Front End Alignment?

[bmrrwolfe]

Was looking over the KJ today, and noticed my front tires have some unusual wear on the insides, my tires are rotated every 3k with my only changes, and its been about 2000 miles since the last change/rotation. The back tires look golden so I am assuming something happened since the last change that threw it out of alignment..

The Jeep still drives straight, no unusual feeling in the wheel, or weird noises, clunks or pops. Oh and its an 06 with 85k on it, no recent front end work.

Any ideas on where to start looking for what threw it off, or should I just take it somewhere and get it aligned?

Thanks!

 

[yellocoyote]

I'd definitely get it aligned.

 

[tjkj2002]

Inside tire wear like cupping/feathering is signs of being toe'd out.With IFS any changes in front end ride height effects camber and toe.Sagging will induce toe out and raising induces toe in.

 

[bmrrwolfe]

Its at a stock ride height, and I will be calling around to get some prices for the alignment, I'm trying to think if I hit any unusually large bumps or chuck holes that would of caused it..

 

[tommudd]

Its sagging down which changes ride height and throws it out of alignment

 

[Porkchop]

Its sagging down which changes ride height and throws it out of alignment

X2 that brushguard added weight to the front and saged them alittle faster I'll bet.
Now you know why we change the springs.

 

[bmrrwolfe]

Well the brushguard has been on it for 2 years, and i know its sagging and ready for the OME lift someday when I have money, but it got bad quickly as if something caused it.

Will be going to the local firestone, this afternoon!

 

[Cardhu]

Mine did wear tires excessively right before I lifted. at that point I was 18 inches wheel center to fender effectively sagging about an inch from where I should have been new.

Similarly, it drove straight and tracked true, it was just done as the CV's were then flat across.

X4 on just getting it aligned.

 

[bmrrwolfe]

Alignment has been done.
Here are the Before and after stats, it looks like something is broken or bent on the left side, as they said its maxed out..
Any ideas?

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[tjkj2002]

Alignment has been done.
Here are the Before and after stats, it looks like something is broken or bent on the left side, as they said its maxed out..
Any ideas?

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Go back and have then center camber and sacrific caster.As long as cross caster is within .5 degrees and above 2 degrees you will be fine.Caster is a none tire wearing angle.


Oh and your rear axle is pointed to the right and have a slightly bent left axle tube.

 

[lautinjr]

Go back and have then center camber and sacrific caster.As long as cross caster is within .5 degrees and above 2 degrees you will be fine.Caster is a none tire wearing angle.


Oh and your rear axle is pointed to the right and have a slightly bent left axle tube.

You can tell by looking at it they didn't reswing caster the angle isn't correct for camber position it may very well be maxed out. They didn't do a front end check I bet. It looks to me the left front might have a bad ball joint. The back is wacked I don't know about bent, but definetly ha something going on back there I wonder how the rear trailing arms look.

On the flip side My liberty has been on a Alignment rack every oil chnge and has never failed to be off. Checking the alignment is a little more necassary then people expect. I had the driver front camber at -1.9 last month for the first time always had -.5 camber previously and there was enough adjustment to straighten it back to -.5 with out loosing caster. So if it is maxed out there would have to be a bad part.

 

[tjkj2002]

You can tell by looking at it they didn't reswing caster the angle isn't correct for camber position it may very well be maxed out. They didn't do a front end check I bet. It looks to me the left front might have a bad ball joint. The back is wacked I don't know about bent, but definetly ha something going on back there I wonder how the rear trailing arms look.

On the flip side My liberty has been on a Alignment rack every oil chnge and has never failed to be off. Checking the alignment is a little more necassary then people expect. I had the driver front camber at -1.9 last month for the first time always had -.5 camber previously and there was enough adjustment to straighten it back to -.5 with out loosing caster. So if it is maxed out there would have to be a bad part.

If it was done at a Firestone there alignment rack would force them to re-swing caster before being allowed to adjust toe.With how the KJ's camber/caster is adjusted the front cam bolt is mainly to adjust camber and the rear cam bolt is mainly for caster adjustment,though either can effect the other adjustment but not as much as there primary adjustments.

 

[lautinjr]

If it was done at a Firestone there alignment rack would force them to re-swing caster before being allowed to adjust toe.With how the KJ's camber/caster is adjusted the front cam bolt is mainly to adjust camber and the rear cam bolt is mainly for caster adjustment,though either can effect the other adjustment but not as much as there primary adjustments.

It depends n the age of the machine. My current machine requires a reswing all previous machines ive had didn't and even on the new machine it only requires it if you use the program. Alot of people like to adjust manually then set toe with Wintoe so avioding a caster swing all together. If the front bolt is maxed inwards your caster angel would be alot less. Both bolts move camber in or out the same amount neither is specific to one measurement either could be used to pull or push either number.although I agree I usually do adjust camber first using front bolt tgen set rear using a give and take experience guess, and reswing to check if doing manually. Using the program takes the guess work out of it, but can tell you from this sheet more then likely adjustment was done manually with out the progran and no swing was done. Or else the caster reading would ve significantly lower.

I do Work for Firestone. New machine is awesome if you follow the layout it walks you into the next step automaticly saving time and almost making it fool proof. Unfortunetly some techs think they know better.

 

[Cardhu]

Since theirs an active alignment thread this week;

Just got mine done to the popular request of all liberty owners to alignment guys.

Camber : -0.4 both sides

Toe normal

The variable

Caster Left : 3.0 Caster Right 2.7

Cross Caster: 0.2 or 0.3 as I can't remember off hand

Drives straight, turns great but does tend to wander in both directions at speeds above 65 MPH. Is this just physics at work and less caster doing what less caster does and what everybody lives with to some extent? Given its a jeep and not a car, lifted, shortish wheel base with bigger tires it seems reasonable, and it was windy.

Before the lift I had the sagging wheel alignment so it felt pretty planted but wore funny.

This sound about right?

 

[tjkj2002]

Since theirs an active alignment thread this week;

Just got mine done to the popular request of all liberty owners to alignment guys.

Camber : -0.4 both sides

Toe normal

The variable

Caster Left : 3.0 Caster Right 2.7

Cross Caster: 0.2 or 0.3 as I can't remember off hand

Drives straight, turns great but does tend to wander in both directions at speeds above 65 MPH. Is this just physics at work and less caster doing what less caster does and what everybody lives with to some extent? Given its a jeep and not a car, lifted, shortish wheel base with bigger tires it seems reasonable, and it was windy.

Before the lift I had the sagging wheel alignment so it felt pretty planted but wore funny.

This sound about right?

More castor it turns heavy at low speeds but tracks better at high speeds,less caster it turns easier at low speeds but does not track as well at high speeds.

You will see touring sedans with 7-9 degrees of caster but running big tires 2-3 degrees of caster is better for easier turning.

 

[bmrrwolfe]

Well when I saw how bad it was I asked if I could bring it back and have it redone for free, and they said I do have 6 months or 6,000 miles to come back.
So should I go back and have them redo it?

Also the way it is set would it still cause me to have any uneven tire wear?

 

[lautinjr]

Well when I saw how bad it was I asked if I could bring it back and have it redone for free, and they said I do have 6 months or 6,000 miles to come back.
So should I go back and have them redo it?

Also the way it is set would it still cause me to have any uneven tire wear?

Yes I would have it redone and also check the front end.

 

[Cardhu]

More castor it turns heavy at low speeds but tracks better at high speeds,less caster it turns easier at low speeds but does not track as well at high speeds.

You will see touring sedans with 7-9 degrees of caster but running big tires 2-3 degrees of caster is better for easier turning.

I 'll have the next month of road trips to see how it does. it is noticeably different. then again i shouldn 't expect to stay the same.

Minimize tire wear and goes where i point it. Didn't do it for touring or gas milage.

Thanks for the alignment spec. the good alignment guy was in today and nailed it as you recomended. the first guy yesterday is still learning and struggled for 4 hours.

 

[lautinjr]

I would have prefered the caster around 4 with a half degree more on the passenger side, but all in all much better.