One side of front axle closer to cab! Axle is twisted front to back!
12-28-2016, 11:04 PM
#1
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
One side of front axle closer to cab! Axle is twisted front to back!
Finally got my Jeep back and was driving it to work tonight and noticed that it wasn't driving the same. When I got to work I got a tape measure and the axle of the axle is closer to the cab than the drivers. 1-3/16" to be exact. Its looks fine left to right, but not front to back. When they replaced the axle, they went ahead and installed new lower control arms. My uppers are adjustable, but not the lower. Can this be fixed by adjusting the caster? I grabbed a hold of the passenger upper control arm and it has slack in it, I also noticed that the coil doesn't seem to be positioned correctly on the pad and the sway bar disconnect is almost touching it. The shop clams they did an front end alignment, but i'm beginning to think otherwise. The steering wheel is centered. I am going to take it back tomorrow and let them realign it, but I know there is some very knowledgeable people on here and i figured I could get more help here on how to adjust it. It is bad enough, that I only drove about 25-30 miles from the shop to work and can already notice the lugs on my tires have extensive wear on the inside where it is tracking sideways.
12-29-2016, 12:46 AM
#2
JK Jedi Master
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Did the shop give you an actual printout of the alignment? If not, ask for one. Or find a shop that will throw it on the rack and print the before specs for free without doing a full alignment.
The control arm has slack in it where? The bolts are loose? Jam nuts not torqued down? Bushings are bad?
Caster is adjusted by rotating the entire housing (raising or lowering the pinion). Making the upper arms longer will rotate the pinion up, which lowers the caster. Making the upper arms shorter will do the opposite, lower the pinion and raise the caster.
But it sounds like you want to move one side of the axle forward/backward? For this, you need both upper and lower adjustable arms.
Since I didn't read whatever post came before this one on why your jeep was in the shop, was it due to damage? An accident where the control arm brackets were bent, which shifted the housing on one side?
The control arm has slack in it where? The bolts are loose? Jam nuts not torqued down? Bushings are bad?
Caster is adjusted by rotating the entire housing (raising or lowering the pinion). Making the upper arms longer will rotate the pinion up, which lowers the caster. Making the upper arms shorter will do the opposite, lower the pinion and raise the caster.
But it sounds like you want to move one side of the axle forward/backward? For this, you need both upper and lower adjustable arms.
Since I didn't read whatever post came before this one on why your jeep was in the shop, was it due to damage? An accident where the control arm brackets were bent, which shifted the housing on one side?
12-29-2016, 01:30 AM
#3
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
Did the shop give you an actual printout of the alignment? If not, ask for one. Or find a shop that will throw it on the rack and print the before specs for free without doing a full alignment.
The control arm has slack in it where? The bolts are loose? Jam nuts not torqued down? Bushings are bad?
Caster is adjusted by rotating the entire housing (raising or lowering the pinion). Making the upper arms longer will rotate the pinion up, which lowers the caster. Making the upper arms shorter will do the opposite, lower the pinion and raise the caster.
But it sounds like you want to move one side of the axle forward/backward? For this, you need both upper and lower adjustable arms.
Since I didn't read whatever post came before this one on why your jeep was in the shop, was it due to damage? An accident where the control arm brackets were bent, which shifted the housing on one side?
The control arm has slack in it where? The bolts are loose? Jam nuts not torqued down? Bushings are bad?
Caster is adjusted by rotating the entire housing (raising or lowering the pinion). Making the upper arms longer will rotate the pinion up, which lowers the caster. Making the upper arms shorter will do the opposite, lower the pinion and raise the caster.
But it sounds like you want to move one side of the axle forward/backward? For this, you need both upper and lower adjustable arms.
Since I didn't read whatever post came before this one on why your jeep was in the shop, was it due to damage? An accident where the control arm brackets were bent, which shifted the housing on one side?
12-29-2016, 01:55 AM
#4
Super Moderator
Alignment is not going to fix your axle placement. Measure the driver's side lower control arm
Bolt to Bolt. Then measure passenger side lover control area bolt to bolt and see if there is a disparity. I realize you said there is an 1 3/16 delta between passenger and driver however we need to find that and control arms is where to start. Before taking the Jeep back we need to have a step by step plan for them.
Hope this makes sense.
R/
Will
Bolt to Bolt. Then measure passenger side lover control area bolt to bolt and see if there is a disparity. I realize you said there is an 1 3/16 delta between passenger and driver however we need to find that and control arms is where to start. Before taking the Jeep back we need to have a step by step plan for them.
Hope this makes sense.
R/
Will
12-29-2016, 09:53 AM
#6
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
I'm already back up there and just now seeing this. They were suppose to check the frame, but they also were suppose to drive it. If they couldn't tell something way wrong, I sure hate to drive their everyday vehicle, because I knew something was wrong within a mile from the shop. Would have taken it back then, but the service dept was already closed.
12-29-2016, 11:59 AM
#7
JK Jedi
Just to clarify, the front axle is new, the lower control arms are new and are not adjustable. That sounds like either a frame issue or frame side lower control arm mount is bent to me. If the lower arms and the front axle are all new, they shouldn't be the issue, and the upper arms aren't going to control the forward/backward position of the axle. Are the lower arms just factory?
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12-29-2016, 12:05 PM
#8
Just to clarify, the front axle is new, the lower control arms are new and are not adjustable. That sounds like either a frame issue or frame side lower control arm mount is bent to me. If the lower arms and the front axle are all new, they shouldn't be the issue, and the upper arms aren't going to control the forward/backward position of the axle. Are the lower arms just factory?
12-29-2016, 02:23 PM
#9
JK Newbie
Thread Starter
Took it back today and the redid the alignment. The track bars was not set right, after three attempts on the alignment rack that have it all squared up now. Still can't figure out why the measurements I took last night showed the axle shifted back. I have to go back tomorrow and they are going to replace the sway bar. It is bent pretty bad. It's only 1/2" from hitting the spring. As of now the alignment is perfect.
12-29-2016, 02:48 PM
#10
JK Jedi
We chaulking this one up to just user error with tape measure? LOL. How did the track bar get so far off? Was that an adjustable TB? Did the shop maybe lengthen that trying to get it connected to the new axle, and then once you drove off it shifted the whole axle way far passenger side? Boy, I'd think if it was that far off it was causing a driving issue, it would have been obvious just by look alone, ie. the axle isn't close to being centered under the jeep.