Alignment with adj. trackbar?

Well, here is my little story. I just recently lifted my 99 XJ with the RE 4.5 Superflex kit. So naturally I wanted to get an alignment done after the lift So I had the alignment done at a local tire place I go to. They aligned it and everything and said they did the toe but can't do the caster? Said I needed a ball joint to fix that. Not sure if thats the right term, don't know too much about alignment stuff thats why I am asking. Anyways, I asked if my adj. trackbar would be a problem and they said no. If we have to adjust it we will. So I get the car back after the alignment and its nice.
This past weekend was the first time I got to test out the new lift so I went and found some mud. Somehow my trackbar popped off from the tom heim joint I believe. After putting it back on yesterday it looked like the track bar was only on the bolt by one or two threads. I know when I put the lift on that I had tightened it more than that. So my question is when I have an alignemnt done should or do they mess with the trackbar? And has anyone ever had to buy a longer eye bolt for the RE trackbar? Sorry about the long post, any help is appreciated. Thanks.

-Scott


Cliffnotes: Trackbar popped off after alignment. Do they move the track bar during an alignment?

I had to problem with the trackbar having enough threads to get a good bite on the nut. Maybe it just backed out on you...I don't know.
Did your kit come with adjustable control arms?
If so the caster would be adjusted with those...
Check Go Jeep .com (no spaces) and check his info on alignment.
Rick :sunshine:

They shouldn't touch the track bar when they do an alignment.The only way to do caster adjustment is with the lower control arms,camber adjustment is done with an offset ball joint kit.

4x4crazy said:

They shouldn't touch the track bar when they do an alignment.The only way to do caster adjustment is with the lower control arms,camber adjustment is done with an offset ball joint kit.

Click to expand...

...and if they need to center the axle after a lift, that's done with an adjustable track bar.

Jump This said:

I had to problem with the trackbar having enough threads to get a good bite on the nut. Maybe it just backed out on you...I don't know.
Did your kit come with adjustable control arms?
If so the caster would be adjusted with those...
Check Go Jeep .com (no spaces) and check his info on alignment.
Rick :sunshine:

Click to expand...

Did you end up buying a longer bolt? I will go check out that website right now.

4x4crazy said:

They shouldn't touch the track bar when they do an alignment.The only way to do caster adjustment is with the lower control arms,camber adjustment is done with an offset ball joint kit.

Click to expand...

Thank you for that bit off info. Starting to understand it all....

karstic said:

...and if they need to center the axle after a lift, that's done with an adjustable track bar.

Click to expand...

Is there a write up anywhere on how to center the axle? Cause right now I just threaded the bar almost half way on the bolt and I am not sure if the axle is centered. Thanks.

Why wouldn't you already hace the axle centred and the trak bar adjusted when the lift was put in, before it went for alignment? I don't know of any mod shops that install lifts in my area that have an alignment rack its just not cost effective for them.

I installed the lift.

You can align the Trac-bar yourself with a decent tape measure. Just pick a spot on the frame that is the same on both side and measure to the rims. Then adjust the bar until they measure out the same. Thats what I did and no problems.

To clarify about alignments on solid axle jeeps... The caster is adjustable with the ball joints, if you replace them with the 2* offset ones sold by aftermarket companies. A lot of time people will adjust the front control arms to acheive the best possible pinion angle, thus sacrificing caster. So that is when the offset balljoints are reccomended. As for the trac-bar, you should have heard all kinds of poping noise if the upper bolt at the hiem was loose, let alone falling off. The trac bar is fairly easy to adjust as Machine Man said, pick a good spot and measure, and remeasure, then adjust. Most alignment shops will not adjust the control arms or trac bar for you without an additional cost involved. Most of the time it is a "toe and go"... Check out GoJeep's site he has a good write up on doing your alignment yourself...