Richardkempke

I've installed a 4.5 inch rough country lift kit, adjustable track bar, new sway bar, and a new tie rod and tie rod ends. It's aligned and driving straight. My question is, should my tie rod be straight in line with the front axle? Mine is slanted. It's higher on the passenger side. I've just been noticing others that are straight with the axle.

Outlaw Star

No, your steering is fine. The tie rod will have a slight angle because of the lift and that's how it was designed.

investinwaffles

The angle of the track bar isn't that important for overall geometry, but more important is that the angle of the drag link and track bar are as close to parallel as possible.

Measure a straight line between the mounting bolts of each and compare the angle to make sure it is parallel. Otherwise you might get some bump-steer

XJlimitedx99

Your tie rod is angled because the mounting hole on the drag link has changed its vertical position with respect to the axle.

When you lifted the vehicle the mounting points of the drag link (pitman arm and knuckle) were moved apart 4.5" vertically. This caused the drag link to have a greater angle to span the larger vertical distance in the same horizontal distance. The greater angle on the drag link caused the mounting hole for the tie rod to move out of line of the axle, causing the angle you're seeing in the tie rod.

This is expected when lifting a vehicle with this style steering (inverted Y). You may notice some downsides of this style steering with your lift such as the toe-in angle of the tires changing as the suspension cycles up and down because the arc of the drag link has greater horizontal travel than it was designed for. This is why many people move to inverted T or crossover steering when lifting their Jeeps.