Camber off causing steering issues

Jwhite said:
I will have the shop measure the lower front control arms to confirm they are identical in length. It’s possible the right side is half a turn short because 1. The caster is lower on that side 2. The right side grease fitting is facing up and the left side grease fitting is facing down.
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That caster difference is just how the axle is. If you try to lengthen or shorten one all that does is put the arm under compression or tension trying to twist the axle tube.

On vehicles with independent suspension where some of these parameters are adjustable independently, they will intentionally set caster and/or camber differently to compensate for road crown (so you track straight instead of always having to steer left to stay out of the ditch). It's possible your axle took a hit on the driver side and bent the inner C and gave you that extra camber, giving you the too much of that road crown compensation effect.

The fix to get your camber back into spec is the offset ball joints @NskLJ suggested above. We can't guarantee that's the only thing influencing your issue but it's a possibility.
 
Jwhite said:
I agree with you on the camber. The problem is camber is not adjustable so I will have to figure out why the numbers are out of spec. I am taking the car to another reputable Jeep shop and hopefully they figure out what’s wrong.
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Camber is adjustable. https://www.spcalignment.com/index....part_description&pid=26012&Submit_form=Submit

The 0.5-degree shim will get the job done for you. They do make a 1.0-degree shim as well.

Be sure to torque the three hub bolts back down to 75ft/lbs we you reinstall.
 
I took it to the new shop and they said the the press in control arm bushings are the originals and completely worn. They also said that the original drag link and tie rod are worn too. He recommended the zj steering upgrade but I insisted the I use the Currie currectlync steering kit. Is this okay?
 
Jwhite said:
I took it to the new shop and they said the the press in control arm bushings are the originals and completely worn. They also said that the original drag link and tie rod are worn too. He recommended the zj steering upgrade but I insisted the I use the Currie currectlync steering kit. Is this ok
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Fix one thing at a time; ball joints.
The ZJ tie rod is an effective cheap upgrade.
IMO, Currie would be overkill at this point.
 
Ball joints are fine I replaced those probably 10,000 miles ago and they checked them. Car also needs to be realigned. He noticed the front track bar was not set properly right away. Zj upgrade costs the same as the Currie and I rather have the currie even though I know it’s overkill.
 
Jwhite said:
Ball joints are fine I replaced those probably 10,000 miles ago and they checked them. Car also needs to be realigned. He noticed the front track bar was not set properly right away. Zj upgrade costs the same as the Currie and I rather have the currie even though I know it’s overkill.
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The ZJ upgrade is nowhere near the cost of the Currie. I have the Currie set up on my TJ. I just put the ZJ setup on my kids XJ and it was 1/3 of the cost.
And, with 2.5 inches of lift, you may have to modify the Currie setup to fit.
 
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Jwhite said:
If I were to adjust the right lower control arm half a turn to try to increase the caster to match the left side more, is it fine to do with the car on the ground or will the axle roll backwards and prevent me from reinstalling it?
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The difference between left and right side caster is minimal and is not going to cause an issue. Don't mess with it.
I would install a .75 degree offset upper ball joint on the driver side to bring camber into spec.
Check the bushings on the front axle. also check your rear control arm bushings. Are you rear arms adjustable?
 
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williambmac said:
The difference between left and right side caster is minimal and is not going to cause an issue. Don't mess with it.
I would install a .75 degree offset upper ball joint on the driver side to bring camber into spec.
Check the bushings on the front axle. also check your rear control arm bushings. Are you rear arms adjustable?
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The shop didn’t recommend messing with the camber even though I mentioned using a .5 degree camber shim kit. All control arms are brand new and they will be realigning the whole car
 
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