Alignment Questions

[LukeDagny]

I installed a 2" lift and had an alignment done on my JLUR. A picture of the alignment results are below. The only changes made during the alignment was to toe in. After the alignment my Jeep OK, but seemed a little twitchy. It also drifted to the right, if I took my hand off the wheel. After 3-4 car lengths it would head towards the berm of the road. I assumed this was caused by the crown of the road.

After some research and reading multiple threads, I figured I should add more caster. To address the drifting, I should make the passenger side caster slightly greater than the driver's side .

I have adjustable upper front control arms, and assume every revolution of the rod end, making it shorter, will add 1 degree of caster. From the 4.7 degrees measured at the alignment shop, I added 1 degree to the drivers side (5.7) and 1 1/2 degrees to the passenger side (6.2).

The twitchiness is gone, but it pulls to the right as soon as I take my hand off the wheel.

More caster on the passenger side made the pull worse, but this seems to go against everything I've read. Any suggestions before I take it back to the alignment shop?

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[JEEP4U]

If it was mine... I would install a +.5 or .75 camber sleeve in LF..... depending on what the OEM installed. 1/2 degree positive on the passenger side, will make it drift to the right. But it should not pull hard..... road crown could also play a roll.

 

[LukeDagny]

JEEP4U, thanks. I ordered a sleeve, and will post up my results after it's installed. Autozone's website says .5 hours to install. I bet I can do it in 6 hours or less

 

[KDrag]

I don't remember what my camber is at, but whatever tire has the most positive camber is the side it will tend to pull usually.

Caster - with 3.5" lift I run 6.1 degrees caster. When you lift it you need more positive caster. your at 2" (if on Mopar lift closer to 3") with the same caster that these usually run stock at around 4.7-4.8.

Toe: I run 1/8 toe in. I know there is varying opinions on this. I been doing 1/8 since the XJ and TJ days and this is where I typically find the happy spot. it looks like you are around 1/8th now.

 

[LukeDagny]

I don't remember what my camber is at, but whatever tire has the most positive camber is the side it will tend to pull usually.

Caster - with 3.5" lift I run 6.1 degrees caster. When you lift it you need more positive caster. your at 2" (if on Mopar lift closer to 3") with the same caster that these usually run stock at around 4.7-4.8.

Toe: I run 1/8 toe in. I know there is varying opinions on this. I been doing 1/8 since the XJ and TJ days and this is where I typically find the happy spot. it looks like you are around 1/8th now.

Since my right side has less negative camber (more positive), compared to the left, this makes sense to me.

I don't remember my Jeep pulling before I added the lift, but the pull has gotten more noticeable since I added more caster.

I may be using "pull" incorrectly. When I'm driving down the road with the steering wheel straight, my Jeep goes straight. It takes light pressure to keep the wheel straight, but as soon as I take my hand off the wheel, my Jeep heads to the right.

 

[jadmt]

Since my right side has less negative camber (more positive), compared to the left, this makes sense to me.

I don't remember my Jeep pulling before I added the lift, but the pull has gotten more noticeable since I added more caster.

I may be using "pull" incorrectly. When I'm driving down the road with the steering wheel straight, my Jeep goes straight. It takes light pressure to keep the wheel straight, but as soon as I take my hand off the wheel, my Jeep heads to the right.

something super easy to check is swap your front tires side to side.

 

[LukeDagny]

something super easy to check is swap your front tires side to side.

Thanks, I can do that while waiting on the shim.

 

[kah.mun.rah]

Take your steering stabilizer off and see if it still drifts. If the drifting is gone, maybe look at getting a through shaft stabilizer.

 

[LukeDagny]

Take your steering stabilizer off and see if it still drifts. If the drifting is gone, maybe look at getting a through shaft stabilizer.

Thanks, that's another thing I plan to try. I kind of recall reading about issues with certain stabilizers. I replaced the stabilizer as part of the lift installation.

First, I need a way to keep the stabilizer compressed for installation. I cut the compression strap that came with it too soon. It was a PITA getting it installed.

 

[LukeDagny]

Take your steering stabilizer off and see if it still drifts. If the drifting is gone, maybe look at getting a through shaft stabilizer.

WINNER WINNER Chicken dinner. I removed the Rancho RS7 steering damper and reinstalled the OEM damper and the issue went away. The Rancho damper is gas filled, and very hard to compress to get it into position. The OEM is not.

When I installed the lift kit, I broke the cardinal rule and made several changes at once. I installed the damper immediately prior to the alignment, and then adjusted the upper front control arms to add more caster.

My Jeep drives nice now, but I still plan to change the shim on the drivers side ball joint, so camber is equal on both sides, and readings are mid-range of the specs.

 

[damageinc321]

just had

 

[damageinc321]

Just had alignment done after adding drop brackets, i have Mopar lift with additional 3/4" spacer in the front to get it more level. I have adjustable track bars front and rear. It drives totally straight. I went with middle setting which is what they recommend for 3" of lift. Just wondering there are 3 positions for the drop brackets if i did one setting lower or higher what the result would be caster wise and how the drive would feel?

 

[58Willys]

WINNER WINNER Chicken dinner. I removed the Rancho RS7 steering damper and reinstalled the OEM damper and the issue went away. The Rancho damper is gas filled, and very hard to compress to get it into position. The OEM is not.

When I installed the lift kit, I broke the cardinal rule and made several changes at once. I installed the damper immediately prior to the alignment, and then adjusted the upper front control arms to add more caster.

My Jeep drives nice now, but I still plan to change the shim on the drivers side ball joint, so camber is equal on both sides, and readings are mid-range of the specs.

I’ve run several Rancho stabilizers on my F350. They work well but have to be installed exact per the dimensions on the instruction sheet.

 

[MyJlU]

Just had alignment done after adding drop brackets, i have Mopar lift with additional 3/4" spacer in the front to get it more level. I have adjustable track bars front and rear. It drives totally straight. I went with middle setting which is what they recommend for 3" of lift. Just wondering there are 3 positions for the drop brackets if i did one setting lower or higher what the result would be caster wise and how the drive would feel?

What brackets did you use?

 

[damageinc321]

Rancho

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