Do my camber bolts need to be adjusted after installing 4 inch lift?

[Sbaird]

Just recently finished up my 4 inch suspension lift by Rough country, I know I’ll need an alignment but I also need my camber bolts adjusted I believe. I don’t know much about how the camber bolts work or how to adjust them, I had to put new ones in because I had to cut the old ones out when replacing lower control arms. There is a decent amount of vibration I’m guessing due to the pinion angle? I have the skid plate spacer installed, so my question is, is my problem the camber bolts needing adjustment? I wouldn’t think I need adjustable control arms or that’s what the kit would have came with.

Also, just curious how the Jeep will handle after I get 33x12.5 wheels on it, right now I have 30.5x9.5 and when I have drove it I feel sorta uneasy going around turns it hoping that the wider tires with help my center of gravity and make it feel less too heavy.

 

[Tranz Zam]

I have 35x12.50s and it feels super stable around turns. The extra tire width helps a lot.

 

[Sbaird]

I have 35x12.50s and it feels super stable around turns. The extra tire width helps a lot.

Great, I figured the wider tires would help a lot

 

[someguysjeep]

if the steering is funky now it'll be funky with bigger wheels . you need to find that issue 1st.

your camber bolts are gonna be useless at 4" of lift you need to find a set of adjustable control arms at least 1 set per axle. a full compliment of 8 adjustable control arms is usually used to tame what occurs when lifting the rig 4" as well as a few other pieces i'm sure they didn't warn you about needing.

sounds like they sold you 1/2 a lift.

 

[Wheelie]

the adjustable eccentric bolts that came with your kit are for adjusting caster , not camber ... camber is non adjustable on your jeep.... Caster is the kingpin (balljoints) inclination on your front axle ... leaning the top ball joint to the rear is Positive caster , which is what you want....positive caster gives high speed stability and the steering likes to return to straight ahead by itself ... (all good things).... there are many posts on here explaining how to use an angle finder to check how much positive caster you have ... The bolts may not give you the desired amount to make your rig stable at high speeds ... with a 4" lift , you may need a set of adjustable control ams .... shorter on the top arms or longer on the bottom arms will give you more Positive caster ...usually about 5 degrees is around where you want to be ... or as others will tell you ... {as much positive caster as you can get without getting front driveshaft vibes ...) because as Caster increases , pinion angle goes the wrong way ...DOWN

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Just recently finished up my 4 inch suspension lift by Rough country, I know I’ll need an alignment but I also need my camber bolts adjusted I believe. I don’t know much about how the camber bolts work or how to adjust them, I had to put new ones in because I had to cut the old ones out when replacing lower control arms.

camber is not adjustable (without aftermarket adjustable ball joints), the bolts are for caster. TJ's have the plates on the axle end lower control arm mounts to hold an eccentric washer, but most did not come with the actual eccentric bolts to make the adjustment. If yours does happen to have the eccentric bolt/washers, it's hard to say whether they'll give you enough adjustment to get the caster where it should be as every Jeep is different. I've done 3" lifts on Jeeps where they were and when they weren't. At 4" i lean toward no but it might be possible if your mounts happen to be at the right extremes of factory tolerances.

There is a decent amount of vibration I’m guessing due to the pinion angle? I have the skid plate spacer installed, so my question is, is my problem the camber bolts needing adjustment? I wouldn’t think I need adjustable control arms or that’s what the kit would have came with.

Probably. It takes a hell of a transfer case drop to dial vibrations out of the rear without an SYE and DC driveshaft and you may not be able to get them out of the front with stock control arms, either. Unfortunately you can't assume a lift kit comes with everything you need, because they usually don't. Most of us here have pieced together our lifts out of individual components or bought lifts in the $2k+ price range to get a truly complete kit. You can pinpoint whether the vibration is coming from the front or rear by pulling one driveshaft at a time and taking it for a drive (you'll have to put it in 4-hi to drive with the rear shaft removed).

Also, just curious how the Jeep will handle after I get 33x12.5 wheels on it, right now I have 30.5x9.5 and when I have drove it I feel sorta uneasy going around turns it hoping that the wider tires with help my center of gravity and make it feel less too heavy.

Are your sway bars connected?

 

[someguysjeep]

oh yah.........that's why camber bolt sounded so dam odd at to me at 430am this mornin.

my 1st line was what the hell is a camber bolt?
but i figured it out ......................and then called it the same thing.

like mentioned those are just for minor castor adjustments.

 

[Sbaird]

camber is not adjustable (without aftermarket adjustable ball joints), the bolts are for caster. TJ's have the plates on the axle end lower control arm mounts to hold an eccentric washer, but most did not come with the actual eccentric bolts to make the adjustment. If yours does happen to have the eccentric bolt/washers, it's hard to say whether they'll give you enough adjustment to get the caster where it should be as every Jeep is different. I've done 3" lifts on Jeeps where they were and when they weren't. At 4" i lean toward no but it might be possible if your mounts happen to be at the right extremes of factory tolerances.



Probably. It takes a hell of a transfer case drop to dial vibrations out of the rear without an SYE and DC driveshaft and you may not be able to get them out of the front with stock control arms, either. Unfortunately you can't assume a lift kit comes with everything you need, because they usually don't. Most of us here have pieced together our lifts out of individual components or bought lifts in the $2k+ price range to get a truly complete kit. You can pinpoint whether the vibration is coming from the front or rear by pulling one driveshaft at a time and taking it for a drive (you'll have to put it in 4-hi to drive with the rear shaft removed).



Are your sway bars connected?

Yes they are connected, and it’s really not that bad

if the steering is funky now it'll be funky with bigger wheels . you need to find that issue 1st.

your camber bolts are gonna be useless at 4" of lift you need to find a set of adjustable control arms at least 1 set per axle. a full compliment of 8 adjustable control arms is usually used to tame what occurs when lifting the rig 4" as well as a few other pieces i'm sure they didn't warn you about needing.

sounds like they sold you 1/2 a lift.

oh yah.........that's why camber bolt sounded so dam odd at to me at 430am this mornin.

my 1st line was what the hell is a camber bolt?
but i figured it out ......................and then called it the same thing.

like mentioned those are just for minor castor adjustments.

So it sounds like I overpaid for special camber bolts when I could have just put a regular grade 8 bolt in it lol

 

[707kevin]

Just a note for OP and others that might read this setting up a lift, or bought a lifted jeep.
There is no good excuse not to have a very well behaving jeep on the highway on 33's **. It should track true, without darting, without wobbling to to death, and without twitching. It shouldn't dive or dart during turn in or at apex. It shouldn't wander. The steering should tend to return to center on it's own when underway. You should be able to drive a straight and true 75mph line with 2 fingers on the wheel. If your shop says something along the lines of "it's a lifted jeep, it will never drive good" - go somewhere else or do it yourself! It's not worth living with a mal-adjusted TJ.

** Yes, a lifted TJ can have more body roll, higher center of gravity, and a less overall stability than a stock TJ with no issues. I'm not talking about high speed track performance, but overall steering behavior.