How to align your Jeep Wrangler TJ

mike d said:
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here is a update , i took pics of the toe plates as i used them to show those of you who are interested in them, very simple had results in less than 3 minutes without lifting jeep of the ground.
1 set plate on each front tire
2 run a tape measure from pass side to drive side under the jeep in front of the tires and behind the tires
3 on drivers side support the toe plate with a weighted object if your alone, or have someone hold the plate firmly on the tire. set the tapes in the lower hole on front and rear of the toe plates
4 go back to the pass side and insert the tapes into the lower holes on the toe plates ,( same as the drivers side) and hold slight pressure on the tapes to get rid of any slack in the tapes, take your measurements
5 you will notice the front tape in the pic reads 76 3/8" and the rear tape reads 77 1/4" telling you the toe is in almost a full inch, way to much .. move your tie rod lengths to desired toe and recheck until you get what toe setting your looking for. its a real simple , very quick way to take an accurate measurement of your toe.
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Thanks for the update and the pics!
 
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I recently aligned mine with 4ft levels......worked great.
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Bird said:
I recently aligned mine with 4ft levels......worked great. View attachment 41593
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I have been doing it that way too, but I am intrigued about doing it on the floor with the weight and air pressures of the tires installed. I may try it both ways and see if there is a difference and if there is how much. It's only 50 bucks for the tool and I have two TJ's.
 
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ac_ said:
I have been doing it that way too, but I am intrigued about doing it on the floor with the weight and air pressures of the tires installed. I may try it both ways and see if there is a difference and if there is how much. It's only 50 bucks for the tool and I have two TJ's.
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will be curious to see your results .
 
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mike d said:
will be curious to see your results .
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Just ordered the Longacre plates. So I will try it both ways and see how it goes. I have a lot of projects coming up,(SYE, Currie Control Arms, on order) so it maybe be a few weeks. plus we are starting to get into triple digits, but I have purchased all of the parts for upgrade my steering to the zj stuff, so when I get to it, I will measure it on the jacks without the wheels, then I will adjust it, and then recheck it with the plates and see if there is any differences.
 
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Chris said:
X2. Assuming you have C load range tires, I'd put them around 26 psi and no more. Anymore than that and it's going to ride like crap.
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CodaMan and Chris - this is the single greatest piece of advice I've found since buying my TJ a year ago! I just went out and aired down from about 34 psi to 26 and took a drive. My God. The difference in ride quality is amazing - from stiff and rattly to soft and smooth (31" BFG KO2s Load Range C).

Almost makes me think I don't need those new shocks . . . almost. Thanks fellas. :)
 
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RustyCage said:
CodaMan and Chris - this is the single greatest piece of advice I've found since buying my TJ a year ago! I just went out and aired down from about 34 psi to 26 and took a drive. My God. The difference in ride quality is amazing - from stiff and rattly to soft and smooth (31" BFG KO2s Load Range C).

Almost makes me think I don't need those new shocks . . . almost. Thanks fellas. :)
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I'd be willing to bet you there's a large number of people out there (not just TJ owners either) who are running a psi that is much to high. This is one of those things that once you get turned onto it, you wonder why you weren't doing it all along. It's amazing how much of a difference in ride quality the right tire pressure makes!
 
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Chris said:
I'd be willing to bet you there's a large number of people out there (not just TJ owners either) who are running a psi that is much to high. This is one of those things that once you get turned onto it, you wonder why you weren't doing it all along. It's amazing how much of a difference in ride quality the right tire pressure makes!
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Dead simple too. Don't know why the shop that mounted them had 'em so high.

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RustyCage said:
Dead simple too. Don't know why the shop that mounted them had 'em so high.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
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Nearly all tire shops seem to put way too much air in them. I always have to explicitly tell them to set the tires at 26 psi. If I don't, the'll put them at 40 psi or something ridiculous.
 
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Chris said:
Nearly all tire shops seem to put way too much air in them. I always have to explicitly tell them to set the tires at 26 psi. If I don't, the'll put them at 40 psi or something ridiculous.
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You know I have had so many problems with discount tires getting my wheels balanced that I finally went to 4wheel parts and they got it right the first time, but my air pressures were all over the place from 30 to 48. I always check my psi after getting tire work. It sucks because I have a balancer and tire machine for my motorcycles and quads but nothing for vehicles. I am still looking for a good place to get tire work done. I mean 4wheel parts actually balanced it right the first time but they are super hard to deal with. Discount is really easy to deal with but they do a crappy job. I need someone right in between for tire work. I am not sure why tire work seems to be so hard for people to do.

BTW I got my longacre plates today so I am getting close to doing my zj upgrade soon. I will post it up stay tuned!
 
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ac_ said:
You know I have had so many problems with discount tires getting my wheels balanced that I finally went to 4wheel parts and they got it right the first time, but my air pressures were all over the place from 30 to 48. I always check my psi after getting tire work. It sucks because I have a balancer and tire machine for my motorcycles and quads but nothing for vehicles. I am still looking for a good place to get tire work done. I mean 4wheel parts actually balanced it right the first time but they are super hard to deal with. Discount is really easy to deal with but they do a crappy job. I need someone right in between for tire work. I am not sure why tire work seems to be so hard for people to do.

BTW I got my longacre plates today so I am getting close to doing my zj upgrade soon. I will post it up stay tuned!
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I always check my air pressure after leaving a tire place. Discount Tire always gets my wheels balanced correctly, but they are rarely ever accurate with the tire pressures. I guess it varies from Discount Tire to Discount Tire though. My local one is really good!
 
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Another thumbs up for Discount! They always get me done right, including pressure. I’m very specific
 
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This is awesome! I'm going home to fix my alignment wth this trick. In regards to the tire pressures, I found the PO had them really high at about 46 psi! The tires are toyo open country 305/70/16. They said load range E. I lowered the psi to only about 40 all around and already it's a softer ride. Any resources or tips in regards to the correct psi for bigger than stock tires on our jeeps?
 
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Schwifty Rich said:
This is awesome! I'm going home to fix my alignment wth this trick. In regards to the tire pressures, I found the PO had them really high at about 46 psi! The tires are toyo open country 305/70/16. They said load range E. I lowered the psi to only about 40 all around and already it's a softer ride. Any resources or tips in regards to the correct psi for bigger than stock tires on our jeeps?
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40 PSI still seems high to me, but I am curious to see what others will say!
 
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Schwifty Rich said:
This is awesome! I'm going home to fix my alignment wth this trick. In regards to the tire pressures, I found the PO had them really high at about 46 psi! The tires are toyo open country 305/70/16. They said load range E. I lowered the psi to only about 40 all around and already it's a softer ride. Any resources or tips in regards to the correct psi for bigger than stock tires on our jeeps?
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40 is way way way too high for those 33X12 tires. Start at around 26 for those load range E stiffies.
 
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CodaMan said:
40 is way way way too high for those 33X12 tires. Start at around 26 for those load range E stiffies.
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Alright, I will. Thanks for the help!

I assume in order to really fine tune it I would need to do some kind of Chalk testing or driving over a puddle and watching how the tread shows up?
 
Schwifty Rich said:
...I assume in order to really fine tune it I would need to do some kind of Chalk testing or driving over a puddle and watching how the tread shows up?
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Na, not really. A chalk test is not very accurate. Jeeps are really light and those tires should wear really well around 26 psi.
 
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