I recently broke a front axle on the trail, so took the "opportunity' to upgrade to USAlloy front axles w/CTM ujoints (Northridge special!). I had it aligned and got the wheels balanced at the same time.

The jeep seems to drive "heavier" now, so my question is: are the chromoly's + CTM joints heavier than stock? Would they feel heavier? If elves had swapped them out in the night, would I have even noticed? If not, any ideas what it might be? It feels different at slow (parking lot) speeds, and on the highway.

 

Yeah. You'll notice you won't break any more axles.

 

 

if the caster was adjusted you may get a heavier 'feel"....not from axles.

 

Sometimes I just don't get your humor. This is not one of those times!

 

The axles will no create anymore rolling resistance not sure what it could be.

David

 

It has to be a change in the alignment. Do you have before and after measurements of what your toe was set to? If you didnt have enough toe-in before, or even toe-out, the slightest steering wheel adjustments can cause it to feel "darty" and it would also have more of a tendency to follow the grade of the road and ruts. Maybe this was actually corrected, and now feels "heavier?" Its the only thing I can think of...

 

Thanks, everyone (including the wisecrackers )
I'll check the alignment printout when I get home. I'm sure it lists the toe-in, etc. I hope it also lists the castor.

The shop that did the alignment/balance is very competent, but doesn't have a lot of experience w/lifted rigs. He does mostly passenger cars, so maybe he set the castor wrong. I saw another thread tonight where someone was told to put it to 5-6 degrees.

 

 

I've got mine set at 6.2*. Much more than that and MY front springs begin to bow a bit.
Much like everything else in life it's a compromise but the Jeep handles great.
The compromise is the angle it puts on the front drive shaft CV joint at the T-case.