[sdowney717]

The tires are large 255 55r18 on 18 inch rims
the position of the tire is too far forward and on turns will rub the lower fender by the bumper.
The tire on the driver side is properly positioned
What I need is the differential on the passenger side to move back a good half inch.
Is there a shim that can be put in place to move the differential mounting point further back?

[xjfever]

There is an adjustment at the back of the lower control arms for adjusting caster. Have you lifted the jeep and changed the control arms? A front end alignment should get the problem fixed.

[sdowney717]

yes I know about the adjustment on the lower control arm. Loosen the bolt and turn it in and out.
Do the bushings on the lower control arms wear out? I thought about replacing them.
What is the shim I saw at the top on the differential?

[xjfever]

Yes, the bushing will deffinately wear out. I am unsure of the shim you are asking about though. The tires should be an equal distance from the front bumper, unless the jeep has been hit or something was changed.

[sdowney717]

there is some shim I saw, tomorrow I will take a better look at it.
I just bought this cherokee and I like it.
Mine is charcoal gold color. Carfax did not list any accidents and I have had it apart to work on the universal joints and everything underneath looks great.

Just this tire too close to the bumper. It rubs badly when backing up not on moving forward.

This jeep has 185,000 miles and the only real mechanical issue is a slight shudder in the transmission when starting up from stop in first gear. The dealer part man sold me friction modifier and said put it in the 42re trans to see if the shudder stops. It is supposed to swell the fibers on the plates and give better grip?

[sdowney717]

you are right there is no shim.
I called an alignment shop and he claimed all you can do is adjust castor and both sides are adjusted together. He suggested the frame could be bent.

So, what should I do, pull the control arms and look for loose bushings?
measure the frame somehow?
everything underneath looks very good, no visible repairs were done that I can tell. I removed the front bumper to get a good look at everything. I know that it is not just the bumper position since the rear of the wheel is closer to the backside of the fender on the passenger side than on the driver side of the car.
Any ideas?

[sdowney717]

I got under and measured all sorts of measurements from the control arm mounting bolt location on the rear axle up to various front components. It is basically a little shorter on the passenger side?? with the wheels off the front and the suspension hanging in the air.
It makes me wonder if the control arm bushings are worn out and allowing a lot of movement of the front axle on the passenger side. I will have to pull upper and lower and check out the bushings.
If the bushings are good then the only other option for me would be to shorten both control arms a half inch but I really dont want to do that! I can weld but I should not have to do this.

How to self align your jeep

http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoAlignment.htm
"Just a little note for Australian owners or any RHD ones, if you have trouble of it always pulling left following the camber of the road, check your wheel base left to right and you will find that the left side is 10 mm shorter than the right! This is so it will run straight on USA or on the right side of the road which of course is the opposite of what we want. I had to add an extra 10 mm shim to the left side LCA and also remove the UCA, weld up the diff end holes of it and re-drill them 10 mm forward so that my wheel base is the same left to right. It still follows a steeply cambered road a small amount but on freeways it is perfect. To follow the Jeep logic for this you would need to extend a further 10 mm to have the same as their stock setup! My tires now wear nice and evenly too."

I noticed he says the left side wheel base is shorter by 10mm than the right side. So it is not exactly the same.
Anyone can you verify this?

Update,
I replaced the lower bushings with ones from autozone, 7.99 a piece
before replacing them I discovered the front right side had indeed been hit, but the damage was repaired so well it was difficult to spot.
The lower radiator support was actually bent inwards and the front mounting bolt had the metal pulled thru it. I removed the bolt and carefully with a torch moved the metal back into its proper position for the bolt hole.
I then took a 12 ton jack and placed the pushing end on this radiator support and blocked the other end with a 2by4 against the steering knuckle and forced it back into position.
This really put a lot of pressure on the support and it did move it to where it matched the other side appearance wise. It would have been better to have pushed without involving a slight upwards angle as it wanted to push up as well as out, but it worked ok.

the axle position is improved by about 1/2 inch. I decided to cut 1/2 inch off the lower inner rubber bumper where the tire rubbed on a turn (only when backing) and the problem is completely solved. If the jeep had standard sized tires, they would never have rubbed, or if it was lifted it would never have rubbed. The wheels match against the backside of the fender perfectly on both sides so I am very happy with it.

To replace these bushings you slam out the old ones with a sledge hammer while fully supporting the control arm around the bushing. My support was an oxygen bottle top from my torch setup. Use PB Blaster to soak the old bushings and they will slide out.

To install
I greased the new ones.
be careful to line them up as they are going in as they may go crooked as they are being driven
you will need a large pipe or scoket to hit only the metal edge, you cant hit the rubber and expect this to move into the arm!
you can use a plier or light hammer to fully seat them all the way into the control arm.

I did notice one of the old bushings appeared to be ripped and off center, It may well have been an offset bushing.
The new ones are really nice quality.