FZJ80 Pulling Right (1 Viewer)

[motormayhem]

My '95 with a 3in slinky lift and 255/85R16s consistently pulls to the right. Seems to be more of a consistent pull than a drift with the road crown. When I let go of the steering wheel it wants to change lanes in about 3-4 car lengths. The wheel is centered, just needs a little force to keep it going straight all the time. When the road is crowed a little to the left it will go straight. Over the past year and a half I have done new wheel bearings (front + rear), trunnion bearings, and suspension bushings. It's also not a brake pull.

When I first lifted it I had the alignment checked and it was per the first image below. I had some death wobble so I machined new caster plates to reduce the caster slightly. The death wobble went away. I had it checked again more recently and see the reduced caster, but the camber was off. Not sure why the camber reduced, but this was also before I did new trunnion bearings + wheel bearings. There was a little play in the wheel bearing on that side, but just barely enough to feel with it jacked up. It it certainly didn't feel like enough to cause concern.

The 2nd shop that measured also recorded the rear axle. From that I see the thrust angle is off. Is that from lifting it using a stock track bar length? Could this cause my pull right?

From what I can tell my issue could be any of the following, but these are all non-adjustable correct?

• Camber up front would push it right (I should really get this re-measured with the new bearings as I don't see how it changed so much from the older alignment #s)
• The older alignment #s had 1/4deg more caster on the pass side which would help offset road crown? How would cross caster change on a solid axle?
• The thrust angle in the back is making it crab walk right?

The tires probably have 15k on them since they were last rotated and they all seem to be wearing similarly.



Older Alignment Values

Most Recent ~1 year old at this point

 

[Rusty Marlin]

Toe in is the only adjustment the can be made on the fly to the front end; and looks like you don't have any toe in. Rather you have tow out, which bad.
Camber looks good (3 degrees)
Caster is fixed , it will change ever so slightly with camber correction, but not enough to worry about.

 

[bigredmachine]

The 2nd shop that measured also recorded the rear axle. From that I see the thrust angle is off. Is that from lifting it using a stock track bar length? Could this cause my pull right?

it wont necessarily make it pull right but its not helping the situation, @Delta VS makes a bracket to correct that. your camber is most likely causing the pull, you could try to offset that by adjusting the toe off to the left. your steer ahead will probably be off from the lift causing the steering wheel to be off center as well.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

If I were you I would get the toe adjusted in and see how she handles after that. If the problem still persists than I would consider adjustable panhards front and rear.

 

[Rusty Marlin]

OK, now that I have my glasses on, and a couple cups of coffee in me... Ho Li ***!
Alrighty, one line at a time.

I had some death wobble so I machined new caster plates to reduce the caster slightly. The death wobble went away.

No sure why you would want to reduce caster from the first measurement. It was just heavy of nominal...it was perfect.
Now you are just light of nominal, still in tolerance, so technically still OK, but not as good as before.
Light caster makes steering squirrely. The steering wheel will have less tendency to return to center after navigating a turn and with really light caster it will dart around.
Heavy caster is the opposite, too much caster and you'll fight the wheel just to make it go around a corner... you were no where near that, but steering would be nice and stable.

Death wobble is caused by worn out bushings or loose suspension bolts. Full stop. The new caster angle may have reduced the tendency, but it's root cause is still there; just waiting for the right circumstances to to jump up and bite you in the .

There was a little play in the wheel bearing on that side, but just barely enough to feel with it jacked up. It it certainly didn't feel like enough to cause concern.

If you can feel even the slightest tick-tock in the wheel bearing, there is cause for concern and it must be addressed. This is like being a little pregnant, there is no such thing.
If you can feel tick-tock, the inner race can and will spin on the spindle shaft and wear it out. Then you get to replace spindles and bearings.

The 2nd shop that measured also recorded the rear axle. From that I see the thrust angle is off. Is that from lifting it using a stock track bar length? Could this cause my pull right?

Not likely as the rear axle should still be // (parallel) with the front axle, with the wheels tracking slightly to the right of the front ones. In extreme cases it looks like a hound dog at a full gallop from the rear. A panhard lift bracket or an adjustable track bar (panhard) will pull the rear axle back to center.

From what I can tell my issue could be any of the following, but these are all non-adjustable correct?

• Camber up front would push it right (I should really get this re-measured with the new bearings as I don't see how it changed so much from the older alignment #s)

Camber can be out from the following:
Worn spindles, worn bearings or bent axle housing in the vertical plane.
It's not generally considered adjustable unless you're willing to cut and weld the axle housing or bend it on a Huge press.

• The older alignment #s had 1/4deg more caster on the pass side which would help offset road crown? How would cross caster change on a solid axle?

The caster being off from side to side a by a fraction of a degree is normal. The knuckle housing is finish machined and then mated to the axle housing. They are held with jigs and fixtures and then welded together. The fact they can hold 1/4 degree tolerance from side to side in a weldment is quite frankly amazing to me. The only way to adjust this within the axle assembly would be to twist the axle housing, or cut and re-weld. We adjust this angle in relation to the the vehicle with various caster correction methods.

• The thrust angle in the back is making it crab walk right?

If the rear axle is // to the front axle then there should be no issue crabbing, it will just track to the right of the front tires. Do you have a bent LCA? That will cause an out of // condition and crabbing.

The tires probably have 15k on them since they were last rotated and they all seem to be wearing similarly.

You have 15K on your tires and you haven't rotated them? Rotate every oil change, trust me, your tires will thank you. And don't forget the spare in the rotation cycle.