TJ not consistently driving straight and is drifting

pathfndr

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Sep 26, 2020
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West Bloomfield, Michigan
I have an odd steering situation. When I'm driving down the freeway, for long stretches of time when I'm going straight the wheel is centered. Other times, for long stretches, it's off by about 30 degrees, always to the right and especially if it's windy blowing from the left side of the rig. On the surface streets its always centered. I also feel like I have to correct the wheel a lot to correct for drift no matter where the wheel is pointing, constantly moving from the right to the left to try to stay in my lane. I got a front end alignment (I could visually see it was out of alignment) and I checked and found my front track bar was real loose and torqued it back to spec, it helped, but not as much as I'd like. My last off roading experience in the fall put the truck out of service over the winter while I fixed everything and I definitely abused it (which necessitated the new steering box as my leak went from drips to runs)

Suspension/steering - OME lift kit, adjustable front and rear JKS track bar (2 years old), recently replaced steering box with a blue top steering box. I replaced all 8 ball joints etc when I added the lift kit and did an axle swap 2 years ago.

When I look under the car and the wheel is moved back and forth I maybe see a little lateral movement (millimeters) in the track bar, but it's not like there's a lot of resistance when it's flat on a driveway. I don't see any lateral movement in anything else.

Looking for suggestions on best procedures to check likely issues.

Thanks!
 
If the wheel is drifting off center to drive straight, the track bar is possibly allowing the axle to move and the wheel is revealing that-

Track bar torque, bushing condition and control arm torque and bushing condition can all contribute-

Do the same test you described with the engine running- that will normally reveal more movement.

Keep us posted. 1/8” at the bushing is a mile at the wheel. And there are heavy forces at play on the road.
 
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I'd have somebody steer the thing back and forth and carefully check for play, the track bar and ball joints. If you're getting 30 degrees I'd start to suspect the steering box if you can't see anything else obvious.
 
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