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Alignment

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Old Mar 8, 2013 | 04:43 PM
  #1  
web architect's Avatar
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From: Abilene, TX
Default Alignment

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07 on 35s, 4" lift (I think; done before I owned the JK). Sky Jacker.

No Jeep or off road shops within 150 miles. Just the dealership, and I don't get good impressions there. That leaves Firestone lifetime balance and rotation, lifetime alignment.

Alignment guy tells me it pulls as you cannot adjust camber. Says the driver side is where the issue is, but it might be fixable with an aftermarket cam of some sort.

I'm still new to this, and am having a hard time with the explanation that its just the nature of lifted jeeps to have poor alignments.

Thoughts? Thanks!
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Old Mar 8, 2013 | 05:11 PM
  #2  
web architect's Avatar
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Correction: cannot adjust caster on solid axel...?
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Old Mar 8, 2013 | 05:14 PM
  #3  
Freewill's Avatar
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Joined: Jun 2011
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From: Olympia, WA
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Originally Posted by web architect
Attachment 431361

07 on 35s, 4" lift (I think; done before I owned the JK). Sky Jacker.

No Jeep or off road shops within 150 miles. Just the dealership, and I don't get good impressions there. That leaves Firestone lifetime balance and rotation, lifetime alignment.

Alignment guy tells me it pulls as you cannot adjust camber. Says the driver side is where the issue is, but it might be fixable with an aftermarket cam of some sort.

I'm still new to this, and am having a hard time with the explanation that its just the nature of lifted jeeps to have poor alignments.

Thoughts? Thanks!
Actually the alignment report says you can't adjust castor without aftermarket parts, but that is also true of camber. The castor does not look that bad on the report (could have a touch more), and the toe is about right. The camber is a bit suspect, but so are alignment shops.

Best way to adjust castor if needed is with a pair of aftermarket lower control arms. Stay away from cam bolts for castor. With the mods your JK has, it may already have the arms.

Camber can be adjusted with adjustable ball joints. Takes a fair amount of effort and money, but the alternative is new C brackets and/or axle housing. Well-worn ball joints can cause the camber to be off.

The most common alignment problem is toe-in. When needed, you can set toe with one wrench and a tape measure. See the write-ups section (do we still have a write-up area?) for the details.

There's no reason a lifted JK can't have perfect camber and toe-in. Caster is a bit tougher to achieve, but with adjustable arms and the right drive shaft, caster can be perfect also.

If you look at the report carefully you'll see why these reports are always a bit suspect. The report shows toe angle values for the rear, but the JK rear is a solid axle. Only way it could have any toe-in or toe-out is if the axle housing were bent so bad that you had one rear wheel going a different direction than the other. If that were the case you'd probably have bad wheel bearings and leaking seals.
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Old Mar 8, 2013 | 06:24 PM
  #4  
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From: Canada
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It doesn't look all that bad.

Freewill gave some great advice.

The caster you can fix with adjustable front control arms. Or if you want you can get the AEV CA drop brackets but I'd get the arms myself. Don't do the cam bolts!!

Last edited by SpicedCrusher; Mar 8, 2013 at 06:27 PM.
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