Help with front end troubles

OK just recently got xj number 5 and it came with a 4.5 RC lift. I swapped out the axles that where in it for my set from my old jeep (30/8.25 29 spline) now nothing was wrong with them when in my old jeep. Now I know I need an alignment (waiting on a new tierod first, mine currently has 2 iffy joints and hopefully will have those today) so my toe needs to be adjusted but at work yesterday I noticed how my wheels look like this
/----\

Now my bud is a mechanic and used to work at an inspection station and he has been helping me with this jeep. We had checked the ball joints before driving it and he said they were tight and would pass inspection. And I know my wheel bearrings are good (have had that problem many times before lol) but I can't figure why my wheels would do that. I have taken apart a dana 30 all the way down to the knuckle and I can't think of anyway there is to adjust this (camber right?) Can a ball joint be tight but bad? It drives me nuts cuz my front end is tight yet seams wrong.

My other question is the driverside will raise or lower 1-1.5 inches when you turn the wheel lock to lock. I'm assuming thats because I probably need a pitman arm drop right? Thanks for your help!

MOOG sells eccentric ball joint kits. To get your camber dialed in right.

And your Draglink should parralel your track bar. Look under there and if it doesn't you MAY need a dropped pittman arm. But in most cases, you don't need it till you start getting into the 5 to 6 inch lift category.

Well it probably doesn't follow my drag link because it has an adaptor instead of an adjustable tracbar (don't worry, I want that changed ASAP, I don't like it/think it's really that safe) If it isn't the pitman arm an idea why it raises/drops?

You may need to adjust the lower control arms to correct the caster. The other possibility is the "c"s could be bent but my money is on caster.

My wheels do this as well, It only happens when I back up which you have done to in the pic here. I've noticed this with several jeeps, some more than others. I haven't worried about it as it hasn't affected anything yet. I usually just pull forward a foot after backing up if I’m going to park to eliminate what ever stress it may cause on the culprit to this negative camber.

i see alot of XJ's that have negative camber like yours. Mine is the same way and doesn't seem to cause any issues. I've done Ball joints, wheel bearings, everything. The only thing I can figure is that the front axle tube might be bent. Mine doesn't seem to wear tire wierd or anyhting so I am not worried about it. I did notice however that it doesn't always look this way so who knows? Maybe it just my tires or maybe my black steelies flex a little bit.

I have this same problem with my dana 30. Mine is a little weird though, sometimes the tires are straight looking from the front like this l----l. Other times and most of the time looking from the front they look like this /----\, well not that bad but noticable. I have checked wheel bearings and ball joints and eveything is tight as can be. Maybe ball joints can go out but still be tight enough to where you cant tell with your hands. Is there any other way to test them besides grabing the tire at the top and bottom and seeing if there is slop?
I would think both of our cases have nothing to do with a bent axle or bent c's seeing as 90XJ's axle was fine on his other Jeep, and mine seems to suddenly fix itself sometimes?
Anyone else have anything simmilar?

mine were like this /---\ after i put on my lift and i thought i did somthing wrong but i got an alignment and it fixed it so on my jeep it was the alignment

what you're seeing is toe, it just looks like camber.

z_lindig said:

what you're seeing is toe, it just looks like camber.

Click to expand...

It looks like he's got a problem with both toe and a little negative camber.

ok well i will see after I do my alignment if it helps. Thanks all for the information, veyr helpful

if you have a lot of caster and the axle is rolled back it will look that way when the tront end is toed-in. It will actually make the tires lean in a little at the top. Also since cherokees have that nice y-link steering setup your toe can change depending on how you are parked, this making it look fine sometimes.