quick help

i'm trying to get my jeep to pass inspection tomorrow, and i have one issue left to deal with. i've got about 6" of lift with rusty's bolt long arm conversion (which i love) and rusty's track bar and steering conversion (which i hate and will soon be discarded). anyway, for some reason, i have rubbing on the drivers side lca, but not on the passsenger's. i've got 4.5" backspacing, and have done an at home alignment to the best of my ability. also, i have set my toe-in to zero. WTF is causing the rub on just one arm? nothing seems to be bent or loose.
would adjusting the track bar to one side or the other have any effect whatsoever? confused. thanks.

Yes, the track bar could affect this. Let's assume that the stock alignment has the control arms running straight ahead, parallel to the vehicle centerline. With zero toe-in, the front tires will also be parallel to the vehicle centerline. Unless one control arm is mounted a different distance from the knuckle than the other side, everything is symmetrical.

Now assume that for some reason (lift, incorrectly adjusted adjustable track bar, whatever) the front axle is off-center relative to the chassis, to the left (driver's side)

What's the configuration now? Looking down from above, the axle ends of the control arms are shifted to the left, and the frame ends are obviously where they were before. So now the control arms aren't parallel to the vehicle centerline, they point forward and left and an angle. They also are no longer parallel to the tires when going straight. The trailing edge of the left tire is now farther away from the LCA than it should be, and the trailing edge of the passenger side tire is closer to the LCA than it should be.

thanks eagle, that was an excellent description of the question i asked. but i think i may need to update the situation a bit.

first, i had done a temp alignment to see if that would satisfy the situation. nope. i made a makeshift plumb bob out of fishing line and sinker to check if my axle was centered beneath the vehicle and therefore to check the centerline of the vehicle compared to the lca's. as it turned out, the axle was shifted to the drivers side approximately 1 inch. this being so, wouldn't it make more sense fot the passenger side lca to be rubbing? my problem is just the drivers side lca.

next, i overcompensated the track bar adjustment 1" (it was correctly adjusted when it was parked but shifted even further to the passenger side after driving it around the block), and its still the drivers side lca giving me problems. i did another quick alignment, with no results (except looser steering due to the lengthening of the drag link i'm assuming).

beside the fact that my track bar is a PIA that allows for no flex and rubs the axle mount constantly (even with the heavy duty drop bracket), i can think of nothing that would cause this. i'm at a loss.

more info: running 4.5" backspacing, 33x12.5 mtrs.

i have 3/4" wheel spacers for my 8.8 rear, but would rather not use them on the dana 30 unless absolutely necessary....meaning its a last resort to get my inspection before my court date in December.

has anyone ever welded some sort of spacer to the wheel itself?

also, if accepts paypal, i'm sending my membership tonight. i love this board.

Shim the steering stops.

I don't have a pic, but someone posted one in a similar thread a few months back. Basically, lie on the ground in front of the truck and look at the steering knuckle. Toward the front of it you should see a bolt sticking out with a lock nut on it, that initially appears to serve no function. Look at it with the wheels turned and you'll see it is supposed to hit a protruding bit on the axle, to limit the turning radius.

The lock nut is tack welded to the bolt. Remove the bolt and stick a flat washer or two under the lock nut, then tighten it down again. Do both sides even if you don't need to so it'll look symmetrical to the inspector. You can always remove the shims after the inspection -- or leave them there if you don't like the rubbng.

i love simple fixes like that. thanks again eagle.