Front axle off center- what to check next??

[rally-xr]

91 MJ 4wd stock height- My front axle is offset about an inch towards the drivers side. So much that the DS upper arm is all banged up from hitting the frame. Thought the track bar was bent, scored a junkyard one. It was the same as mine. Went to the parts store and had them pull a new one out of the box- same length as mine. No obvious collision frame damage. Control arms appear straight- Put Energy Suspension bushings in the lowers several months ago. Doing new upper arms w /bushings later this week. Trackbar frame bracket looks fine- not bent. It was the original and it matches the one I got with the junkyard arm.

I can't imagine I need an adjustable track bar for stock height. What am I missing?

 

thanks,

 

Tim

[DirtyComanche]

Sure it's stock height?

 

 

Sounds kinda :nuts: to me. The track bar is really the only thing that keeps the axle centred. Something has to be messed up...

[MiNi Beast]

Frame bent? Measure the height of truck something to compare to some one else. Then, some one should chime in with the write up for this, make a plum bob to check the centering of the axle. Would do this before throwing more money at it in case the frame may be bent and can't fix the problem.

[rally-xr]

Yes I'm sure its stock, if anything it may be sagged down, which would put the axle over to the other side. Old picture on cardomain search "relixracing" Its on a trailer but straps were on axles so suspension it not compressed. Tires were 225/75's no rubbing- now with 235/75's lots of rubbing just turning during parking.

 

Once I swap the arms out I'll put it on the ground w/o track bar to see how things look.

 

Thinking about this overnight- I'm going back to parts store to see what pre-91 track bar looks like. Maybe truck had axle swap at sometime.

 

OR can someone tell me what changed between early and late styles?

[Eagle]

Thinking about this overnight- I'm going back to parts store to see what pre-91 track bar looks like. Maybe truck had axle swap at sometime.

 

OR can someone tell me what changed between early and late styles?

Good luck.

 

There is a difference, because when I put a '92 or '93 track bar in my '88 XJ the steering wheel was off-center by about 1/8 of a turn. But you cannot see a difference by looking at them. I spent a half hour with two parts guys at the dealership one Saturday morning with the old and new style track bars laid out on the counter, trying to see what was different and why they have different part numbers.

 

Any way we measured, we couldn't find the difference. Whatever it is, it's not enough to put your axle off-center by an inch. Have you compared your axle bracket and frame bracket to another stock XJ or MJ to be sure they haven't been damaged or modified?

[rally-xr]

Eagle- I compared frame brackets and I couldn't find any difference.

 

My axle bracket did look different than the junkyard truck. But I figured that was due to the j'yard truck having vacuum disconnect while my truck doesn't.

 

Guess I need an adjustable bar .........

[LEAD_NOT_FOLLOW]

To my knowledge their is no adjustable tracbar on the market for a stock height XJ or MJ.

[Eagle]

To my knowledge their is no adjustable tracbar on the market for a stock height XJ or MJ.

Rusty's track bar comes in two lengths, depending on the amount of lift. The shorter one will adjust short enough to run at stock height ... but (at least on my '88 MJ) at stock height the bend doesn't clear the diff cover, so it becomes an interference fit.