Lj pulling to the right

Tom Hendrix

Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2019
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30
Location
Alabama
My new to me LJ pulls just slightly to the right. Everything on the front end has been replaced including control arms. It did the same thing before I changed everything so it's nothing I did. I had the front end aligned and everything is within specs. Does anyone have any ideas? I didn't noticed anything bent on the frame but I will take a better look and see.
 
Have you checked tire pressures? Is it a pull or a drift? Here in CA, all of our roads are crowned a bit, which causes everything to drift to the right. Find a 2 lane empty road and drive on the wrong side...does it still want to go right or does it want to go left?
 
My new to me LJ pulls just slightly to the right. Everything on the front end has been replaced including control arms. It did the same thing before I changed everything so it's nothing I did. I had the front end aligned and everything is within specs. Does anyone have any ideas? I didn't noticed anything bent on the frame but I will take a better look and see.
What was the cross caster read out?
 
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I have looked at the tires and I do plan on replacing them in the future. It has all new brake pads and disk and nothing appears th o b ed dragging.
 
I will take some measurements this weekend to see if something is bent. I will have to get a print out of th he alignment.
Outside of a bizarre alignment where something obvious has been missed, there are only a few things that cause a slight pull. The number one thing is the steering wheel slightly off center. That opens the valve to provide power assist and it can cause a pull to one side. As mentioned above, the second most common thing is road crown. The front axle is set up with a slight amount of cross caster to compensate for an average amount of road crown. If the crown is more or less, that will cause a slight pull. Pay attention to when it presents and the road condition.

The biggest issue with a pull is how it is determined. I get on my guys all the time for telling me a rig has a slight pull if they let go of the steering wheel. That always generates the reply from me in some iteration of- Dumbass, don't do that. We don't drive that so quit testing like that. Lightly rest your hand on the steering wheel, look down the road like you should when you are driving and if the pull isn't fighting you or bringing itself to your attention with some untoward feistiness of the steering wheel, ignore it, you don't have a pull, you have a sensitivity to something that you shouldn't.
 
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Mr Blaine,
It's funny you say something about the steering wheel being centered. It was off center a bit after I replaced all the steering components and the pull didn't seem to be the there. When the alignment was done the steering wheel was centered and now the pull is back. I drive the same roads in four different vehicles with one being a 73 International scout and the roads don't cause an issue. Is there a way I can tell if the steering arm for the steering box is centered when the wheel is centered?
 
Tire pressure, radial pull,...several easy things can cause a "slight pull". Are the pressures the same left to right? Swap the tires front to back, see if anything changes.