Passenger rear camber out of spec

Alex05

Alex05

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 18, 2020
Messages
128
Location
Madison, WI
I recently had alignment checked on my '05 Unlimited, and I discovered that my passenger rear camber is at -0.6°. Evidently this is out of spec, but I can't find anything official from Chrysler and so I am just operating on the range given to me by my local shop. For context, driver rear camber is at -0.3°, and front alignment was in spec (total toe was dead-on spec at 0.30°).
I understand that rear axle alignment is non-adjustable. What leads to rear camber falling out of spec (is this actually out of spec?), and is this something I should address?

The only speculation I have is that the old lady original owner reported a low-speed rear end collision. I was told it was in a parking lot. It was repaired at the dealership she bought the vehicle from, and in my three times under it while on a lift I have seen no trace of damage.
 
Thank you! This confirms that the passenger rear camber is out of spec, at least as it was measured. No idea if this was performed: Before each alignment reading the vehicle should be jounced (rear first, then front). Grasp each bumper at the center and jounce the vehicle up and down three times. Always release the bumper in the down position. The wheel camber angle is preset. This angle is not adjustable and cannot be altered.
 
Since the alignment is measured by attaching the alignment tool to the rim; I would remove the rim and rotate the axle to see if the axle flange is bent causing the bad camber measurement.
 
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i.e. rotate the axle, measure camber again to determine if this ^ is bent? Seems easy enough!
Though, I can't imagine any event that would have occurred in my ownership to cause that, and pretty sure the old lady wasn't going wheeling.
 
Before you do too much I'd have it remeasured

Its very possible that with our larger tires they didn't place the measurement tools in the correct area to sit flat. I've had this happen twice.
 
What instructions can I give my shop in order to potentially get a more accurate measurement? If something is bent for whatever reason, I want to know. It's tricky telling a mechanic how to do their job, though, and I'm not about to trust my own home measurement. Alignment work is truly baffling in it's potential complexity, at least to me.
 
First I'd air your tires up more than you normally would and make sure it is 100% equal across all four tires.

It really depends on the type of alignment machine they are using.. But it needs to be flat against the rims. In my case they were catching the lip of the tire on one side throwing it off. It was saying I was 3 degrees off.

I don't think I'd really be worried about a .6 of a degree if it was myself.
 
It's not out of spec enough to worry about. And it would have to be a bent axle housing, not a bent hub flange if its camber is truly enough out of spec to worry about. If it was a bent hub flange its camber, toe-in, and thrust angle would go back & forth as the wheel was spun.
 
Thanks all! I'll just take a measurement again next year. My main concern and reason for reaching out was that the rear passenger measured significantly different than the rear driver, whereas every other measurement was very close. But it sounds like there are some external variables that can play into alignment readings in this scenario. Jerry, I feel confident that neither myself nor the original owner managed to bend the entire Dana 44 axle housing. That would be...extraordinary.
I'm always impressed at the level of knowledge and responses in this forum, even on little questions like this.
 
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