what will the shop do during an alignment?

I'm taking the jeep in tomorrow for an alignment at Sears. I have about 6" of lift in front and adj. upper and lower control arms and adjustable track bar. I know that they will adjust the toe and caster, but do they mess with the control arms at all? I hope they do, cause I may be off by a turn or two. Also, about how long does it take usually for a decent alignment? Thanks.

-Keith

Anytime you go into sears with a non-stock suspension be prepared to have it take longer. The automated system won't be pointing to things that are now adjustable and were not on stock. If you have the manual or directions for your lift I would take that with you. Also be prepared, Sears might not want to touch it...you might have to take it to a REAL alignment shop....

more than likely they will just do the toe and align the steering wheel. save the $$ and get out there with a tape measure and do it yourself. with 6" of lift you will be lucky to get near the castor spec without DL vibes.

I already have the toe set good, and the caster seems to be just about as good as I can get. It's just pulling a little, to the left I think. Plus I have DW from time to time for no apparent reason. (meaning, I didn't hit a bump or anything)

DW - install a steering damper and make sure your tires are balanced and not POS tires. Mine went away just going to BFG MTs, but I still plan on running a dampener as soon as I remember to get around to ordering it.

Caster - gotta mess w/ the control arms.

The shop will most likely only do toe in and that is all. How do you know you have the best caster? You cant tell by just seeing if it pulls one way or the other. Check my write up on it and work from there. As the replies above say, at that height you will have to compromise between the best caster and stopping vibes from your front uni with too much pinion angle.

http://go.jeep-xj.info

Personally, I would take your Jeep to a shop that specialized in trucks and SUVs. I've had nothing but problems with Sears and other stores. I remember when I went to get an alignment done at Sears after lifting my XJ 3" and they completely disregarded the caster and camber sweep.

Even if it is a little out of they way, I would recommend going to someone who actually works with modified Jeeps. I'm not much of a mechanic myself, so I find it easier on the nerves going to people who have experience with lifted trucks and SUVs.

Bryan

I don't know of any shops that will do more than set the toe. just not worth thier time to set caster that probably would cause Driveline vibs if they set it to stock.


alerady been said set the toe, roll caster in until you get vibs from the front then back it off a bit

You should really take it to a real alignment shop, when I did my lift I installed adjustable control arms at the same time, but nothing at all came with instructions so my caster was WAY off, the steering wouldn't recover after turns at all, it was not good, but I took it to a really good alignment shop and explained to them what I had changed and they took care of it, it did cost a bit more than a regular alignment and took quite a bit longer but they centered my steering wheel and everything it was well worth it, I have no DW and great wear on my tires.