Wheels won't line up?

[kenman1094]

Alright so just got my 4" rough country lift installed. It is the short arm lift with all control arms and trackbars. Anyway, for some reason the shop that installed it said the front trackbar is fully adjusted and the axle is now no longer centered. It sits about 3/4ths of an inch to the right. It drives straight and the wheel is straight but the axle is definitely not centered. Any thoughts? Should I just not worry about it? Thanks!

 

[StG58]

3/4" off? I'd be unhappy about that. Crawl under there and take some pictures so we can see what's up with the install.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Alright so just got my 4" rough country lift installed. It is the short arm lift with all control arms and trackbars. Anyway, for some reason the shop that installed it said the front trackbar is fully adjusted and the axle is now no longer centered. It sits about 3/4ths of an inch to the right. It drives straight and the wheel is straight but the axle is definitely not centered. Any thoughts? Should I just not worry about it? Thanks!

If you mean the front axle is protruding out too far on the passenger side, the shop either has the track bar adjusted too long or they installed a track bar meant for a much taller lift if they can't shorten it enough. And if the front trackbar is too long and can't be screwed together more to make it shorter, it'd take 5 minutes with a sawzall to cut off a tad in the center where the two halves screw together to make it shorter.

It sounds like your shop or the mechanic who did your installation may be a touch incompetent.

 

[kenman1094]

Yea The shop definitely wasn't too keen on doing lift kits. And the track bar came with the lift kit and is fully adjusted in. If I cut it, will I need tto tap more threads into it?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

If I cut it, will I need to tap more threads into it?

Not likely since you only need to cut it an inch shorter, but I don't know how the track bar was made. Likely just an inch off the female side. Once you do that, try threading the male end in and see if it fits without being too long. Worst case you cut some off the male part too. Should still have plenty of thread engagement when you're done.

 

[kenman1094]

I'd rather not cut the track bar if I don't have to. I'm going to give rough country a call and see what they say. Hopefully they'll just send me the correct one and swap mine out. If not looks like I'll be cutting. Thanks for all the help!

 

[AOR]

Looking at the TBs at this link, if you got the bracket with the front, then you have the 4-6" and should have the 1.5" - 4.5" one.

http://www.roughcountry.com/suspension-components/track-bars.html

Is this the kit?

http://www.roughcountry.com/jeep-suspension-lift-kit-661.html

Looks like Jerry has the right idea. Their site says the Forged TBs are up to 3.5" and then 4-6".

 

[kenman1094]

Yep that's the kit. RC Said it's the correct bar. So, A: the shop put the new trackbar bracket in the wrong spot. Or B: my frame got twisted. I don't think it's B, so it looks like I'm cutting.

 

[ec0075]

I put a 3.5 lift on my TJ, I was told to measure the old bar and add 3/4 of an inch to the new adjusted bar. Then I had to walk the front end over by turning the steering wheel to one side till it the bolt went into the hole. I'm now centered.