Calling all Camber and Caster Gurus: Help!

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DeuceLJ

New Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2024
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Location
Georgia
Hey Yall,

I finally saved up to buy “new” Dana 44s for my LJ and after throwing them on the Jeep, I’ve had some serious trouble with steering wheel shake and bump steer.

I have Rock Krawler adjustable control arms, JKS track bars, and CavFab 1 ton steering; all were perfectly fine on my Dana 30. Ball joints are brand new from Teraflex and all bushings show no sign of significant wear.

I took it to a shop to get it aligned and this was the “best they could possibly do” without putting new offset ball joints on it to fix the camber. They say the axle is possibly kinked but we threw a truss and sleeves on it with no sign of a bent tube. The guy that had them before me had no issues with the axles at all.

Has anyone experienced this before and what solutions would work for me to run safely down the highway?

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The bump steer is more likely from your steering linkage than the camber. The TJ steers far better with the inverted Y style linkage that it came with. Try a Rockjock Currectlync or stock steering from a V8 ZJ and I'd bet most of your issues disappear.
 
Camber isn’t great but this will more likely create tire wear issues than the behavior you are describing.

Bump steer is most likely from your steering setup. You altered the relationship between the track bar and drag link enough that they are not moving in comparable arcs anymore.

Tire shake could be tire balance, loose or over tight parts or even from driveshaft vibration transfer through the axle. Start with a tire rotation to see if any changes occur. From there give everything a good once over. You may even try pulling the driveshaft and see what happens. Could be you need to decrease caster a touch if it is the driveshaft vibrating.
 
Your caster numbers indicate possible axle bind as well- (cross caster is built in to stock design) and it is possible your axle was coerced into position -

Not really relevant to bump steer but I’m going to guess the Jeep feels “off” or unsettled to drive, you have to push against crown roads with the wheel maybe, and it generally feels a tad unpredictable.
 
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DeuceLJ said:
I took it to a shop to get it aligned and this was the “best they could possibly do”
Click to expand...

Clarify THIS statement.
What type of shop did you take it to?

I ask because most typical alignment shops are not equipped with the knowledge/experience of a set-up such as yours.

It's generally recommended that you find a shop that specializes specifically in 'offroad' style vehicles, that DOES have the know-how of your setup.
 
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