Axle shifted after falling in hole and steering wheel is off

Jerry Bransford said:

Your track bar is bent.

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Jerry Bransford said:

That'd be my assumption. Bending the track bar usually makes it shorter which shoves the axle toward the driver's side. I'd upgrade it to an adjustable length track bar like from Currie or JKS... in that order.

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Jerry Bransford said:

I don't know what your lift height is, you haven't filled in your Profile, but it would still track fine. Best to have both axles centered but yours are worse than you realize in relationship to each other with a suspension lift. With a suspension lift the factory rear track bar pulls the rear axle toward the passenger side and the front factory track bar pulls its axle toward the driver's side. So even your rear axle is no longer centered either, and it hasn't been since the the suspension lift was installed.

Getting the front axle centered again with an adjustable length track bar will mostly center your steering but not perfectly. Once the axle is centered you center the steering wheel by adjusting the short link on the track bar until it's straight, see it circled in red below.

With the axle centered, loosen the two bolts that clamp the adjustment link and rotate it in the direction that centers the steering wheel. Odds are you need to lengthen it slightly due to your suspension lift which means it likely needs to be rotated in the direction that moves the front of it downward. Drive it up & down your driveway while adjusting it to get the steering wheel mostly straight. Then with the link's clamp bolts still loosened, go up & down your street a short distance until you're happy with it. Then tighten its two clamp bolts.

View attachment 481232

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Jerry Bransford said:

74 ft-lbs. for both ends of the rear. 40 ft-lbs. for the axle side of the front track bar, 60 ft-lbs. for the driver's side of the front track bar.

By the way, please complete your Profile which is devoid of any information on your Jeep. I had to go back through your posts to even figure out you have a 2002. Add as much information as you know like axle type in the rear, axle ratio, engine size, transmission type, anything you know to help people answer your questions would be helpful and we all go to the Profile to find it.

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