1996XJSport

I installed a prerunner bumper with unibody tie in brackets and now my steering wheel isn't straight. How do I adjust it so it's back to normal?

Skunkape

loosen up the 2 bolts on the draglink and then turn it by hand while someone watches the steering wheel and lets you know if your going the right way or not.Once its straight tighten back down.

caged

depends on what bolts you loosened to install your bumper.
the only thing i can think of is you removed your steering box bolts.
you need to be sure that is as it was before you started, once things are good there, and your wheel is still off-center, then you can turn your adjuster sleeve on your draglink.

cheers.

1996XJSport

Yeah I removed the steering box bolts to get the tie-in brackets in place. I reinstalled them and everything lined up after, so it should be exactly how it was before I started.

Basically all I have left to do is that adjuster sleeve?

caged

the thing that confuses me is if the steering box is back up against the frame as it should be, then the steering wheel should be back to normal.
did the spacers fall out possibly??

the only parts that would throw out the steering wheel alignment is track bar position, steering box position, drag link adjustment.

if you were to just adjust your sleeve, then you may just be masking the problem. however, it may just be the fix you need...

1996XJSport

I don't think any spacers fell out but i'm just going to try and fix it with the drag link and see what happens.

1996XJSport

Alright, I got the steering wheel straightened out by turning the drag link.

But since working on Jeeps means once you fix something, something else will be messed up..... I have a new problem.

I can turn the wheels to the left just fine, but I can't turn them that far to the right.

What should I do?

caged

that's because adjusting the sleeve wasn't the fix. it was only a cure to mask the original problem.
you need to find out what went out of adjustment when you installed the bumper.

i'm leaning towards the steering box. look there.

1996XJSport

I know the steering box is probably the issue, but what should I be looking for on the steering box? It looks like it's snug up against the unibody rails and all the bolts are in place.

1996XJSport

Alright I fixed it, looked at the angle of the pitman arm while the wheels were straight and noticed that the pitman arm was off to an angle. Messed around the the drag link for about a half hour and got things back to where they should be.

caged

ok, now turn the steering wheel and count the turns from center to right and center to left and see if they're equal.

Red82

I'm glad I found this discussion. It'll be useful when I order my front bumper.

1996XJSport

They're nice and equal. Thanks for the help and suggestions, you definitely helped me find and tackle the problem.

This also gave me an excuse to grease everything up front haha.

1996XJSport

Make sure you find somewhere to put your vacuum resivour when you put that new bumper on too. I mounted mine to the fender supports