Do it yourself alignment

[CrazyCooter]

Sorry to many of us on many Jeep forums have been doing it this way for way to long . Some pull the wheels off and clamp the Tubing on the brake rotors also with same result . My 15 year old tires tend to say this works just fine on a Jeep straight axle. Im not going to argue just agree to disagree.

If it works good enough for you , keep doing it that way! No way I'm letting that shit roll out of my shop........

You think that rough braked sheet metal is even close to accurate?

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[Gizmo]

" No way I'm letting that shit roll out of my shop .....' Their Is why I bet ya don't advocate this method . Its like when someone asks a question about fixing their own AC ....Those in the business go nuts stating how ya cant do that at home , WHY because its part of how they make a living so of course they say how ya can't . I just stated I have tires older than many peoples Jeeps are or have been in business for that matter and have worn fine and still are still on the road. Obviously I can't be to far off. It may not be as accurate as a machine but obviously accurate enough huh ....

 

[Gren71]

I did what these guys did and set it to 1/8 in. After a while i had it in the shop for an oil change and asked them to verify for me. And sure enough it was correct. ?‍ no special tools or worrying about tire slip or all that.

fwiw…the kiss method worked for me

 

[Gizmo]

I used the contractor bags under the tires to get some slippage on My 1500 Rams ( independent front suspension )after installing Bilstein's for leveling or swapping in Eibach springs on them. It would help to get the A arms to settle some to get the toe closer to correct just to be able to drive a couple days before it was out on a rack for an alignment

 

[CrazyCooter]

I did what these guys did and set it to 1/8 in. After a while i had it in the shop for an oil change and asked them to verify for me. And sure enough it was correct. ?‍ no special tools or worrying about tire slip or all that.

fwiw…the kiss method worked for me

Another excellent example of a BAD example!

Tire treads aren't even close to being perfectly strait most of the time! Pretty much every if not every tire s manufactured with "Variable pitch technology" to minimize noise and harmonic vibrations, so tread are not symmetrical.

You just got lucky!

 

[CrazyCooter]

" No way I'm letting that shit roll out of my shop .....' Their Is why I bet ya don't advocate this method . Its like when someone asks a question about fixing their own AC ....Those in the business go nuts stating how ya cant do that at home , WHY because its part of how they make a living so of course they say how ya can't . I just stated I have tires older than many peoples Jeeps are or have been in business for that matter and have worn fine and still are still on the road. Obviously I can't be to far off. It may not be as accurate as a machine but obviously accurate enough huh ....

There are many people that aren't professionals that do a better job than the professional. My posts here are to aid and educate you guys on how you CAN do this correctly at home yourself and end up with a better product than the "Out of calibration" computer alignment. Those cheesy toe plates everyone is selling and marking the tire tread like pony tail guy did are bad ideas for anything that going to roll down the road long distance.

FYI......Try to service your 1234YF A/C system without the proper equipment and see what happens! The system is so small that 1/2 oz. off either way will result in reduced performance and possible self destruction........

 

[Gren71]

Another excellent example of a BAD example!

Tire treads aren't even close to being perfectly strait most of the time! Pretty much every if not every tire s manufactured with "Variable pitch technology" to minimize noise and harmonic vibrations, so tread are not symmetrical.

You just got lucky!

ive done this exact method on three different jeeps. And all were correct If im truly that lucky I should be playing the lottery more lol

i do however take my time ti find matching tread blocks to do the measurements from. Them spin the tires after Im done, choose a different matching tread block, and verify the measurements. It helps that two of the three jeeps have michelline defenders and mine had dueler ATs. All have simple symmetrical tread patterns.

not saying its the best method. But it certainly works.

 

[Puch]

I just did an alignment on mine yesterday. I shoot for 3-4mm (1/8-5/32) toe in. Works extremely well for me. I have 35's and 2" mopar lift with all Rock Jock steering components. This is the tool I use but there are others out there as well. I also bought 2, 10 foot cloth tapes on Amazon. I evenly clamp both tapes to one side of the tool.
https://bleepinjeep.com/product/bleepinjeep-alignment-tool/

I ended up getting the alignment tool that you recommended. Ditched the homemade one that I had. For the record, I went a hair shy of 1/8 with the homemade one. Checked it with the new one and it was exactly the same measurement.
So much better than paying $100+ at a shop. I have a couple long road trips this summer so I’ll be putting some miles on them quickly and checking the wear often. Keeping my fingers crossed. If this works well, it payed for itself the second time I use it and I’ll check the alignment every tire rotation.

 

[Vtur]

I did mine a little differently. I had the front axle on jack stands and wrapped masking tape around the tires center. Using a sharpie, i slowly turned the wheels a full 360 to gets the lines and then measured off of that lines.

 

[JTenn]

I ended up getting the alignment tool that you recommended. Ditched the homemade one that I had. For the record, I went a hair shy of 1/8 with the homemade one. Checked it with the new one and it was exactly the same measurement.
So much better than paying $100+ at a shop. I have a couple long road trips this summer so I’ll be putting some miles on them quickly and checking the wear often. Keeping my fingers crossed. If this works well, it payed for itself the second time I use it and I’ll check the alignment every tire rotation.

That's great!! I've checked mine a couple times since the initial alignment and it was spot on. It seems to be a well made tool that paid for itself the first time I used it. Thanks for the update.

 

[Lunentucker]

Simple Digital Tool Makes It Super Easy

Toe In VS Toe Out

 

[Gizmo]

Like they say there are more than one way to skin a cat .

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