Re:Re:Re:Jimny pulling to right

Thank you both Roger and Lambert. I must admit I am learning a LOT last 3 days from you. Again thank you for your detailed explanations.

Good news is the adjustable panhard bar for the back was delivered this afternoon but there is no way to get it installed tommorow, so this will only happen next week.

So I will only be able to give further update early next week.

I will still read up more the weekend to get myself a little more educated, but I have to admit it is great feeling when the pieces of the puzzle start falling into place.

Have a great weekend guys.




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Just to recap. This is right hand drive gen4. South Africa with a 50mm lift.

The following has been done.
1) 50mm lift. Caster correction bushes
2) 215/75/R15 all terrains.
3) adjustable front panhard bar added and adjusted. Front wheels perfectly centered to chassis.
4) rear panhard bar added and adjusted. Rear wheels perfectly centered to chassis.
5) Wheel alignment done. 3 different places confirm alingment true although steering wheel is sitting off centre..

Current steering wheel position. Tracking 100% straight after lift. Very happy with tracking and handling albeit steering wheel a bit skewed.

01 pic of on the road driving




02 pic of steering in garage before adjustments. lets call this "Default steering off position A"



03 04 loosened locknuts both sides.





Then I turn centre steering rack bar one full revolution.


05 The steering wheel moved left and actually a few degrees now off to other side. Car have not moved at all. This is direct after steering bar adjustment.



06 after adjustment i pull away. (Hands off steering wheel.) Please see how steering automaticaal move to "Default steering off position A" the moment wheels start to rotate.



07 here you can see effect while driving. I have to hold steering wheel and slightly pull steering wheel to left (as car is pulling right) to keep vehicle going straight. The moment I loosen grip you see how it immediately goes right and I have to drastically correct, pulling steering back left.



08 I then stopped. Turn the steering rod 2 revolutions in other direction. I expect car now to pull left. Here you can see steering wheel clearly going back to other side. Remember car has not moved at all. This is all due to adjustment on steering rod.



09 start vehicle and take off after adjustment in step 08 (hands not touching the steering wheel). here again see how steering wheel auto correct to position as in first 2 photos (Default steering off position A) the moment wheels start turning. Vehicle then pull left.



10 now moved steering rod back one revolution to get back vehicle where it track straight as per original position of steering wheel sitting sightly down to right. Here you can see car all back to track perfect straigt but steering slightly off centre in (Default steering off position A).



11 Also test was done with steering damper off.
Exactly same results.




So what is causing the steering to whichever way the steering rod is adjusted, the steering wheel do move into new position, but at the exact moment the wheels start to rotate, the steering wheel go back to "resting" original position the moment wheels start to role. (Not touching steering wheel at all on pull away.) And then induce a pull left or right how much ever the steering rod was adjust off its default "straight" position.


It is as if something is automatically moving steering wheel back to (Default steering off position A) the moment wheels start rotating.


This really confirm that the steering rod adjustment do move the steering wheel to new position as per Martins instructional video, but in my case the steering wheel does NOT stay in new position, and move back to original "resting" position) before any adjustments were made), the moment the wheels start to rotate and then send the adjustment I have made rather to the wheels, instead of keeping steering wheel in that position.

This is driving me and the fitment shops nuts.

Obviously Jimnies that is lifted seem to be limited and not many that need adjustments in South Africa, so we all trying to understand what is happening here.

Weird. Has anyone taken the steering wheel off to the best of your knowledge? Also I don't know is the power steering hydraulic like the gen3 or some kind of electronic system? The thing is that the castor angle should bring the wheels into the straight ahead so whatever is inducing the pull is working against the natural tendency of the car to go straight.

One test you can do. Lift the car and support both axles in the air but with the weight on the suspension. Set the steering wheel to the rest position and very carefully start the car and engage 4x4 drive so that all 4 wheels rotating. Then move the steering wheel to the level position and release it. See if it returns to the rest position. Doing this will eliminate the effect of the castor angle of the axle and allow you to determine if the steering is being affected by something other than the alignment of the axle, such as the power steering box trying to maintain a false centre position.

Lambert wrote: One test you can do. Lift the car and support both axles in the air but with the weight on the suspension. Set the steering wheel to the rest position and very carefully start the car and engage 4x4 drive so that all 4 wheels rotating. Then move the steering wheel to the level position and release it. See if it returns to the rest position. Doing this will eliminate the effect of the castor angle of the axle and allow you to determine if the steering is being affected by something other than the alignment of the axle, such as the power steering box trying to maintain a false centre position.

Make sense , i will take to the suspension place the have a lift and a equipment that will work perfectly to do such a test.

I like your description. "False centre position" alla "rest position". That is exactly what it is.

Thank you for taking the time to work through my lengthy post, but that was only way to explain the issue I have with the "False centre position".


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Lambert wrote: Weird. Has anyone taken the steering wheel off to the best of your knowledge? Also I don't know is the power steering hydraulic like the gen3 or some kind of electronic system? The thing is that the castor angle should bring the wheels into the straight ahead so whatever is inducing the pull is working against the natural tendency of the car to go straight.

No the steering itself has never been touched ever. Every time any work was done I was allowed to watch in the workshop.

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