JL JOURNAL : Checking Steering Components / Setting Toe / Recenter Steering Wheel

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
After getting our brand new Dynatrac ProRock 44 installed on our Jeep JL Wrangler, there was one last thing we needed to do before we could head for home and that was to dial in our front end. Even though this was a brand new axle and everything should technically be the same, all it would take is for something to be a fraction of a inch off, to change something like toe or the position of our steering wheel. And, being that we have well over 20,000 hard miles on all our factory steering components, we thought now would be as good a time as any to also check the condition of our joints and bushings on the tie-rod, drag link and track bar. In this episode of the JL JOURNAL, you'll get to see Jim, the owner of Dynatrac explain how to do these checks, set your toe-in and recenter your steering wheel - essentially, basic front end alignment 101. Of course, this video can apply to anyone with a Jeep JK or JL Wrangler and we hope that you find the information in it to be useful.


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wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks for the video! I’ll check that drag link again, hope I can track it down

I'm pretty sure that's where our wobble is coming from. That's why we're not getting full blown DW. We hope to address it with a new Synergy tie rod and drag link. A video of our results will be coming soon.

Good info. Very helpful.

Thanks Doug :)
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Got it. Im assuming you're gonna go with a new not hollow draglink lol

LOL!! I don't think hollow is the problem - it just needs to be made a lot more rigid. We've talked to Synergy and they've been kind enough to send us a tie-rod and drag link for testing. Hoping that'll get the job done :)

I like the drag link on the JL compared to the JK. Cool informative video!

Sure is easier to adjust that's for sure. I also like that it doesn't have a turnbuckle. Never liked that.

Great demonstration of how to spot movement in critical areas. [emoji1417]

Awesome, glad we could share that with you :)
 

NFRs2000NYC

Member
Really? I thought the turnbuckle made things easier by giving you more meat to grip. I obviously don’t know much, but did feel like it was easier to turn, especially after many miles and crap building up in the threads. Having said that, it did look like even after all your miles of off-roading, you didn’t seem to struggle too much, which is a good thing. Either that or you’re freakishly strong lol.
 

OverlanderJL

Resident Smartass
LOL!! I don't think hollow is the problem - it just needs to be made a lot more rigid. We've talked to Synergy and they've been kind enough to send us a tie-rod and drag link for testing. Hoping that'll get the job done :)



Sure is easier to adjust that's for sure. I also like that it doesn't have a turnbuckle. Never liked that.



Awesome, glad we could share that with you :)

No kidding! That damn thing rips out wires, gets dirty, doesn’t line up. The list goes on.


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Really? I thought the turnbuckle made things easier by giving you more meat to grip. I obviously don’t know much, but did feel like it was easier to turn, especially after many miles and crap building up in the threads. Having said that, it did look like even after all your miles of off-roading, you didn’t seem to struggle too much, which is a good thing. Either that or you’re freakishly strong lol.

LOL!! One of the benefits of living in a desert I guess. What I don't like about the turnbuckle is that they tend to rotate and I have personally seen/welded up more than one that had broken on the trail.

No kidding! That damn thing rips out wires, gets dirty, doesn’t line up. The list goes on.

Yup, this ^^^^

The Dynatrac turnbuckle replacement isn't cheap but it helped a lot.
 

Signals34

New member
great video....when you recenter the steering wheel, do you have to have the start button pressed to "acc" , or is it totally in the "off" position....
 

frenchjk

Member
really good to see the application of principles described in wayalife...:) !! (jesus, i really prefer millimeters its so much easier...just saying :D)

And I do love driving in snow so much!! loved the end of that video. However i usually run on the fogs wich i left oem halogen (yellower light less glare) and the half rings drls (JW speakers) as it cuts down the glare from the leds hitting the snowflakes even in the lowest position (we have dash controlled vertical adjustement std in Europe..) (unless offroad but that is another story)
 

Roo4JK

New member
Great informative video. Jim also explains it very clearly. Very happy with this info.

With my JK the play may not be soon a big issue, all arms have Currie ball joints.
But many Jeeps of my friends do not have ball joints ....

Thanks for sharing with us. Thick thumbs up :thumb: for Eddie, Jim, Cindy and Dynatrac !!

Pretty Cool (JL) PR44 BTW. Greetings from Europe (NL)
 

jason

New member
Eddie this video is great. i had watched some other video's recently where they talked about centering the steering wheel, and toe in and a few other things, but never showed how to do it. i had literally asked myself yesterday "how the heck do you adjust toe-in", and boom, of course you have a video on it all. thank you!
 

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