Take the alignment printout to the dealer and make them fix it. Sounds like you might need a new front axle housing.

 

Odds are the dealer will blame the lift, and do nothing. Bring it back to the shop you're working with armed with info here, or find another shop that specializes in wheel alignments and is familiar with lifted Jeeps. I'd stay clear of the dealership.

 

Is it possible for the front axle being bent to affect the rear camber too?

 

You need new tires after only 2000 miles? How long has the lift been on?

Are you sure they said "camber" and not "caster"?

They should have given you a printout showing what was out and not adjustable. Post it.

Any alignment problems can be corrected on a jeep, depending on your budget.

 

I put new tires on both my new jeeps the day I picked them up. I'm guessing he just up sized.

 

Camber is not adjustable. What did you get for numbers ? Under 1° i would not worry unless the ball joints are worn causing it.

 

Camber is not adjustable.

Yes it is, just not easily. Either offset balljoints or re-welding the C will adjust camber.

 

It has been stated over and over camber is often out of spec from the factory. Like Jkeeper said if nuner 1 don't worry.

 

OK first and foremost, this is the mega super damage that the shop thinks bent the axle. I'm still not convinced. The lift went in yesterday, without much issue. Is it possible that the spidertrax spacers are exacerbating the negative camber reading?


This is the print out. He said the front was so far out that he didn't touch the rears, but its definitely enough to chew my tires on the front.


And just because it looks gorgeous, here's the finished product. Tf 2.5 spring lift, spidertrax spacers, and wild peak 285/70R17

 

Did you install the lift? Did you loosen the control arm bolts in the installation? And did you put the vehicle back on the ground before re-tightening?

 

I loosened the control arms, but I only retightened the track bar on the ground.

 

It's still under 1 degree, so is it a problem that they're so different left to right?

 

Normal.

 

That's a relief. I'll run it back tomorrow and tell the shop to disregard that one measurement and align everything else. Hopefully he won't give me a hard time.

 

Camber is fine .. I dont think they adjusted toe.
That will chew up the tires.
You want somewhere between .08 and .10 left and right.

 

They didn't touch anything once they found the front camber off. I'm going to take it back in the morning and tell him to ignore the camber and do the toe up front and the whole rear.

 

Typically nothing to align in the rear as well, unless you have adjustable arms. I felt so ripped off when I got my printout. They didn't change anything and adjusted toe from 0.09 to 0.08 on one side in the front and charged me $160. lol

 

There is nothing other than toe that is adjutable

 

What ever you do, do not let them install those caster bolts to get better numbers.... Should you find the steering to be flighty, longer or adjustable lower front control arms are the way to go... And... Bring it elsewhere to get aligned.

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No issue with camber under 1*. Many Jeeps come from the factory out of spec on camber.

Your caster at 3.6 is pretty low. It might drive fine, but I'm a stickler for getting to at least 4.5 on a 2.5 lift. I would add some front lower control arms or a set of geometry correction brackets to bring it up.

 

There is a misconception that the only thing you can adjust on a solid axle vehicle is the toe in/out. I took an '89 Jeep Cherokee (same basic suspension as the TJ and JK) in for some issues. When it was delivered back to me it drove the same way. I immediately turned around and went right back. I was then told by one of the co-owners that the only thing adjustable on a solid axle is the toe-in/out. I left fuming for I knew that was not correct. I never went back to that shop and a few years later they were out of business.

Instead I found the shop that has done work on my vehicles for over 25 years and they also do a lot of commercial trucks and the local Sheriff Department's patrol cars. When I took my TJ in with 113,000 miles, they did install cam bolts to adjust the camber. But, it is stock and the only other option would have been adjustable LCAs which would have been far more expensive. I it were lifted or was taken on even moderate off road excursions, I would have gone that route.

As for camber, it can be adjusted, but it takes someone who knows what they are doing and is done with shims. Most alignment shops (I call them get 'em in and get 'im out shops) will not tell you that as they don't want to expend the effort and time to do it.

In the case of my TJ, the tech came to me, explained the issue and what it would cost for the cam bolts and how much more time and labor it would take. While it drove ok before, it drives great now.

 

Shims are not used on a solid front axle to correct camber. The only way to correct camber is with offset ball joints. As mentioned i would first check the ball joints for wear. If the joints are good and camber is 1° or under leave it alone.


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He must be talking about the XJ Cherokee which was a fairly popular patrol vehicle with which you corrected caster by adding metal shims behind the lower front control arms sliding bracket pocket... Was a brilliant set-up, and Jeep should have transfereg it onto the Yj/Tj/Jk.....

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I don't doubt for a second that the dealer would touch anything under the Jeep at this point with a 10 foot cattle prod. I'm going to follow Kjeeper here and leave it alone... the camber anyway. It drives fine, I might add some corrected LCAs in the future for my own piece of mind, get that caster in a better place. Plus, it's a DD, anything I can beef up to hopefully prevent issues trail riding down the road is a plus.

The shop was concerned that something was bent, which is why they didn't adjust anything. I'm going to call today, I seriously doubt he will have a problem putting it back on the laser rack and squaring everything else up if I told him to ignore the front camber.

 

So a little update. I had the Jeep back in the shop today to tidy up the toe and straighten the steering wheel (and flip the 3 out of 5 tires that were mounted backwards around). They had it for a full day, 8am to 4pm, and only changed the tires. They said that the camber is so far off (still under 1*) that they couldn't do the toe, then added it was too loose to align. After 2500 miles? Bs. I checked it out, everything seems tight and wiggle free up front. Then the tech comes out and tells me that not only did I bend the front axle tube while I was "smashing it off road", which I didnt, but that the rear alignment must be the result of a bent frame in the back. I think I'm done with this shop.

Im meeting a buddy on weds, we are going to adjust the drag link to straighten the wheel, and I'll just keep an eye on my tires for excessive or uneven wear.

I've also noticed that my rear axle sits about 1" to the drivers side at rest... should I add an adjustable track bar to square it up at rest?

I've noticed a little bumpsteer and she's a tiny bit flighty. I'm going to add new front LCAs or drop brackets on payday, hopefully that will help out some.

 

That shop has no clue... I can't for the life of me figure out how these places stay open other than they pray on those without any knowledge.

I have a local shop that I go in and they adjust toe and give me a print out for $50. Since nothing else is normally adjusted on a JK.

If it's flighty at all, it's the low caster. The geo brackets work great, but if you are a stickler for ground clearance and don't mind the extra $$ then arms are nice.

As for the trackbars, I was OCD all the way and had to put them in. The Superlift bars are a STEAL.

Superlift Suspension 5770 - Superlift Re-Flex Adjustable Front Track Bar for 07-16 Jeep® Wrangler & Wrangler Unlimited JK with 2-6" Lift - Quadratec
Superlift Suspension 5771 - Superlift Re-Flex Adjustable Rear Track Bar for 07-16 Jeep® Wrangler & Wrangler Unlimited JK with 2-6" Lift - Quadratec

 

My local dealer told me they routinely get new JKs off the transporters with bent front housings. Not sure if it's the trains or trucks that strap them down too tightly, but over the period of time from factory to dealer quite often the passenger side axle tube gets tweaked.


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its always possible that the shops alignment machine could be out of calibration, has had a head or heads dropped, 20 plus years in the business have found some shops just don't do repairs and calibration of machines unless they quit working. also air pressure differences side to side can cause some camber variances.