Post edited 4:19 am – February 5, 2010 by notoriousDUG

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…at home, by yourself.

So you have this fancy lifted coil sprung Jeep that you're all proud of; chicks dig it, men desire it and you are king of the hill until one day you realize that the whole front end of the jeep is sitting about 3.4″ off center to the drivers side.  Not only does this look silly but there is no way it's good for handling!  What you have discovered here is the joys of having to short of a track bar for your given lift height.  See the track bar is the bar that runs across your chassis and locates the axle in the vehicle side to side.  If you lift a vehicle over stock the bar now sits at an increased angle and is longer the correct length to keep the axle properly centered.  This can lead to all form of handling issues including bump steer.

The correct way to solve this issue is to install an adjustable track bar which you can adjust to be the proper length for your lift, and any future lift you may install.  Of course that all sounds great but when it comes time to do it how the heck do you know how long to adjust the track bar so it all sits properly?  Well you could use some of that new fangled trigonometry stuff or you could use the procedure I am about.  One uses math I don't understand and the other one just requires addition and subtraction so you make the choice…

OK, so to do this your going to need some tools and stuff.  To start with get whatever tools you need to remove/install the adjustable end of your track bar as well as the tools to adjust it.  You will also need a tape measure and a special frame alignment tool known as…

a come-a-long!

OK, so it's not a special tool but humor me OK?

So first step, if it is not already unhooked, is to unhook the adjustable end of your track bar.

Next step is to figure out where the front end needs to be which is where the tape measure comes in.  Measure from a specific point on the tread of the tire to a specific point on your Jeep.

In this case I used the spring bucket top and the point of the second row of tread blocks but it really does not matter what points you use as long as you can duplicate them exactly on the other side.  Now that you have your measurements it should be obvious which way the axle needs to move in order to be centered in the Jeep.  

Now it's time to put the axle where it needs to be.  Rig the 'special tool' across the front of the jeep with one end anchored to the axle and the other anchored to the frame of the jeep on the side that the axle needs to move towards. It is a good idea to rig it with as straght a pull as possible, you want to pull mostly sideways more then down so you get an accurate end result. 

As you can see here I needed to pull the axle to the passenger side of the Jeep.  So once you have it all rigged up simply crank on the 'special tool' until you have an even measurement on both sides.  If you are unable to get it perfect within 1/8″ is perfectly acceptable in my book.

Now with the axle held int he centered position by the come-a-long simply adjust your track bar so it installs into the hole, tighten it all down and you are off to the races! 

One thing to remember: you may not be able to get it 100% spot on because the rod end on the track bar has to be in a certain position to line up with the mount; this is OK.  Like I said before being off a little bit is OK, you just don't want the whole thing an inch or more out o whack!

One last thing.  The picture below shows the proper way to install mis-alignment spacers on a hiem joint.  It seems like common sense to me but you would not believe the different and amazing wrong ways I have seen these installed!

And yes, I know the lock nut is not tightened down on the hiem joint I did remember to tighten it before the Jeep drove off; don't forget to do the same on yours.

Please be aware that this fix can throw off your steering and toe in so you should check and adjust both of those after centering the axle.