Recently I had Rancho adjustable rear upper and lower control arms installed to correct my rear pinion angle. The tube on them is beefier than stock, but I meet their requirements for install. Anyway, I saw that the amount of clearance on the passenger side is less than the driver side. I reached out to Rancho with pictures and they said that the arms do get close but don't rub, and they suggested articulating the suspension to make sure everything is fine.

I'm wondering whether I can adjust my adjustable rear track bar to pull the axle a little bit over to the passenger side for some additional clearance on the tire (and adjust the front track bar too, of course). Thinking it over in my mind, it seems possible, but I thought I'd ask here too.

Here's the passenger side, followed by the driver side for comparison:

 

There's nothing wrong with what you're asking. Kinda seems like the rear axle is a touch off to the driver's side as it sits now. That is still pretty tight clearance either way, but the only real solution is a wheel with less BS or adapters to push the wheel a bit further out. Looks like you'd only be talking 1/8" or so of an adjustment, though maybe the optics are due to angle of the pictures.

 

Thanks for the feedback. These are stock rims with stock size Wrangler Duratracs. I've been really trying to avoid putting different wheels on, or spacers, mostly because I like the stock look. I'd previously had an alignment shop adjust my front and rear track bars, but maybe they weren't quite centered or it's just a fluke with the new suspension parts. Here's some different pictures at another angle if it's any help:

 

It's a bit of a moot point now, but the bends in those specific arms sure don't help factory wheels. Look at the bends relative to Metalcloak's rear upper -



You see how that MC arm immediately juts out from the frame side mount away from the tire for clearance compared to the Rancho arm that comes straight towards the tire before bending out. I really can't recall if you're explained use of your jeep in a different thread. If primarily on road this isn't a big deal at all. Even with light off roading it's not going to be a big deal. If you were doing technical rock crawling you'd really need to check your clearance with the suspension articulated, but you are likely just fine. Even if there was slight contact, the tire would be rubbing by a smooth bar.

 

I noticed that as well. I'm not sure why Rancho opted to contour those UCAs that way. I don't see how that'd ever be advantageous. Before I got them, I spent a lot of time comparing them with MC, TF, and other higher end offerings. Since I honestly don't do a lot of technical offroading very often, I figured the Rancho would be fine, but I didn't think the arms would get that close. It's probably fine, but I was only concerned if there'd be contact under heavy sidewall flex. In your opinion, is it worth having that shop adjust my axles to accommodate? I could probably do it myself, but I'm not sure if I can do it as well, or if any alignment adjustments would be necessary afterward.

 

Outside of adjusting that rear track bar a touch, there's not much a shop can do to adjust the axle. Not worth paying for IMO. Not sure what rear TB you have, and if you can adjust it while on the vehicle or not. At most you are talking loosening a jam nut or clamp and removing a bolt from one end, but if you don't have a large wrench and a big torque wrench I can see how something so simple can be problematic for some.

Keep in mind any sidewall flex is going to be between the wheel and the ground. I don't see that coming into play in the clearance situation.

As far as the design of the arm, I guess what I'd say is that most people installing a full set of rear control arms are highly likely running either aftermarket wheels with lower BS, or running adapters. There is no issue with you wanting to keep that factory spec.....just that most people would have more clearance there with that particular arm so in this case your situation is a bit more of an oddball.

 

EDIT: Yes, the rear track bar is adjustable in-place. It's got a turnbuckle, much like a drag link set up (I think it's a Rough Country unit). I do have a beefy pipe wrench I could use to adjust it. My understanding is any amount I shorten the rear track bar by, should also be applied to front track bar adjustment too, right?

Thanks for the thoughtful response, I really appreciate it. You've been a lot of help with my occasional questions. If you haven't seen it yet and have any interest on weighing in, I did have one other I posted recently.

 

Personally, I would adjust your rear trackbar 1/2 of a full rotation and see how close that gets you before adjusting a full rotation. Depending on the trackbar, most seem to adjust by roughly 1/8 of an inch per full rotation and roughly 1/16th per 1/2 rotation. I went with Core 4x4 Tier 4 arms and they totally touched my 33's on stock rims thus I had to swap to my new rims unexpectedly. The Core arms are contoured similar to yours. I wonder if it is a tradeoff between clearance and strength? The more severe bend on the MC arms has to impact strength at some point, but it may be a point well past what the arms will see in even extreme operation. What I mean is that, if all other things remain equal (e.g., metallurgy, wall thickness, etc.), the more severe the bend/contour the more those bars would be prone to bend more at the bend/contour under some specific load, but, again, the bar may never see that level of load.