Why is my TJ out of alignment?

dbbd1

dbbd1

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When a vehicle or, specifically a Wrangler gets out of alignment, what is generally the cause?


I am seriously very curious about this. I come back from wheeling and my slight toe-in from the morning is now a big toe-out. My drag link and tie rod sleeves are tight and don’t look like they have slipped or stripped. My C’s and knuckles look normal, with no (apparent) damage. I realize that if the knuckles were bent, that it would not take much to throw things off (but wouldn’t that affect only my camber?). Control arm mounts? Bent axle is a possibility, I guess. Everything looks good. So? Is it just FM?

Maybe list the usual suspects in some kind of descending order.

Thanks
 
The only way to go toe out is to bend the drag link. Certain draglinks are unbendable.
 
Wouldn't bending a tie rod or drag link necessarily shorten the distance between the two ends and cause toe in since they mount to the knuckles in front of the axle?
 
Bigmac said:
Wouldn't bending a tie rod or drag link necessarily shorten the distance between the two ends and cause toe in since they mount to the knuckles in front of the axle?
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The factory style drag link bends out forward in front of the tie rod. If you push that bend into a rock hard enough, you will straighten out that bend. When that bend gets straightened out, the tires spread apart because the drag link just got longer from point to point.
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jjvw said:
The factory style drag link bends out forward in front of the tie rod. If you push that bend into a rock hard enough, you will straighten out that bend. When that bend gets straightened out, the tires spread apart because the drag link just got longer from point to point.
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Ah, check zero that makes sense. I was mainly considering the tie rod, and only the drag link as viewed strictly from the front of the rig. More or less just forgot the drag link wasn't straight to begin with.
 
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Something happening to cause more toe-out is a big mystery to me too. I can't figure out what would cause that. Have you actually measured your toe-in and verified that? Looks can be deceiving.
 
Here you go...

I have done the ZJ tie rod "upgrade" After another cup of coffee, I'll take a better look at the drag link. But, right now, nothing looks amiss. I understand Jerry about the looks being deceiving. I did measure, then I measured with the tires off, in case of bent rims. I went rotor to rotor (lugnuts on snug). It was, ahem, more than an inch toe out.

While this may remain mostly a mystery, I was also asking about generalities. For others that come along here. The bow in the drag link was something that I had not considered.


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Sidebar question- I am using two pieces of uni-strut (C channel) cut to 33" and tightened on to my rotor. When you measure for your DIY alignment, you should compare the front side to back side measurements of the MIDDLE of the front tires. In order to get the 1/8" to 1/4" that I need, how much if any, should I factor in that I am measuring at the rotor versus middle-to-middle? Not much, if any, due to wheel offset, backspacing and all of that, it's too hard to say, so just go with 1/8" to 1/4" anyways?
 
@dbbd1 Width doesn’t matter. Just measure at the width of the rotor.

use a bar 24” long (12” in font of center of hub and 12” behind). Toe in 1/8”.

1/4” is too much.
 
JMT said:
@dbbd1 Width doesn’t matter. Just measure at the width of the rotor.

use a bar 24” long (12” in font of center of hub and 12” behind). Toe in 1/8”.

1/4” is too much.
Click to expand...

Okay, can do.
The strut I cut to 33" because my tires are 33" From a geometry point of view, it will matter slightly, since there is a small degree of angle and not parallel. But, yes, it is very slight. I was just curious what others than myself that like things very precise thought.
 
For toe-in, tire size means absolutely nothing. Using a set of 24" bars, set to 1/8". Using 36" bars, set to 3/16" (which should be close enough on your 33" struts).

You might want to verify that the struts you are using are perfectly straight. Lay one against the other to see if they're perfectly parallel. Then roll one of the struts 90° and check again. Compare them every possibly way. Sometimes, "perfectly straight" tools are not quite straight, and a 1/16" slight curve on one, when you're trying to measure 1/8", is too much.
 
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