Front End Alignment

[JEEP4U]

After you found and repaired your shimmy issue. If you are going to get it aligned take it to a 4x4 shop that will align your Jeep to your specs...... For improved tire wear and handling on OEM axle shoot for:

Camber: negative .25 degrees both sides
Slight Toe in per spec
Caster: Drivers, positive 5.5, Passenger, positive 6 degrees........ running .5 degree Negative on drivers side with account for road crown.
NOTE: lift height and components will dictate Caster angle; due to front driveshaft configuration and possible vibration.

The engineers of Jeep took extra steps in making the new JL front axles, camber adjustable..... But, only a few ever take advantage of this ability.

l have seen many alignment print outs on this site......and wonder why some of these folks did not get their camber measurement corrected. They obviously have excessive ball joint wear, uneven ride heights or bent something.

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[mgroeger]

Lay under the front and watch the ends of the track bar for lateral movement while someone turns the steering wheel back and forth…it doesn’t take much, and sometimes hard to tell… also look at both ends of tie rod and drag link… take your time and watch carefully. A little bit is a lot….if you grab the tie rod or drag link bars and rotate it, that movement is normal, just so you know…As far as ball joints go, I’ve changed them as early as 8K and seen them go north of 60K….. It’s a crapshoot with these JL BJs …..

@2016XLVIII also hold each joint and feel it while the wheel is being moved. Personally I like to do this with the Jeep OFF and then wrap my hand around the track bar where it meets the frame on the driver's side. If that track bar is starting to wear you will feel movement. Do the same for the other end of the trackbar and for all the joints that you can get your hand around.
Those track bars suck to begin with and fail easy and the steering stabilizers are a joke. Also make sure the nuts on the ball joints are tight. I would highly recommend finding an off-road shop as well that can walk you through everything.
Also IMO 35psi cold is way too much. I run my ties at 28 cold front and 26 cold rear. I would dial yours down to 30 psi.

 

[mgroeger]

After you found and repaired your shimmy issue. If you are going to get it aligned take it to a 4x4 shop that will align your Jeep to your specs...... For improved tire wear and handling on OEM axle shoot for:

Camber: negative .25 degrees both sides
Slight Toe in per spec
Caster: Drivers, positive 5.5, Passenger, positive 6 degrees........ running .5 degree Negative on drivers side with account for road crown.
NOTE: lift height and components will dictate Caster angle; due to front driveshaft configuration and possible vibration.

The engineers of Jeep took extra steps in making the new JL front axles, camber adjustable..... But, only a few ever take advantage of this ability.

l have seen many alignment print outs on this site......and wonder why some of these folks did not get their camber measurement corrected. They obviously have excessive ball joint wear, uneven ride heights or bent something.

This is news to me... camber adjustable? Pics please.

 

[DarthAWM]

Have your front end inspected first.

Toe is adjustable.....Are you going to purchase alignment bushings and pay to have them installed for camber setting adjustment?

Camber is unsettable on a SFA vehicle, Only toe and caster can be adjusted.

 

[Roky]

This is news to me... camber adjustable? Pics please.

Pic on post number 4 this thread

 

[Roky]

Camber is unsettable on a SFA vehicle, Only toe and caster can be adjusted.

Camber can be adjusted with sleeves, but most cookie cutter alignment shops/tire stores aren’t aware, or have that kinda time figured in the regular alignment price…..

 

[mgroeger]

Pic on post number 4 this thread

That's aftermarket though. He made it sound like they come from the factory adjustable, which to my knowledge is not true.

 

[txj2go]

That's aftermarket though. He made it sound like they come from the factory adjustable, which to my knowledge is not true.

Similarly you can't adjust caster from side to side.

 

[mgroeger]

Similarly you can't adjust caster from side to side.

Correct, you need adjustable control arms to do that.

 

[txj2go]

Correct, you need adjustable control arms to do that.

Even with adjustable control arms you get the same camber on both sides. It's a solid axle so if you twist the axle on one end the other end goes along with it. Granted there might be some manufacturing tolerance involved that would prevent both sides from being exactly equal.

 

[SoK66]

Very informative response...thank you very much...

Before you make any alterations to the JT, take it to a qualified alignment shop and see what the settings are, and see if you have any worn out parts that need to be replaced. Factory steering & ball joint bits on the JL/JT models are a bit marginal, better than they were on the JK but not by much. The aftermarket offers some good upgrades in ball joints, drag links, tie rods and control arms. The Mopar 2" kit arms are only 1/4" longer than stock, but that actually can get the caster in a happy place. They use a "dual durometer" style bushing with serrated sleeves that can tolerate greater misalignment from flex than the stock ones.

 

[mgroeger]

Even with adjustable control arms you get the same camber on both sides. It's a solid axle so if you twist the axle on one end the other end goes along with it. Granted there might be some manufacturing tolerance involved that would prevent both sides from being exactly equal.

You need to educate yourself on alignments. You absolutely can have different castor on each side. My friend is an alignment specialist and does it all the time on SFA vehicles.

 

[txj2go]

You need to educate yourself on alignments. You absolutely can have different castor on each side. My friend is an alignment specialist and does it all the time on SFA vehicles.

You can but you won't with a solid axle like in the stock Jeep. You rotate one end of the axle and the other end rotates with it the exact same amount so you adjust caster on one side and it automatically adjusts on the other side. There is no builtin adjustment in the hubs or how the hubs and ball joints attach to the axle tube. I don't know who your friend is but he must have a magic way to twist metal.

 

[4xFUN]

That's aftermarket though. He made it sound like they come from the factory adjustable, which to my knowledge is not true.

The factory does install a camber sleeve based on original design tolerances and specifications. To adjust you do an alignment check/readout, remove the factory camber sleeve which will be stamped with a degree specification and then just replace with whichever degree sleeve is appropriate.

 

[Upnarms]

Don't screw with anything except checking your tires for balance, check your alignment (toe, nothing else is adjustable from factory set up) and get yourself a real track bar. You can replace the steering stabilizer with a good one while you are at it for good measure. This is real common (the shimmy) and the factory track bar is barely sufficient for 33s. Get a heavy duty one with a hard bushing like the steer smarts yeti with pro bushing. Death wobble will soon follow if you dont. Id bet $$$ your ball joints are fine and longer lower control arms are not necessary.
If you aren't rotating and balancing your tires at least every 5k minimum, you need to. And all terrain or mud terrains will usually start to be prone shimmy as they get over 20k miles depending on brand and how you cared for them and if you are running the factory trackbar. My ko2s started getting dw with factory set up at 23k miles.

Just search death wobble threads from jeep TJs JKs and JLs and you'll find a common issue is weak trackbars in these jeeps or the trackbar being a big factor in dw. They beefed it up a little on the jl, but compare it to the hd aftermarket ones and it's a joke.

If your jeep is factory though, it's tires, alignment, trackbar, steering stabilizer in my experience mostly in that order to check. And they are great upgrades to do anyway with very little labor involved. You start messing wth ball joints, control arms, etc you are skipping the easiest and most common causes and opening Pandoras box

Others may disagree, this is just what I've found from owning jeeps for 20+ years.

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