Steering wheel off center

cmireles

cmireles

Member
I was really tired when this happened... I was making a left turn at a light and at the end of the turn my hand slipped off the wheel. My front passenger tire hit the curb going about 15-20mph at probably a 35 degree angle from the curb, so it hit pretty hard. Now my steering wheel has to be turned about 5-10 degrees to the left in order for the jeep to go straight. What did I do/ how should I go about fixing it?
 
kemer1

kemer1

New member
Alignment shop. Does it pull to one side? You could also get underneath it and make sure you didn't bend the tie rods or control arms. But in any case, it'll need an alignment.
 
gtony12

gtony12

Caught the Bug
You could see the write up eddie did on do it yourself front alignment. I would start there see if that corrects the problem then go from there. Also do a visual check to see if anything is bent.

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cmireles

cmireles

Member
kemer1 said:
Alignment shop. Does it pull to one side? You could also get underneath it and make sure you didn't bend the tie rods or control arms. But in any case, it'll need an alignment.
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I wouldn't say it pulls to one side. More like when I straighten out the wheel, it turns the tires to the right.
 
36Fan

36Fan

New member
Tie rod is probably bent, and or the ball joints took a hit at minimum. Like others have said, alignment shop soon as you can.
 
OverlanderJK

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
The only thing a shop will do is take your money. Takes two minutes to do it yourself. Follow the write up posted above.
 
kemer1

kemer1

New member
cmireles said:
I wouldn't say it pulls to one side. More like when I straighten out the wheel, it turns the tires to the right.
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If it doesn't pull, and you can take your hand off the wheel and the Jeep continues on straight and true then yes, follow the writeup and adjust the drag link to straighten the wheel. But certainly do a check to make sure you didn't bend any of the steering or suspension components first.
 
cmireles

cmireles

Member
kemer1 said:
If it doesn't pull, and you can take your hand off the wheel and the Jeep continues on straight and true then yes, follow the writeup and adjust the drag link to straighten the wheel. But certainly do a check to make sure you didn't bend any of the steering or suspension components first.
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The drag link got bent a little. I adjusted the draglink as a temporary fix until I can get a new one.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
cmireles said:
The drag link got bent a little. I adjusted the draglink as a temporary fix until I can get a new one.
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Did it bend at the turnbuckle? If not, are you sure it's bent? Typically, a hit like this will twist your sector shaft and can lead to a failure at a later date.
 
SmokinV10

SmokinV10

Caught the Bug
wayoflife said:
Did it bend at the turnbuckle? If not, are you sure it's bent? Typically, a hit like this will twist your sector shaft and can lead to a failure at a later date.
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Quick fix would be to adjust the drag link. Two bolts and a few twists and its done. This may just mask another issue if you bent something.....
 
cmireles

cmireles

Member
wayoflife said:
Did it bend at the turnbuckle? If not, are you sure it's bent? Typically, a hit like this will twist your sector shaft and can lead to a failure at a later date.
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I'm pretty sure it's bent, but to me it looks like it's bent about 9-10 inches down from the turn buckle.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
SmokinV10 said:
Quick fix would be to adjust the drag link. Two bolts and a few twists and its done. This may just mask another issue if you bent something.....
Click to expand...

Never said you couldn't make a quick adjustment to the drag link to help recenter the steering wheel, just that more times than not, the drag link isn't the source of the problem.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
cmireles said:
I'm pretty sure it's bent, but to me it looks like it's bent about 9-10 inches down from the turn buckle.
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Right and that sounds about normal. If you go look at another JK with a factory drag link installed, you will see what I mean.
 
jesse3638

jesse3638

Hooked
wayoflife said:
Did it bend at the turnbuckle? If not, are you sure it's bent? Typically, a hit like this will twist your sector shaft and can lead to a failure at a later date.
Click to expand...

Don't mean to Hijack the thread but is the sector shaft a serviceable part or will typically the steering box need to be replaced?
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
jesse0920 said:
Don't mean to Hijack the thread but is the sector shaft a serviceable part or will typically the steering box need to be replaced?
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Depends on how badly the sector shaft is twisted as it can make it near impossible to remove from the box. Otherwise, it's definitely something that can be replaced. I don't know if you can get a sector shaft from the dealership though. I've only been able to get them through PSC.
 
cmireles

cmireles

Member
wayoflife said:
Depends on how badly the sector shaft is twisted as it can make it near impossible to remove from the box. Otherwise, it's definitely something that can be replaced. I don't know if you can get a sector shaft from the dealership though. I've only been able to get them through PSC.
Click to expand...

Wonderful...
 
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