Process/ thoughts on troubleshooting drifting to the right.

[TheDerb]

I have a 1.5" lift in the front, 2.5" in the rear.

I have 35" Kenda Klever tires on stock Rubicon rims. I inflate them to 31 lbs.

A week or so ago I noticed that my truck doesn't track straight. The symptoms are as follows: when driving I orient the truck so that I am going straight forward. If I then take my hands off the wheel, I can count 2 seconds, and then the truck slightly begins veering to the right. The correction is to move the wheel back single digit degrees to the left, and it stays straight, while continuing to very lightly pull to the right after 1-2 seconds.

If I am able to put the wheel in a very specific position, lightly nudged ever so slightly to the left (maybe a degree to the left past exactly straight, the truck will track straight for 5-6 seconds.

Road crown impacts this slightly, which is to be expected.

My plan is to use toe alignment plates to ensure that toe is proper.

I have scoured these forums, and there is conflicting advice regarding where toe needs to be. Based on majority general forum wisdom, I have come to the conclusion that a slight bit (1/8th to 1/16th of an inch) of toe-in could prevent this pull to the right.

If this does not work, I'm going to get a magnetic angle/degree tool and put it on the flat spots (which are holes to the right and left of the diff cover) on the front of the front diff to ensure I'm close to 6 degrees caster angle. I have adjustable LCA's to adjust the caster as needed, but I really don't want to have to go this far.

So my questions:

1) Is the degree to which Im experiencing drift to the right anything to be concerned about? Are any Gladiators able to track straight if hands aren't on the wheel?

2.) Is my assumption regarding needing to "toe-in" the wheels correct?

3.) could I be missing anything that I should check and haven't mentioned here?

Thanks!

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[Scott0700]

After you get your toe in plates, the first thing is to make sure your steering wheel is 100% centered. After that, I will say from experience that 1/16” changes in toe makes a big difference in how your Jeep tracks. Small changes at a time. Too much toe and you’ll be buying a lot of tires.

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

After you get your toe in plates, the first thing is to make sure your steering wheel is 100% centered. After that, I will say from experience that 1/16” changes in toe makes a big difference in how your Jeep tracks. Small changes at a time. Too much toe and you’ll be buying a lot of tires.

Jscan and the steering angle reading is super handy here to dial the steering wheel in. ???

 

[TheDerb]

Jscan and the steering angle reading is super handy here to dial the steering wheel in. ???

How does the Jscan come into play? I have a tazerJL, I'd guess it could do the same thing?

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

How does the Jscan come into play? I have a tazerJL, I'd guess it could do the same thing?

Tazer is a different “tool” think of it like cheat codes- it’s a device that stores the cheat codes and unlocks/hacks different things.
Jscan is sort of in line with a diagnostic tool and allows you to read many different parameters within the factory computer. It also allows for some adaptations to be made with a security bypass in place (tazer is a security bypass).

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