Well, guess I'll never get a dealer alignment again.

[PuddleJumper]

So, I got my truck new and it drove great (duh). The first time I got my alignment wacked i got drove off a fire road by some twat who thought he was Ken Block in a group B rally car (Actually drunk and in a sunbird doing 55 around a blind corner). Anyway i got off light with just a cock eyed steering wheel. Truck tracked straight just the drag link got tweeked. Dealer oil change #1 and they told me they could align it and it would be 200 bucks. Ooof but i come from old toyotas and IFS alignments are hard and long so I didn't think anything of it. Fast forward to me slapping on 37s and I had a slight shimmy at 60pmh plus. Thought the wheels were balance wronged, Discount redid em in front of my face and only a rear needed changin but my a small amount. Still had a shimmy unless on 33s. Then I went and put on my Daystar 3/4 lift and some 2in Mopar Extended LCAs and she still tracked straight but was a little wonky on the wheel being straight and it was only really noticeable on the 33s. Then I took it in for its #3 dealer oil change and they said the alignment was bad. I figured hey I did lift it and its been on a few trails since. Probably is fucked. I got it back after another 200 bucks and it was WORSE. Wheel sat almost a half turn to drive straight, and they told me the tech test drove to confirm it was all good. Tech needs his fuckin eyes checked. After all the other bullshit items the dealer tried to hook me on (300 dollars for air filters and more!) I drove it home wonky wheel and all, and decided to look up how to do a garage alignment to get it close enough and then take it to a legit shop. Thats when i learned there are 2 POINTS OF ADJUSTMENT ONLY! Toe and Drag, thats it nothing else. 400 dollars lost to that easy of a job and they still got it wrong! Whipped out the ol' tape measure, jack stands and some draw sting. Found out they had me toed out close to a 1/4 in! IDK what car was on the rack for the sheet they gave me, but it sure as shit wasn't mine. Anyway I got it dialed to about 1/8in in toed in and then grabbed the single wrench and channel lock needed to perform adjustment and let her track down the road. stopped, got out and adjusted the drag until the wheel rotated back straight and rinse repeat 2 more times to perfect. Boom 30min DIY alignment and its better then any Rack job the truck has had to date. And as a Bonus, no shimmy on 37s anymore. I always want to be the guy to stand up for wrench turners and knuckle busters in the back, but come the fuck on. Gotta give me somethin to work with first. Just another reason motivation to get my own 4x4 shop open ASAP.

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[Scott0700]

Best to do your own. Their monkeys only go by what the computer says a 100% stock Jeep should be. The second you change anything, those specs are wrong. Most good lifts will come with adjustable lower control arms to correct caster and pinion angle.
Glad you got it figured out.

 

[PuddleJumper]

Best to do your own. Their monkeys only go by what the computer says a 100% stock Jeep should be. The second you change anything, those specs are wrong. Most good lifts will come with adjustable lower control arms to correct caster and pinion angle.
Glad you got it figured out.

I'm still super happy about getting 6.5 degrees of caster with the new LCAs. way better than the stock 3.8-4.0 degrees.

 

[ZeeJay]

So, I got my truck new and it drove great (duh). The first time I got my alignment wacked i got drove off a fire road by some twat who thought he was Ken Block in a group B rally car (Actually drunk and in a sunbird doing 55 around a blind corner). Anyway i got off light with just a cock eyed steering wheel. Truck tracked straight just the drag link got tweeked. Dealer oil change #1 and they told me they could align it and it would be 200 bucks. Ooof but i come from old toyotas and IFS alignments are hard and long so I didn't think anything of it. Fast forward to me slapping on 37s and I had a slight shimmy at 60pmh plus. Thought the wheels were balance wronged, Discount redid em in front of my face and only a rear needed changin but my a small amount. Still had a shimmy unless on 33s. Then I went and put on my Daystar 3/4 lift and some 2in Mopar Extended LCAs and she still tracked straight but was a little wonky on the wheel being straight and it was only really noticeable on the 33s. Then I took it in for its #3 dealer oil change and they said the alignment was bad. I figured hey I did lift it and its been on a few trails since. Probably is fucked. I got it back after another 200 bucks and it was WORSE. Wheel sat almost a half turn to drive straight, and they told me the tech test drove to confirm it was all good. Tech needs his fuckin eyes checked. After all the other bullshit items the dealer tried to hook me on (300 dollars for air filters and more!) I drove it home wonky wheel and all, and decided to look up how to do a garage alignment to get it close enough and then take it to a legit shop. Thats when i learned there are 2 POINTS OF ADJUSTMENT ONLY! Toe and Drag, thats it nothing else. 400 dollars lost to that easy of a job and they still got it wrong! Whipped out the ol' tape measure, jack stands and some draw sting. Found out they had me toed out close to a 1/4 in! IDK what car was on the rack for the sheet they gave me, but it sure as shit wasn't mine. Anyway I got it dialed to about 1/8in in toed in and then grabbed the single wrench and channel lock needed to perform adjustment and let her track down the road. stopped, got out and adjusted the drag until the wheel rotated back straight and rinse repeat 2 more times to perfect. Boom 30min DIY alignment and its better then any Rack job the truck has had to date. And as a Bonus, no shimmy on 37s anymore. I always want to be the guy to stand up for wrench turners and knuckle busters in the back, but come the fuck on. Gotta give me somethin to work with first. Just another reason motivation to get my own 4x4 shop open ASAP.

When I got my last ZJ build done went and had the Coopers mounted at a Big O, dude asked about an alignment, stupid me said sure. Nothing under this thing is stock, nothing. So I told he/him don’t be going batshit under there, if it looks weird call me or leave it alone because it’s going to look weird. I had spent hours setting it up. It went to level 20 of shit when I got it back. They had moved all my shit and he loosens my lower control arms to correct it. Wheel wasn’t straight. I spent most of a day wheels off back on stands correcting pinion angles. Find toe was out also, he had apparently tightened lower control bolts with a cordless impact. Then to top it all off, when I picked it up he tells me ball joints and steering linkages are bad. I had about 500 miles on it then. It was all around town and flat roads at 45 to break in engine and trans rebuild I did. All the ball joints and and steering shit was new! Alignment shops like upsale more than alignments. Man I bitched that dude out, asked him if he used the specs for his trophy wife’s WKll and not a 1996 Grand Cherokee. We don’t have an actual off-road shop here so your on your own or at the mercy of Billy Ray the alignment tech banging out stock F150s all day. I own it and should have known better.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

You can only adjust toe in and axle center on a stock solid axle truck.

You can add caster to the mix only with adjustable control arms. Yes we can split hairs and say that drop brackets also contain washers for changing caster. At least AEVs do. But this is a more set and forget thing.

You can have an otherwise good alignment and the truck still pulls because the axle is off center. On any lift over about 2” the stock track bar is a skosh (wee bit, for the Scott Irish here) too short and will pull mildly. The fix is installing an adjustable track bar and recentering the axle.

However bad alignment shouldn’t induce a wobble, bounce or vibration. That’s either wheel balance, loose suspension components, ball joints, a loose wheel (an easy one) or a bad or unevenly worn or scalloped tire. All Jeeps are a little more prone to some mild vibration, wandering etc than IFS vehicles especially on M/Ts. Personally, I found the stock Falken M/Ts to be noisy with a bad road feel.

If you hit something off road and lost steering wheel center, either it’s your tie rod or tack bar and I would now be concerned about the condition of either, not simply adjustment. Specifically the adjustment collar of the tie rod which may be shot. Or you hit something and it’s bent.

With general issues, the go to thing to always check first is the track bar. A loose track bar will manifest all sorts of issues from shimmy to death wobble.

I don’t understand how a Jeep post alignment can be worse if done correctly, but I can see how it can be no different if it wasn’t out of alignment and the axle is off center due to a too short track bar, so it still pulls.

The one thing you can really screw up with an alignment is caster assuming adjustable LCAs or UCAs and if someone doesn’t follow the lift manufacturers instructions and doesn’t know what they’re doing. Radically changing caster will affect pinion angle, brake performance, dive, etc.

Lastly, assuming wheels are truly balanced, suspension parts are correct and tight, tie rod is actually straight and its adjustment collar or the collars on any adjustable components are tightened down and not slipping (this is why we mark all of this with a paint pen), and you still have issues, then I would look at the ball joints or the knuckles.

 

[PuddleJumper]

You can only adjust toe in and axle center on a stock solid axle truck.

You can add caster to the mix only with adjustable control arms. Yes we can split hairs and say that drop brackets also contain washers for changing caster. At least AEVs do. But this is a more set and forget thing.

You can have an otherwise good alignment and the truck still pulls because the axle is off center. On any lift over about 2” the stock track bar is a skosh (wee bit, for the Scott Irish here) too short and will pull mildly. The fix is installing an adjustable track bar and recentering the axle.

However bad alignment shouldn’t induce a wobble, bounce or vibration. That’s either wheel balance, loose suspension components, ball joints, a loose wheel (an easy one) or a bad or unevenly worn or scalloped tire. All Jeeps are a little more prone to some mild vibration, wandering etc than IFS vehicles especially on M/Ts. Personally, I found the stock Falken M/Ts to be noisy with a bad road feel.

If you hit something off road and lost steering wheel center, either it’s your tie rod or tack bar and I would now be concerned about the condition of either, not simply adjustment. Specifically the adjustment collar of the tie rod which may be shot. Or you hit something and it’s bent.

With general issues, the go to thing to always check first is the track bar. A loose track bar will manifest all sorts of issues from shimmy to death wobble.

I don’t understand how a Jeep post alignment can be worse if done correctly, but I can see how it can be no different if it wasn’t out of alignment and the axle is off center due to a too short track bar, so it still pulls.

The one thing you can really screw up with an alignment is caster assuming adjustable LCAs or UCAs and if someone doesn’t follow the lift manufacturers instructions and doesn’t know what they’re doing. Radically changing caster will affect pinion angle, brake performance, dive, etc.

Lastly, assuming wheels are truly balanced, suspension parts are correct and tight, tie rod is actually straight and its adjustment collar or the collars on any adjustable components are tightened down and not slipping (this is why we mark all of this with a paint pen), and you still have issues, then I would look at the ball joints or the knuckles.

I did redo track bar hardware during my measly lift. I imagine that could've solved some issues. there was a bit of slack in the OE hardware. hit it hard enough and it could budge one way or another. New bolts took up a lot of slack due to larger diameter shafts.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

I did redo track bar hardware during my measly lift. I imagine that could've solved some issues. there was a bit of slack in the OE hardware. hit it hard enough and it could budge one way or another. New bolts took up a lot of slack due to larger diameter shafts.

There should be Zero non-rotational movement of the track bar in its mount and if there is, it will immediately begins to wallow out the hole. You get into this spiral of a loose track bar, induced vibration, additional wear on the hole, additional required torque to keep the bar tight, broken bolts, addition looseness, etc. This plagued lifted TJs which had flimsy axle side mounts that didn’t cover the bushing and often lots of lift in order to run big tires with all the additional leverage that entails. I used to carry spare track bar bolts because they would flex and break.

If the axle side hole is wallowed out now in any significant way you may not be able to keep it tight. The fix is replacing the axle side mount or adding an additional layer of material with an appropriately sized hole. Both require welding unless you can find an axle side track mount relocation kit that is captured in multiple places. The problem with the latter option is this most relocation brackets require additional lift for clearance.

But again, in short, you shouldn’t be able to move your track bar laterally in its mount with a mallet. If you can do that, then the leverage of the truck can easily do it and you have a problem. Often they will pop, at least the TJs did.

Obviously, I’d check the torque first, and you may have to go higher, e.g., spec + 180° or something.

 

[PuddleJumper]

There should be Zero non-rotational movement of the track bar in its mount and if there is, it will immediately begins to wallow out the hole. You get into this spiral of a loose track bar, induced vibration, additional wear on the hole, additional required torque to keep the bar tight, broken bolts, addition looseness, etc. This plagued lifted TJs which had flimsy axle side mounts that didn’t cover the bushing and often lots of lift in order to run big tires with all the additional leverage that entails. I used to carry spare track bar bolts because they would flex and break.

If the axle side hole is wallowed out now in any significant way you may not be able to keep it tight. The fix is replacing the axle side mount or adding an additional layer of material with an appropriately sized hole. Both require welding unless you can find an axle side track mount relocation kit that is captured in multiple places. The problem with the latter option is this most relocation brackets require additional lift for clearance.

But again, in short, you shouldn’t be able to move your track bar laterally in its mount with a mallet. If you can do that, then the leverage of the truck can easily do it and you have a problem. Often they will pop, at least the TJs did.

Obviously, I’d check the torque first, and you may have to go higher, e.g., spec + 180° or something.

hole was good but you could see where it shoved hard driver as possible. the stock bolt wasn't filled to the hole size. the new one is.

 

[Geoarch]

So, I got my truck new and it drove great (duh). The first time I got my alignment wacked i got drove off a fire road by some twat who thought he was Ken Block in a group B rally car (Actually drunk and in a sunbird doing 55 around a blind corner). Anyway i got off light with just a cock eyed steering wheel. Truck tracked straight just the drag link got tweeked. Dealer oil change #1 and they told me they could align it and it would be 200 bucks. Ooof but i come from old toyotas and IFS alignments are hard and long so I didn't think anything of it. Fast forward to me slapping on 37s and I had a slight shimmy at 60pmh plus. Thought the wheels were balance wronged, Discount redid em in front of my face and only a rear needed changin but my a small amount. Still had a shimmy unless on 33s. Then I went and put on my Daystar 3/4 lift and some 2in Mopar Extended LCAs and she still tracked straight but was a little wonky on the wheel being straight and it was only really noticeable on the 33s. Then I took it in for its #3 dealer oil change and they said the alignment was bad. I figured hey I did lift it and its been on a few trails since. Probably is fucked. I got it back after another 200 bucks and it was WORSE. Wheel sat almost a half turn to drive straight, and they told me the tech test drove to confirm it was all good. Tech needs his fuckin eyes checked. After all the other bullshit items the dealer tried to hook me on (300 dollars for air filters and more!) I drove it home wonky wheel and all, and decided to look up how to do a garage alignment to get it close enough and then take it to a legit shop. Thats when i learned there are 2 POINTS OF ADJUSTMENT ONLY! Toe and Drag, thats it nothing else. 400 dollars lost to that easy of a job and they still got it wrong! Whipped out the ol' tape measure, jack stands and some draw sting. Found out they had me toed out close to a 1/4 in! IDK what car was on the rack for the sheet they gave me, but it sure as shit wasn't mine. Anyway I got it dialed to about 1/8in in toed in and then grabbed the single wrench and channel lock needed to perform adjustment and let her track down the road. stopped, got out and adjusted the drag until the wheel rotated back straight and rinse repeat 2 more times to perfect. Boom 30min DIY alignment and its better then any Rack job the truck has had to date. And as a Bonus, no shimmy on 37s anymore. I always want to be the guy to stand up for wrench turners and knuckle busters in the back, but come the fuck on. Gotta give me somethin to work with first. Just another reason motivation to get my own 4x4 shop open ASAP.

It's not just the dealers. After installing the Mopar Bilstein lift, and Metalcloak adjustable track bar, which only seemed to move the steering wheel, I took it to a local place. The guy told me I had to rebuild my entire front end! I took it then to my trusted guy and what do you know - no problem. The first guy just needed a new truck or something and I was supposed to finance it.

 

[PuddleJumper]

It's not just the dealers. After installing the Mopar Bilstein lift, and Metalcloak adjustable track bar, which only seemed to move the steering wheel, I took it to a local place. The guy told me I had to rebuild my entire front end! I took it then to my trusted guy and what do you know - no problem. The first guy just needed a new truck or something and I was supposed to finance it.

damn! laughing with ya man.

 

[legacy_etu]

So, I got my truck new and it drove great (duh). The first time I got my alignment wacked i got drove off a fire road by some twat who thought he was Ken Block in a group B rally car (Actually drunk and in a sunbird doing 55 around a blind corner). Anyway i got off light with just a cock eyed steering wheel. Truck tracked straight just the drag link got tweeked. Dealer oil change #1 and they told me they could align it and it would be 200 bucks. Ooof but i come from old toyotas and IFS alignments are hard and long so I didn't think anything of it. Fast forward to me slapping on 37s and I had a slight shimmy at 60pmh plus. Thought the wheels were balance wronged, Discount redid em in front of my face and only a rear needed changin but my a small amount. Still had a shimmy unless on 33s. Then I went and put on my Daystar 3/4 lift and some 2in Mopar Extended LCAs and she still tracked straight but was a little wonky on the wheel being straight and it was only really noticeable on the 33s. Then I took it in for its #3 dealer oil change and they said the alignment was bad. I figured hey I did lift it and its been on a few trails since. Probably is fucked. I got it back after another 200 bucks and it was WORSE. Wheel sat almost a half turn to drive straight, and they told me the tech test drove to confirm it was all good. Tech needs his fuckin eyes checked. After all the other bullshit items the dealer tried to hook me on (300 dollars for air filters and more!) I drove it home wonky wheel and all, and decided to look up how to do a garage alignment to get it close enough and then take it to a legit shop. Thats when i learned there are 2 POINTS OF ADJUSTMENT ONLY! Toe and Drag, thats it nothing else. 400 dollars lost to that easy of a job and they still got it wrong! Whipped out the ol' tape measure, jack stands and some draw sting. Found out they had me toed out close to a 1/4 in! IDK what car was on the rack for the sheet they gave me, but it sure as shit wasn't mine. Anyway I got it dialed to about 1/8in in toed in and then grabbed the single wrench and channel lock needed to perform adjustment and let her track down the road. stopped, got out and adjusted the drag until the wheel rotated back straight and rinse repeat 2 more times to perfect. Boom 30min DIY alignment and its better then any Rack job the truck has had to date. And as a Bonus, no shimmy on 37s anymore. I always want to be the guy to stand up for wrench turners and knuckle busters in the back, but come the fuck on. Gotta give me somethin to work with first. Just another reason motivation to get my own 4x4 shop open ASAP.

Good job, now go back and ask for a refund.

 

[PuddleJumper]

Good job, now go back and ask for a refund.

Man, why you gotta challenge me like that. I hate standing up for myself. ?

 

[Geoarch]

damn! laughing with ya man.

And this is a 2024 JTR built 1/28/24! It's not like I've already beat it up.

 

[Bjeepz]

I'm still super happy about getting 6.5 degrees of caster with the new LCAs. way better than the stock 3.8-4.0 degrees.

Not sure what my numbers are with a 1.5 inch spacer up front, but the Mopar arms did their job giving it better tracking on the highways!

Also, not sure how the heck I ended up in this older thread lol

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