie steering set up. Supposed to be awesome with no more drifting in the front.

We'll get it figured out dude. Just a little harder when the Jeep is not right in front of you. We can only give ideas from here. Goodluck!

 

Not sure if OP's problem was fixed or not but I did find the cause of my pull. After checking all the things I previously listed and everything checking out good I did some more research. I found that if the track bar is not alinged properly it can cause tension on the contol arm bushings and actually cause the axle to tweek a little on one side. I have the Iron Rock Auto track bar and is adjustable. I made two adjustments (first one wasn't quite enough) and it relieved the stress from the bushings. I did double check my toe in again. its between 1/16 and 1/4" inches. Right where I wanna be. Straightened the steering wheel (which has no affect on the alingment) and took it down the road. Pull is no longer. Remember, your tires will follow the crown of the road so there will be a time or two that you will get SOME kind of pull occasionally. For the most part, I can take my hands off the steering wheel while driving and it goes perfectly straight down the road. Hope this helps someone out!

 

If you're still running the stock steering, then straightening the steering wheel can affect toe

 

Thanks for all the great info so far. I've been real busy lately and have just lived with the pull for now.

I did notice that the rear shackles are hitting the bolt from the bumper support or brace on both sides, limiting any backward travel. Could this be part of my problem? Perhaps the rear axle is "steering" the Jeep to one side. That's on my to do list when the weather cooperates.

My steering wheel is also off center as well. I'll need to recenter that when I get this figured out.

....and now the check engine light came on as I was hauling a load of patio blocks home. One thing at a time.

So many projects and so little free time.

 

My Peep travels a lot, sure feel the light pull to right from road camber. Also straight on flat roads (1000 feet), no hands of wheel. Also really feel the wind, Cherokee as aerodynamic as a brick. You could be set at optimum.

 

How? Adjusting the draglink adjuster changes the position of the steering wheel by moving the position of the steering box gear. The only way to adjust the toe is by adjusting the tie rod end sleeve that connects to both outter ends at the hubs.

 

I hear ya there. Never enough time in the day.

 

The factory xj y steering setup has the drag link attached to the pitman arm and passenger side knuckle. It's the same reason that lifting an xj will throw the toe off. When you increase/decrease the drag link length or the distance between pitman arm and knuckle(which happens when adjusting the steering wheel) it changes the angle of where the center link and drag link connect, which affects toe.

Adjusting toe will affect the steering wheel, and vice versa.

But, what do I know. I only work on jeeps everyday of the week.

 

Yes, I agree with you that lifting the Jeep will change the toe ever so slightly but that's because you are changing the angle of the draglink itself not from any adjustment. You could lift it 10 inches. Yes the toe will be off but you won't change it from the drag link adjuster, you have to adjust the tie rod at that point. Unless you are disconnecting the tre from the pitman arm itself and unscrewing it to lengthen the drag link again, then there is no toe adjustment at that point there. All your going to do is change the position of the gear at the steering box. With the steering still hooked up, the toe must be adjusted on the tie rod. The drag link adjuster is the last thing to adjust during an alingment to straighten out the wheel.

 

i agree with all of those above. on zj 4.0 we had a serious pull to right side. i did replace all bushings in front and at back and replaced steering dampener now it is minimal. tires are bigger than stock.