Front end shimmy after having an alignment performed

[ragsman]

I think I messed up. I have a 2022 Sport max tow with stock wheels/suspension, with around 9000 miles on it. I recently had the wheels rotated/balanced and the alignment checked at a local shop. The guy told me that the alignment was off a little, and then adjusted it for me. It seemed reasonable since I've been off road a few times, although I was having no driving issues with the wheels or alignment. It drove fantastic before.
After the alignment, I am now getting front end shimmy when I hit bumps at higher speed. One time, it started shaking and wouldn't stop until I slowed down (some would call it death wobble, but it was just a shimmy that didn't stop until I slowed down).
I think he might have aligned out whatever needs to be there to prevent that front end shimmy. I have two options I think. One, if I can find out what the alignment specs are supposed to be, I can give him that data and hopefully he'd put it back at no charge. Or, I could take it to a different shop or to the dealership (someone that knows how to align these Jeeps) and pay them to put it back.
Does anyone know what to tell the alignment guy for him to put it back to normal?
I would appreciate any advice.

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[Wheelin98TJ]

You probably have an out of balance tire. It was on the rear, now it's on the front.

 

[Gren71]

you could also measure you own toe. i had multiple "alignments" a couple years ago chasing loose steering. Then I did the toe my self and found that it was off. Once I set my onw toe to toe in a little the steering improved a LOT.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I think I messed up. I have a 2022 Sport max tow with stock wheels/suspension, with around 9000 miles on it. I recently had the wheels rotated/balanced and the alignment checked at a local shop. The guy told me that the alignment was off a little, and then adjusted it for me. It seemed reasonable since I've been off road a few times, although I was having no driving issues with the wheels or alignment. It drove fantastic before.
After the alignment, I am now getting front end shimmy when I hit bumps at higher speed. One time, it started shaking and wouldn't stop until I slowed down (some would call it death wobble, but it was just a shimmy that didn't stop until I slowed down).
I think he might have aligned out whatever needs to be there to prevent that front end shimmy. I have two options I think. One, if I can find out what the alignment specs are supposed to be, I can give him that data and hopefully he'd put it back at no charge. Or, I could take it to a different shop or to the dealership (someone that knows how to align these Jeeps) and pay them to put it back.
Does anyone know what to tell the alignment guy for him to put it back to normal?
I would appreciate any advice.

Consider this-
you can't align these trucks.
Nope.
All you can change is the toe setting.
caster is set unless you change parts OR have installed adjustable control arms or geometry correcting brackets, etc.
From the factory, you cannot change caster.
From the factory, you cannot change camber.
So - how do you align anything? You can't - you can only set TOE.
That being said - doubtful toe is causing any shimmy unless it's way off - meaning way too far toe-in or way too far toe-out.
The toe setting on these isn't rocket-science. In fact, you can set the toe to what many rear wheel drive vehicles of its type specify and be "ok".

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You probably have an out of balance tire. It was on the rear, now it's on the front.

Right - because unless some parts were changed around all that they could change is toe and that has to be off by quite a bit (out) to cause issues like this.

 

[Gren71]

Consider this-
you can't align these trucks.
Nope.
All you can change is the toe setting.
caster is set unless you change parts OR have installed adjustable control arms or geometry correcting brackets, etc.
From the factory, you cannot change caster.
From the factory, you cannot change camber.
So - how do you align anything? You can't - you can only set TOE.
That being said - doubtful tow is causing any shimmy unless it's way off - meaning way too far toe-in or way too far toe-out.
The toe setting on these isn't rocket-science. In fact, you can set the toe to what many rear wheel drive vehicles of its type specify and be "ok".

The reason Im thinking toe is because the OP said his shop adjusted something after it was "a little off" and Toe is the only adjustment they're going to make...unless it was just ever so slightly re-centering the steering wheel.

Though I suppose the shop could have been blowing smoke and making it sounds like they did something.

 

[ragsman]

Interesting. the shop definitely adjusted something, he would adjust it with the alignment gear on it, then drive it, then back on the rack to make another adjustment, probably 2 or 3 times.
Maybe I'll stop by and have a chat with them to see exactly what they did, and ask them to check the toe. I suppose it could be caused by the tire rotation, putting the rear tires on the front. Nothing else has been changed.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Interesting. the shop definitely adjusted something, he would adjust it with the alignment gear on it, then drive it, then back on the rack to make another adjustment, probably 2 or 3 times.
Maybe I'll stop by and have a chat with them to see exactly what they did, and ask them to check the toe. I suppose it could be caused by the tire rotation, putting the rear tires on the front. Nothing else has been changed.

Honestly, truly, and anyone with a fully stock Gladiator (or stock Wrangler) can attest - there's only one thing to adjust - TOE.
HOWEVER, if he adjusted, then drove it, then adjust again, my best is that he was centering your steering wheel.
Man, I wish Jeep dealerships would do that. I've twice had to tweak the steering wheel centering myself after getting my trucks back.

When I was doing alignments (back in the dark ages before a computer told you what the settings were) we would do as you described - we'd lock the steering wheel in center position, then set toe, splitting the spec between left and right. then we'd test drive it.
For cars, we'd drive and check for wander, pull/leading, and steering wheel centering.
If the wheel was off, we'd pull it back in and tweak it, drive it again, and go from there.
I was OCD about it - that wheel had to be LEVEL before the customer saw that car or truck again.

So my bet - centering the steering wheel. He was going the extra mile - as it should be.
I went to college for automotive and they were sticklers for test driving and making it right. You never did an alignment and just pulled it off the rack and parked it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The reason Im thinking toe is because the OP said his shop adjusted something after it was "a little off" and Toe is the only adjustment they're going to make...unless it was just ever so slightly re-centering the steering wheel.

My bet - they went that extra 1/2 mile to make SURE the wheel was centered instead of relying on "toe split" like the computer prints out.

Did you know you can use JSCAN to monitor the steering column angle and set the wheel to center by watching that.

 

[Gren71]

My bet - they went that extra 1/2 mile to make SURE the wheel was centered instead of relying on "toe split" like the computer prints out.

Did you know you can use JSCAN to monitor the steering column angle and set the wheel to center by watching that.

no!! Im always just a little off center.

 

[Darkspeed]

If you had a worn out component that was worn in with the old tires, switching tires may be expressing the worn out component.

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