[dequity]

Originally Posted by Jerry Bransford

Should we take that to mean you didn't bother reading the thread before asking this?

Sorry about the double post. Having internet issues with this air card.

I have read this thread. And am glad the OP took the time to write it. Jerry I'd say you have a LOT of experience working on jeeps. I don't. So when he breifly mentions to simply adjust the fluax capacitor I don't really know what he is talking about.

This must be an easy thing to do as it is the last thing my mechanics do to either of teh corvettes before we go road racing. But with the economy hitting my business rather hard I'd like to take the time and learn how to do some of this easy stuff myself.

[Jerry Bransford]

Originally Posted by dequity

So when he breifly mentions to simply adjust the fluax capacitor I don't really know what he is talking about.

This must be an easy thing to do as it is the last thing my mechanics do to either of teh corvettes before we go road racing. But with the economy hitting my business rather hard I'd like to take the time and learn how to do some of this easy stuff myself.

Ah ok, no problem.

Find the "Drag Link" in the below photo. On it, you'll find an adjustment sleeve held in place by two nuts and bolts, use a 3/4" wrench to loosen them. Turn that link to shorten or lengthen the drag link which will rotate the steering wheel left or right as needed until it is straight. It may take several attempts to get the wheel perfectl centered, driving it on a straight road each time to check your progress. Tighten the two nuts and bolts securely afterwards and you're done. This will not affect the rest of your front end's alignment.

[Alexia]

Originally Posted by flatlander757

I'd say check your toe-in first and rotate tires frequently. Normally when a balljoint wears the tire will tilt inwards(negative camber).

I suppose it's possible to bend an axle goofy upwards, but the chances of that are pretty slim IMO.

The excessive wear on the outside can be caused by a lot of toe combined with lots of city driving/turning. When you go around corners the outside of the tire will grip more as weight is transfered to the outside front wheel.

What kind of tires? How long since rotated?

I rotated my Swampers every 3k miles and with 22k miles on them they wore real evenly and still have about 8k miles of good usable tread life left.

I have checked the axle, it appears to straight.

I have only put 3,000 miles on the vehicles since I bought it. I should be getting new tires this coming week end. The uneven wear has destroyed the previous owner's selection of tires.(Four different brands of tires and five different ones.)

[Mike05TJ]

flatlander757 I haven't been a member here long and just saw this post. Saved me a trip to get my alignment adjusted. By the way a little of topic but where do you work in VA Beach? In case I can't do something after reading this thread. Great Post.

[flatlander757]

Originally Posted by Alexia

I have checked the axle, it appears to straight.

I have only put 3,000 miles on the vehicles since I bought it. I should be getting new tires this coming week end. The uneven wear has destroyed the previous owner's selection of tires.(Four different brands of tires and five different ones.)

I'd say get a tape measure and a friend to help you set toe when you get the new tires and report back what the before measurement was. Correct it to 1/16 to 1/8" difference front-to-back of the front tires and hope for the best.

If you set your toe going by the centers of the tires(not the fancy square tubing with wheels off setup that Jerry and MrBlaine use), make sure you check the difference in multiple spots after you set it. Get an "average" if you will to ensure accuracy.

Originally Posted by Mike05TJ

flatlander757 I haven't been a member here long and just saw this post. Saved me a trip to get my alignment adjusted. By the way a little of topic but where do you work in VA Beach? In case I can't do something after reading this thread. Great Post.

I'm at the big used vehicle store(hinty hint hint). Shoot me a PM if you ever need any help w/ anything Jeep related. I've got a ton of tools and stuff. I could always use a hand moving my D60 and D70 around as well. 500-600lbs isn't easy to heave into place alone

[Mike05TJ]

Originally Posted by flatlander757

I'm at the VB Carmax store. Shoot me a PM if you ever need any help w/ anything Jeep related. I've got a ton of tools and stuff. I could always use a hand moving my D60 and D70 around as well. 500-600lbs isn't easy to heave into place alone

No problem man I'll get a hold of you. I'll grab some beer before hand. I can't move anything on an empty stomach.

[triker]

I have an 04 tj with pull to the left. checked presures on tires and tried rotating NO HELP. Had alignment shop check it out and replace front worn track bar they found was bad STILL NO HELP. Read a thread on here the other day that was pointing to UCA or LCA front or rear. Inspected without help (dont know if thers is any play) but did find that the bushings apear to be dry rotted and no damage to any components. Also measured wheel base and found drivers side at 94 inches and pass at 93 dont know if that indicates anything. Wondering if you or anyone has any ideas on what I can do to fix this. GREAT ARTICAL ALSO

[J-Mox]

Ok I got one for ya. I had my Jeep aligned recently after getting new tires and just to have it checked since it's been awhile. Now this is a reputable shop and they have done lots of work for me and never done me wrong but here's what he came at me with.... " the front was fine other than the toe being out quite a bit but it's the rear that has me worried. It shows the tires to be leaning like this \--o--\ and it needs some work or you'll get bad tire wear on the outside of one and the inside of the other." Now this is a straight axle I say and how can that be and how do you plan to adjust this? "Well theres a shim we can put behind the backing plate to change this to meet specs" This is a Dana 35 so I'm not going to put any money in it but how can this be and I see no way to change the tilt of a rear tire when there are bearings on the end of the axle shafts. Is this correct or not?? Like I said I don't plan on putting money into it but I don't see how this scenario is possible.

[flatlander757]

Originally Posted by triker

I have an 04 tj with pull to the left. checked presures on tires and tried rotating NO HELP. Had alignment shop check it out and replace front worn track bar they found was bad STILL NO HELP. Read a thread on here the other day that was pointing to UCA or LCA front or rear. Inspected without help (dont know if thers is any play) but did find that the bushings apear to be dry rotted and no damage to any components. Also measured wheel base and found drivers side at 94 inches and pass at 93 dont know if that indicates anything. Wondering if you or anyone has any ideas on what I can do to fix this. GREAT ARTICAL ALSO

Sounds like you did some homework and I'd say you're headed in the right direction at looking for the UCA/LCA bushings. I'd focus on the front bushings, likely on the driver side.

Accurate wheelbase measuring is kind of hard with tires on the vehicle, having the wheels just slightly off-center can make one side look bigger than the other.

Now the dry-rotted bushings... are they like that on only one side?

Can you post the alignment specs?

Originally Posted by J-Mox

Ok I got one for ya. I had my Jeep aligned recently after getting new tires and just to have it checked since it's been awhile. Now this is a reputable shop and they have done lots of work for me and never done me wrong but here's what he came at me with.... " the front was fine other than the toe being out quite a bit but it's the rear that has me worried. It shows the tires to be leaning like this \--o--\ and it needs some work or you'll get bad tire wear on the outside of one and the inside of the other." Now this is a straight axle I say and how can that be and how do you plan to adjust this? "Well theres a shim we can put behind the backing plate to change this to meet specs" This is a Dana 35 so I'm not going to put any money in it but how can this be and I see no way to change the tilt of a rear tire when there are bearings on the end of the axle shafts. Is this correct or not?? Like I said I don't plan on putting money into it but I don't see how this scenario is possible.

I'd have to see numbers to see how bad it really is. Did he give you the print out?

Honestly when it comes to camber, you should be able to eye-ball it pretty close to +/- 1.0 degrees of 0. If it physically looks straight up and down, chances are it's within 0.5 degrees of 0 on each wheel.

I wouldn't hesitate to assume they were trying to make a quick buck on a BS labor and part charge. It's easy to fool the machine by not having the rack dropped onto it's locks, or even individually messing with the alignment heads(ie: pushing in on the top of one and bottom of the opposite head) to throw the camber reading off.

You're correct in saying there is no way to tilt the wheel mounting surface in relation to the axle. This is done on a lot of FWD cars with a "solid-like" rear suspension assembly. Such as found on older Jettas, Neons, PT Cruisers, Caravans, Cobalts, etc etc. Angled shims are used for toe and camber adjustments on those cars if they're way out of spec. Had a 2002ish Jetta the other day that had +0.22 toe in in the LR, and -0.87 toe out in the RR Of course the customer chose the cheap route in buying shims as opposed to getting the entire solid "member" for the rear.

In a nutshell whoever told you about the shims for a solid rear axle doesn't know their a** from their elbows.

Did they try to quote you parts and labor for that? I'd try and put their asses out of business.

[triker]

Just seems to be the LCA bushings that are dry rotted. And here are the alignment specs left caster is 6 9/16 deg , right caster is 6 5/16 deg , left front camber is -1/2 deg , right front camber is 1/8 deg , left front toe is 5/16" , right front toe is -1/32" , total toe is 9/32" , left rear camber is -19/32 deg , right rear camber is -9/32 deg , left rear toe is 3/32" , right rear toe is 1/8" , and thrust angle is -1/32 deg

[CCJ]

Flatlander, I was under the impression that when upgrading past a 31" tire... Say a 33 that you need to have toe slightly less then factory spec. (IE: +9 per tire = combined +18 rather then +30 like factory spec calls for) Is this true?

[Unlimited04]

wow great thread, nice job flatlander. thanks a bunch.

I just read the whole thing, but i'm still confused on some things.

I'm installing a 2.5" OME soon:
1. Caster will be off a little, but I can't afford adjustable UCA's right now, so theres nothing I can do.
2. my front tires are cupping, so i've already got excessive toe in.
3. when doing a DIY alignment to set the toe in after the lift, what do I use to measure in 1/32nd of an inch? I can't imagine a tape measure is accurate enough, or is it? I read the write up on 4x4xplor, but I've seen another method using rods attached to the wheels to measure toe. Any comments about this?

When you measure the toe front to back using either the tire as on 4x4xplor, or the tube/rod method, what type of difference should I be looking for front to back? Is a tape measure actually accurate enough for this?

Another question - is there any benefits/negatives to running excessive caster with larger tires? like 7* with 35s? or 7* with 33s? (Ignoring pinion angle) Will this make the jeep more stable on the highway, or any other benefits/negatives?

[Unlimited04]

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[Unlimited04]

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[Unlimited04]

Originally Posted by Unlimited04

wow great thread, nice job flatlander. thanks a bunch.

I just read the whole thing, but i'm still confused on some things.

I'm installing a 2.5" OME soon:
1. Caster will be off a little, but I can't afford adjustable UCA's right now, so theres nothing I can do.
2. my front tires are cupping, so i've already got excessive toe in.
3. when doing a DIY alignment to set the toe in after the lift, what do I use to measure in 1/32nd of an inch? I can't imagine a tape measure is accurate enough, or is it? I read the write up on 4x4xplor, but I've seen another method using rods attached to the wheels to measure toe. Any comments about this?

When you measure the toe front to back using either the tire as on 4x4xplor, or the tube/rod method, what type of difference should I be looking for front to back? Is a tape measure actually accurate enough for this?

Another question - is there any benefits/negatives to running excessive caster with larger tires? like 7* with 35s? or 7* with 33s? (Ignoring pinion angle) Will this make the jeep more stable on the highway, or any other benefits/negatives?

hey flatlander...back to top