New Ball Joints AND Camber Adjustment...

[4xFUN]

Hi All, I am very happy overall with how my JLR drives and handles...After heavily modding the suspension and steering: Mopar lift, Teraflex control arms all the way around, Steer Smarts trackbar, draglink and Rubi-length tie rod, Teraflex rear trackbar bracket and Rancho rear adjustable trackbar, Rancho front trackbar/frame support, Fox 2.0 TS stabilizer and of course the new iron steering gear.

However, my passenger side front camber has been off from day one (we are told adjustment not possible...) so I just compensated best possible by bumping up caster on passenger side. Now, at just 9000 miles I am getting that 'not right' feeling in the steering wheel at times when hitting certain potholes or bumps on the driver side and pretty damm sure it is an early sign of ball joint failure. I have been researching replacement ball joints and found Spicer has an HD joint that is all steel-what moron thought plastic was a good idea in a Jeep balljoint?? MOOG is supposably working on an adjustable JL balljoint and I found an HD Dynatrac Pro Balljoint Kit that looks really solid!
Leaning towards the HD Dynatrac's with camber adjustment sleeves below...

I found these camber adjustment sleeves from a company called Speciality Products, they offer them in 6 sizes for camber correction and they just replace the factory taper sleeve in the bottom of the upper ball joint/knuckle.

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[AnnDee4444]

More info: https://www.spcalignment.com/compon...angler&year=2019 - 2019&from=USAFrom&to=USATo

Most JL’s are coming off the line with a +.25° sleeve, which means, for example, if you need .5° more camber and have a factory +.25° sleeve you will want to use the +.75° sleeve (p/n 23403) to get in spec.

 

[D60]

I used to eye those for TTB (that's Ford's Totally Twisted & Broke) ....problem I always saw was at least the ones I was looking at...they travel like a Weeble....ya know they wobble but they don't fall down...so if you spin it to dial in camber you're also forcing the BJ stud fore/aft and changing caster.

BUT if those are only meant to go in one position, ok.

They also used to sell angled shims that would go between the spindle and knuckle on old school D44's....not sure if this could be accomplished with a unit bearing but I'd think so.

Let us know what you do!

 

[D60]

Just to be sure I'm not entirely mad I googled the spindle shims I was thinking of, found a decent write-up here:
https://www.jeepfan.com/projects/castor-camber-shims-install/

However in thinking about how a unit bearing is such a snug fit in the hubcentric hole of the knuckle, I don't think you could ever successfully get one to sit cocked in there.

Honestly if your camber is screwed up FCA owes you a new axle housing.

 

[4xFUN]

Just to be sure I'm not entirely mad I googled the spindle shims I was thinking of, found a decent write-up here:
https://www.jeepfan.com/projects/castor-camber-shims-install/

However in thinking about how a unit bearing is such a snug fit in the hubcentric hole of the knuckle, I don't think you could ever successfully get one to sit cocked in there.

Honestly if your camber is screwed up FCA owes you a new axle housing.

Actually these camber adjustment sleeves from Speciality Products look like a perfectly acceptable solution for adjusting camber. Our JL's already come from the factory with sleeves, these just replace the factory sleeves but with a choice of six sleeves in 1/4 degree increments from 0 to 1.25 degrees.

The link that AnnDee4444 posted above takes you to an excellent install video that explains and shows everything in detail.

 

[Sheepjeep]

Check all the joints in your steering and suspension, it could be signs that a joint is wearing out or that something has come loose, do this before throwing random expensive parts at a problem like ray charles playing darts

 

[4xFUN]

Check all the joints in your steering and suspension, it could be signs that a joint is wearing out or that something has come loose, do this before throwing random expensive parts at a problem like ray charles playing darts

All is tight and correct, I have done all suspension mods/upgrades myself and I am way OCD...Mopar lift, 8 Teraflex IR arms, Steer Smarts trackbar, drag link and Rubi-length tie rod, Teraflex rear trackbar bracket, Rancho adjustable rear trackbar, Rancho front trackbar/frame support and the new iron steering gear. Camber was off from day one but compensated by bumping the caster on the passenger side-would just be nice to properly adjust it. My JLR rides and drives great...but I can tell something is not quite right on the driver side and 90%+ it is in the ball joints...Tires balance out nicely and with the 8.5" wide rims, I am now running 33psi cold (up from 31psi on stock rims) and feel that is the ideal psi for these load range C 35" KO2's.

Prior to starting my present company, I spent many years in the automotive service industry, first with Chrysler and then Mercedes dealerships. Worked as line tech, shop foreman and then service director. This past life has been a blessing (and a curse) during my JL upgrade/mod journey

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