i think someone should only use this guide as a temporary fix until they could get to a professional alignment shop... aka with the computer and digital measurements. if the vehicle is not in the manufacturer's specs (geometry recalculated for the lift, of course)... one will seriously beat up suspension components and tires.

it's always a good idea to get an alignment after extreme off-roading.

oh yeah, and a "front-end" alignment is nonsense in this day and age... a 4-wheel alignment with camber/caster/toe adjustments makes much more sense.




sorry, since i work in a shop i get a little frustrated with basic vehicle maintenance at times!

 

Great write-up Eddie! Thanks!

 

What can I say, you can think what you want. And, I will disagree especially if you've just installed a 2"-3" lift and without new adjustable control arms or adjustable track bars as re-centering your steering wheel really is all that is needed. If you have adjustable track bars, then re-centering your axle(s) can easily be done as well and accurately using this write-up.

And I disagree. So long as was installed correctly, every bolt tightened to torq spec and nothing gets bent or damaged, nothing should change.

Other than having your rear axle re-centered and if needed, your pinion/driveshaft angle set, nothing else needs to be done in the rear. As far as the front end goes, your toe will not change after doing a lift due to the new steering setup and so little to NO adjustment is required on it. Caster definitely needs to be addressed after a lift but unless you have the means to address it (i.e. adjustable control arms or cam bolts), nothing can be done here by a shop or otherwise. And, as far as camber goes, this is a Jeep with solid axles and unless they're bent, there is no camber on them or at least none that can be adjusted.

No apologies necessary. I've just taken my vehicles into too many so called reputable 'shops' and have had them screw things up and so my frustration with them has encouraged me to learn how to work on my own Jeep. And, now I'm just trying to help others learn to do the same.

 

Hey Eddie;
I have aligned everything exactly as stated.. Yet it still pulls to the right..
Flat level ground.. Air pressure in tires.. I've checked everything.. any Ideas..

 

Does anyone know if there is a torque rating on the drag link turnbuckle 15mm nuts? I just put a lift on and it seemed like they could be over tighten easily. Thanks for any help

Almost forgot thanks Eddie this site has been a great..

 

26 ft. lbs. Basically hand tight without going crazy.

 

I think I may have gone a little crazy but not by much I'll check tonight. I have learned so much from this site it's great.. Thanks Again.

Note: I don't know if this is the place to post but I installed a 2" Superlift BB lift along with a Superlift front adj track bar. The shortest length I could get out of the Superlift track bar was 1/2" longer than stock. This caused the front axle to shift a 1/4" toward the passenger's side. That means both axles front and rear are now 1/4" pushed to the passenger's side. Is this a problem or should I just leave it alone? I have not had any problems with tracking or anything. Maybe its better that shift happen to the same side vs. both sides.

 

Actually, if you installed front and rear adjustable track bars and both are off in the long direction, your front will have shifted towards the passenger side and the rear would have shifted towards the driver side. Since both axles are still parallel to each other, you shouldn't have any issues just as you wouldn't have without the track bars

 

Honestly, you're not the only one and I'm not 100% sure why yet. Tire pressure is the first place I would have looked but if not that, are you sure that your axles are centered? Have you checked to see if any of your brakes are sticking? That would be high up on my list of checks as well. Have you adjusted your toe yet? That could fix your problem but if not, the problem could be that setting the control arms exactly the same is the problem as vehicles typically come with suspension that is off one side to the other to help compensate for the crown in roads. Those are some things to try anyway.

 

Yea.. That was my next step.. I am going to take some measurements.. Distances from axle to axle, left side vs. right.. Axle to a common point on the frame.. The only thing I can think of is maybe eventhough my control arms are of equal length quite possibly mounting points could be off just a fraction... I will keep everyone informed..