I have a 3" Full Traction Economy Lift with front and rear adjustable track bars. I thought the lift was installed well, it was done by a local shop here in Phoenix, but today went I went to install my new tires, and one of the front tires I was taking off was wearing very strange (cupped). A friend told me that my Jeep was likely out of alignment and that was the reason for the cupping of the tires. I paid for an alignment with the install and the tech told me, "that is as straight as we can get it without new lower control arms." He told me that he liked the Teraflex lift over the Full Traction because he could not get a good alignment with the Full Traction Lifts.

I have a feeling my lift was not done properly. Additionally, I am hearing noises now from my Jeep that I didn't hear previously, clicking noises when I go over bumps, and other things. Is there anything that I can do or check to make sure my lift was installed properly. Unfortunately, I am new to this...and I am not very familiar with working on my own stuff.

Thanks,

Darin

 

Take it back to the shop or go to another.

 

The only thing that changes when you lift a solid axle vehicle is the caster angle. There is no need for an alignment. All that is needed is to position the tires in the center of the jeep with the track bars and recenter your steering wheel. The alignment guy basically didn't do anything except recenter your steering wheel.

 

oh and the clicking noises are most likely your trackbars not being tight enough. I called full traction and their exact words were, "put a cheater bar on there and tighten the shit out of them. I went to 150 ft pounds and then another half turn and that solved the noises.

 

[Marroonjeep got to you first... I guess I type too slow]

I don't have the adjustable FT control arms and as far as alignment, its fine... My caster is off slightly, but that is expected and doesn't affect tire wear. Control arms are only going to affect your caster and won't take away from a 'cupping' problem. If your tires are cupping, that is usually caused by a bad alignment and/or bad shocks... at least that's been my experience.

As far as popping when going over bumps and stuff... I had a little of that, and basically just needed to tighten my track bars (front and back) and it seemed to take care of it... they should be torqued down to 125 ft-lbs. You might also make sure your control arms are tight too.

Bottom line is this... if the lift was installed properly... You will have NO tire wear issues (cupping and such) and you should NOT be experiencing popping noises or anything else that is weird for that matter.

If they are a reputable shop, they should fix your issues.

 

I agree with MAROONJEEP that the clicking noise is probably coming from your track bar bushing at the frame mount side. Mine were doing the same thing. I ended up dropping the trackbar on that side and removing the bushings and reapplying white lithium grease all over them, reinstall and tightening to 125 ft lbs. Originally I would over tighten them (150ft lbs) and it would work for a week but the clicking noise kept coming back.

 

OK here we go....

1. Depending on the backspacing of the wheels, the lower end of the sway bar links need to be installed to the inside of the sway bar link mount, they were originally mounted on the outside from the factory. Then make sure the bolt is coming through the mount from the outside, so that the nut is on the inside. Check this first, i bet that is the problem. Even if your axle was shifted you wouldn't get any wear on you tries.


2. The clicking noises you are hearing are more than likely coming from your new tracbar. There is one or two wrong. First thing i would do is take the tracbar off, pull the poly bushing apart, and lubricate it inside and out with some HD axle grease. Some will say white lithium grease is what you should use, for me that never worked that great and my noise continued to come back. You may also add a grease zerk to that end of the bar for ease of lubricating in the future. Now that you have your tracbar greased and put back together, reinstall the tracbar hand tight. With the weight of the Jeep on the ground tighten the tracbar bolts, no less than 125 ft/lbs and more is probably better. I simply used the air impact wrench and ran the nuts up, which is more than enough ft/lbs.

Your wear, click, and pops, should be gone now, and hopefully will not come back!

Hope this helps

 

Let me guess DR in phoenix did the install? And sold you the kit.

Please ask them how adjustable lower control arms has anything to do with a alignment?

And I agree you more than likely need to grease everything and make sure that the sleeves were also installed in the bushings.

 

How did you know Dave..Yeah they did, I took it back yesterday and my trackbars were not centered or tight...I watched the guy tighten them, but he did not center them. He told me he measured them and they were within "an eighth of an inch" of being centered. I measured them and they were off by a half an inch in the front and rear. I am not going to go back to that shop anymore.

I guess I will print the instructions off of the site here and do it my self....probably what I should have done from the get go, thanks for the advice though from everyone. This is really a great website and resource for Jeep owners.

Darin

 

What shop was it? I installed my 4" Superlift. It was not too hard but took me 8 hours and needed a extra set of hands. I had a local shop in Scottsdale ''Whiteys'' do the alignment and it was a little off due to no adjustment for castor- I decided on not installing the cams into the lower arms. I work in Scottsdale and could take a look underneath for ya.