If your Wrangler ever feels unsafe to drive after installing a new tie rod, seek assistance from a professional.The TeraFlex HD tie rod kit is designed for extreme conditions that typically will cause factory steering components to bend and fail. But even if your steering wheel is nice and straight relative to the front wheels, too much toe-in or toe-out can cause excessive tire wear, and toe-out can even make your Wrangler darty and unstable at speed. An off-center steering wheel, for instance, can confuse your Wrangler’s traction control system, prompting it to activate seemingly at random in a vain attempt to bring the wheel speed in-line with where the steering wheel is pointed. With the steering wheel set to dead center, adjust each tie rod end equally until this is achieved.Ī word of caution: an improperly adjusted Jeep JK tie rod can have a drastic impact on your vehicle’s drivability. Ideally, the tires should be just slightly further apart at the rear – 1/16 of an inch, and certainly no more than 1/8”. Get a friend or family member to help and, using a tape measure, measure the distance from the mold seam on the rear of the passenger’s side tire to that on the driver’s side, and then take the same distance on the front of each tire. While we recommend taking your Jeep in to a shop for final alignment after installing new Jeep JK tie rod ends or an all-new tie rod, you can get it in the ballpark yourself by measuring the distance between the front tires, both at the front of the tires and at the rear. Fine-pitch threads on the tie rod and the ends mean that as the rod end is spun, either by hand or by wrench, it extends or retracts to adjust the total length of the tie rod. Once the tie rod ends are loose, they are adjusted by turning into or out of the tie rod. In that case, you must take care to apply counter-torque to the tie rod as you pop the nut loose. Others are a bit simpler, with a jam nut threaded onto the tie rod end that must be loosened from against the tie rod. Some tie rod designs have a split where the end threads into, with a fastener above the split that draws both sides together, pinching the rod end and locking it into place. But depending on which Jeep JK tie rod you have, the means of locking and unlocking the tie rod end can vary. The good news is that adjusting Jeep JK tie rod ends is relatively easy you should defer to the seasoned professionals at an alignment shop if you’re not 100% confident in your own abilities, but so long as you have a keen attention to detail and you know how to swing a wrench, Jeep JK tie rod adjustment is something you can do at home.Īdjusting your Jeep JK tie rod involves three major steps: unlocking the tie rod end so that it’s free to be adjusted, turning it either by wrench or by hand to adjust its length relative to the tie rod, and locking the end into its new position. (Front wheel toe-in is common to most RWD vehicles.) The JK Wrangler requires a certain amount of toe-in, where the wheels are both aimed slightly inward from back to front, in order to deliver adequate on-road driving stability and even tire wear. After you’ve upgraded your Jeep JK tie rod, precise adjustment is necessary to ensure that your front wheels have the proper toe setting, where “toe” refers to how far inward or outward the wheels are pointed.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |