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Offset balljoints?

L

LBJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
south jersey
I have an 87 XJ with a 3.5 RE superflex kit. After the lift was installed a couple of friends have mentioned my camber looks way off. One of my lower ball joints is now worn out so I'm going to replace all. My question is do I need offset ball joints to compensate for the lift or maybe adjustable upper control arms to bring the caster back? What should my caster, camber and toe settings be with the lift kit? Should they be different from the stock settings? I did a similiar kit on my MJ and wore out the tires in 25k hopefully can avoid it on the XJ. Sorry for the long post but the alignment guys around here are clueless.
 
If your ball joints are shot, there's no way of knowing if you need offset ball joints until you replace the stock ones so you can get a reading.

Camber with a lift should be the same as without a lift -- essentially, zero.

Caster should be adjusted to as close as possible to stock specs, but you have to watch the front pinion/driveshaft angle, because changing the caster affects the u-joint operating angle. Find a link to GoJeep's personal web site and read his article on alignment.
 
The Shop I work at works directly with a Dana Supplier. We have recieved many a bulletins on not using offset ball joints on Dana Solid axles, they say that it will mess up other parts of the axles, if you need off set ball joints something else isnt right, i.e. Bad ball joints, bad unit bearings, bad toe in, bent axle, etc. There axles aren't designed to use offset balljoints.
 
Get new ball-joints, normal ones....as for exessive tire wear after a lift kit, you need to have an alignment done every time you change the frontend ride hight.
 
Eagle said:
If your ball joints are shot, there's no way of knowing if you need offset ball joints until you replace the stock ones so you can get a reading.

Camber with a lift should be the same as without a lift -- essentially, zero.
Click to expand...

Today I took my '99XJ for wheel alignment. The mechanic told me that the right wheel camber was off, because the previous owner replaced the stock upper ball joint with an adjustable one.
He recomended that I replaced it with a stock part to restore the camber.
The Jeep doesn't look like it had ever been lifted or the front modified in any way.
Why would anybody install an adjustable ball joint and screw up the camber?
What can somebody gain by changing the camber?
 
What are the alignment specs? Sometimes an axle is either bent, or slightly out of spec and the factory may use an offset balljoint to get it within spec rather than scrap the axle.
 
Eagle said:
What are the alignment specs? Sometimes an axle is either bent, or slightly out of spec and the factory may use an offset balljoint to get it within spec rather than scrap the axle.
Click to expand...

I was told that with the adjustable ball joint, it is off by .9 degrees and that I need to replace it with a standard.
You think that it was a factory installation? Looks like the ones sold by NAPA.
Is .9 unacceptable? If it is I'll replace it. If not, I'll leave it alone, it seems to be OK.
 
i would guess that if .9 is acceptable then there wouldn't be a replacement that changes camber by .9 degree. I used to work at a Dana assembly plant and I can testify that if an axle was out of spec and the tubes couldn't be pulled and re pressed to get angles correct it was scrapped. They had no quams about scrapping a bad axle. They wouldn't even build an axle if the tubes were pressed more than twice, if it didn't fix on the first attempt it was gone. When we built fronts there was never any type of ball joint installed other than standard centered ball joints. I have noticed that on my d30 it looks like the inner knuckles are bent so that the tires lean in at the top. I don't think there really is a fix other than a new axle.
 
Then I am going to have to replace this balljoint and hope that a standard part will fix my problem. If that doesn't work, I guess I'm in trouble.
I wonder if there is a way to check the axle for a possible bend.
The mechanic said that a standard ball joint will correct it.
Unless he got it wrong and what I need is an adjustable with more adjustment.
 
so what your saying is that my axle is bent ? btw the bearings are fine. or do you think offset bjoints are just how some shops can try to extract that extra thousand dollars? i took my jeep in with 'brand new' bjoints that i'd installed myself and they said cambers off 'on that side'.....
 
I'm having the same problem only on my Jeep. I have a 4.5" RE lift. My right front tire is positive camber out and the other is straight up and down \\---|| and I believe it's also toe in a little one the right side after some hard wheeling. As a result I have to turn the stearing wheel about 25 degrees right to drive straight. Is it possible that have worn out the ball joints on the right side or more likely that I blew the right front wheel bearing. Or something worse like I bent the axle???

I had Checker check the alignment and they said I needed a bigger drop pitman arm so that they would have enough threads on the end of the tie rod to adjust the camber. I told them that was wrong because that would only correct toe-in or toe-out. and it has no effect on camber. Am I right here?
 
Last edited:
i have an '87 cherokee with the vaccum disconnect front axle, and when viewing it down the drive way from the front it looks like this:

//-----\\ , at first i was like how? what? did that happen....

then i jacked up the front end, took off the wheels, then leveled up the axle using an angle finder, then i went to the wheel mounting surface (disk brake) , and placed a large carpenders square right up against it and then placed the angle finder on it to find out the camber.....and to my find fear it was off by SEVERAL degrees, yea and very noticable....needless to say i was a bit pisses and then trashed that axle for another i had that was non-vaccum disconnect and had 4;10 gears in it, while removing the old axle i noticed that the inner knuckle was bent inward at the top, but never the less if u own a jeep u are certain to be working on it just as well...
 
Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but how difficult is it to replace balljoints? I fear that mine are shot, and I need to replace them as soon as possible. If it's going to require too many special tools, would it be wiser to take it to a mechanic?
 
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