Alignment Question

Ok so I have done alignment's at home and sent some to a shop. I never done one on a xj but my 92 xj with the 4.0 and 4in lift and 33s needs a alignment bad. With the steering wheel straight one or the other tire is straight and the other is toed way out. The kid I bought the jeep from put the lift on it and never did anything else after that. I dont have a death wobble just takes a few miles to get use to it. I am suppose to go on a trip this weekend and need to drive it and want to get it fixed like tomorrow. I could do it on my old bronco I had cause I had custom built the tie rood and drag link so it was easy just not to sure and dont want to mess it up.

If youve done toe in before its still the same on an XJ . use the search function there are alot of XJ alignment threads and some really good ones. basically to set toe, first measure, determine if the tie rod needs to come in or out, then adjust tie rod in or out until you get it where you want it, I usually shoot for like 1/32-1/16" toed in(tough to get crazy accurate with a tape measure sometimes) . Then, if you have adjustable uppers, and lowers, you can dial in your caster if you havent already. I am sure the toe in will get you there.


to center the steering wheel, loosen drag link sleeve, key in the ignition, and unbolt drag link TRE from the pitman arm, turn wheel lock to lock to find center with the drag link disconnected. center the wheel the best you can. now adjust out the drag link and install. to dial it in, now you can make small adjustments at the drag link sleeve in or out to dial in the centered steering wheel. may take a little time. dont forget to torque sleeve and tee castle nut to spec

Ok cool. Thanks for the info. Ill see what I can do one it today

Well not sure how it happen but it was out 2in on one side. Got it as good as I could so I hope this fixes it haha now just need to fix my leaking steering box. Anyone know how hard it is to replace the pitman arm seal on the box?

Ok so something is wrong. I have done the alignment on the jeep 4 times now. Every thing is brand new under the front of it and I get it perfect and drive it not even a 1/2 a mile and it toes out. Cant figure it out. Every thing is tight and greased up so not to sure whats causing it to keep toeing out. Any ideas ?

Double check your ball joints. The effect of a worn ball joint is often the same as toe-out and the tire wear will be the same.

You can get a good basic check by jacking up one side by the axle beam, just enough to get some space under a tire. Then get a big lever, and push upward on the tire. Look for up-down movement at the knuckle, as well as side play. There should be none. I think by '92 Jeep had gone to the new style ball joints, and on these the upper joint is meant to move up and down (early ones used an adjustable shim), so do not be alarmed by a little gap in the grease seal at the top. All vertical movement in the later ones is controlled by the bottom joint.

While the wheel is up, make sure the wheel bearings are good, and that the u-joints aren't binding. No play allowed in the bearings. Crank the steering over all one way, and rotate the wheel to check for a binding u-joiint. All these things can mess up an alignment.

If you haven't yet, get a second person to wiggle the steering wheel while you observe underneath carefully. Some things can be hard to feel or spot when working alone.

Also make sure you rotate tires, because tires will follow an old wear pattern even after realigning. Some tires will give you a dead feeling on center, and will seem to be poorly aligned when they aren't, and play in the steering box will amplify this.

Double check your measurements, and make sure you are measuring from a line on the tread, not from tire edges or sidewalls, which can be off. If you're unfamiliar with this method, you raise the wheel an inch or so, get a big piece of chalk, rotate a wheel on it, so that you have a chalk mark all around the tread. Then drive a nail partway into a block of wood and snip the head off. With the block on the ground, rotate the wheel and press the nail into the tread. You'll end up with a precise line on each tread. Measure from the lines.

Everything is nice and tight. The front tires are brand new and everything.

Well, something is not right, and not normal. At least the stock XJ is a cinch to align, and mine held for a hundred thousand miles or more, basically staying right until something needed replacing. So you need to go back and figure out first of all whether your alignment is actually changing, or whether it only appears to be aligned when you start out, and whether you are correctly identifying the problem.

Old time alignment shops, and probably the new ones too, put the wheels on a swiveling base when they adjust them, so that there will be no stresses pulling flexible parts out of line. You can't do that of course if you are just aligning on a concrete floor, but one thing you should do, if you haven't already, is after you do the adjustment, crank the steering back and forth a few times, and recheck it.

If you are aligning it correctly, and after driving the alignment is actually changing, there must be something loose or worn out. If you're aligning it correctly and it's still behaving as if it weren't, but not changing, then I'd look for bad balljoints or something bent in the axle. If it's just unalignable you may have to do a lot of measuring to figure out what's wrong.

Well I might just have to break down and spend like 40 bucks and take it to a shop because I still cant find anything wrong or anything.

Stripped thread on a tie rod? Mark the last thread on each with chalk, or nail polish after alignment, then drive and see what moved.

alignment shop wont fix bad ball joints or TREs or something of that nature. Make sure ball joints are good, TREs are good. replace if needed all of the above. that should get you straight.

mike has a good point. I like that idea alot. do that first and narrow it down that way.

Everything is brand new though. I had my buddy thats a mechanic look at it and he said everything is good. Just I should take it to a shop and have the alignment done. He said nothing was bad or anything. Hes been a mechanic for 20 years and so far been right with anything I asked him so if the shop says different then Ill figure it out from there.

Half the brand new parts on store shelves these days is junk right out of the box. Have you checked the lug nuts and the wheel bearings?

Gnarlyrider27 said:

Well I might just have to break down and spend like 40 bucks and take it to a shop because I still cant find anything wrong or anything.

Click to expand...

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY at a "normal" alignment shop--they won't do anything but set the toe OR refuse to even look at a lifted vehicle.

FIND A 4X4 SHOP that does alignments.

You have something WRONG somewhere. Get some professional help from people familiar with 4x4s and lifted vehicles.

Theres one shop here that does nothing but off road and semi trucks. The owner builds off road toys and so far everyone that has gone to him never said anything bad and is cheaper then a regular shop just I might be waiting for a few weeks but I am suppose to be getting a new job which means I have to move so dont think I will be able to get him to look at it so Might just have to wait tell I move to Sac and try and find a good shop. I know 4WheelParts is up in Sac but been told by everyone I know that goes off roading to never take anything there to get worked on. So I am kinda out ideas haha.

most 4x4 shops, if you call, just bust out a tape measure and check toe. they wont touch caster, I doubt they would even adjust a trckbar, just the tie rod. just keep rechecking it at the same spot, paint spots on each tire so you know its the same spot every time if possible or something of that nature.
how close are you to sacramento?

Right now I am about 3 hours away. I live up near Yosemite but I am hoping to be getting a job up at Smud so then I will be living in Galt. Running up there tomorrow but not taking the jeep.

ok im sorry to post on here but im not clear on how to start a post. I am having huge trouble with my 231 tcase and need some advice

krummwise said:

ok im sorry to post on here but im not clear on how to start a post. I am having huge trouble with my 231 tcase and need some advice

Click to expand...

Back out of this discussion to the parent page "OEM Tech Discussion" and below the toolbar you will see a big blue button "Start a New Thread." Same place as the Reply button is here.

Courtesy calls for an informative thread title, and year/model info in the post. In the case of the 231 transfer case, it's of some importance because there were several flavors. I once put my head much further up the wrong end than is comfortable contending till blue in the face that 231's lock into 4wd in neutral, only to find that they had changed some time in the 90's. The one in my barn still does, though. :lecture:




s

Ok so I checked a few more things and then I noticed that my lower steering column shaft has a lot of play in it. I also noticed that I have play now in my spindles or something. I can now move the tires up and down like I would be checking for ball joints and all that and the only thing that moves is the spindles and checked my axle nuts and there tight and checked the 3 bolts that hold the spindle to the knuckle. It isnt very much movement but will that cause all my problems?