Post lower control arm alignment

A

akajibio

TJ Enthusiast
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Nov 20, 2021
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162
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las vegas nevada
I just adjusted the front control arms lower and upper and got an alignment, any feedback is much appreciated.
I am worried about too much castor! Any thoughts ?

EAC11F02-B7B8-4A94-A1D1-E00706129D37.jpeg
 
With 35s I shoot for 5 degrees, so it's more than you need but the caster isn't going to hurt if you like the way it drives. I'm surprised you can run that much caster with that much lift and not have vibrations from the front driveshaft.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
With 35s I shoot for 5 degrees, so it's more than you need but the caster isn't going to hurt if you like the way it drives. I'm surprised you can run that much caster with that much lift and not have vibrations from the front driveshaft.
Click to expand...
I think the reason for no vibration maybe due to leaving dropped transfer case mount
 
Maybe a little hard on u-joints but if you are vibration free, run it!
 
Nothing looks like it needs to be changed.

If I felt like worrying about something it would be the left front camber being red. Not that it's a huge deal but there are potential reasons for that.

Not the best alignment set up which could make the other numbers somewhat inaccurate.

A bent front axle that you'll never notice and may never get worse.

Some ball joint issue which may or may not get worse any time soon depending on brand, age and/or preventative greasing.

Heck, I don't even like my front camber being at -0.2 and -0.3 even though that's right about the middle of the tolerance.
I will admit that for some reason I'm obsessed with thinking the straight axle camber numbers should be 0.0 with no tolerance allowed.

Just for everyone else's safety, I'll follow up with:

Nothing looks like it needs to be changed.
 
Don't read into those numbers too much, i went to 4 different Pepboys locations for alignment in 1 week just to satisfy my curiosity:
  • Initial read at PB#1.
    • front numbers in red but drives straight like a champ.
    • rear all green, 0.1* thrust angle to the left
    • next day brought back to get alignment done - all numbers in green but started to pull to the right.
  • Took it to PB#2 to get a read,
    • told me that alignment is completely off
    • next day PB#2 did the alignment, but interestingly their front left and right numbers were inverted compare to PB#1.
    • still pulling right.
  • Took it to PB#3 to get a reading,
    • my shit is all red, "yah dude, it is off, we can get you taken care of right now"
    • next day PB#3 matches front numbers with PB#1, but rear axle thrust is now in red, off by 0.28* to the right
    • rear numbers are inverted from PB#1
    • After 5 minutes of convincing them that my rear can be adjusted, they say that master alignment has to come in to do it.
    • no longer pulling right.
  • Took it to PB#4 to get it aligned, told them about the rear
    • front numbers are kaput, bleeding red
    • rear axle thrust is now reading "straight" at 0.08* to the left.
    • They set front to what ever, rear untouched
I decided to end it at PB#4, told them about my experience and giggled at their confused faces. They took me to their machine, showed me everything, i told them that i get it but i am not making this up and showed them alignment print outs from previous shops.
 
eastbloc said:
Don't read into those numbers too much, i went to 4 different Pepboys locations for alignment in 1 week just to satisfy my curiosity:
  • Initial read at PB#1.
    • front numbers in red but drives straight like a champ.
    • rear all green, 0.1* thrust angle to the left
    • next day brought back to get alignment done - all numbers in green but started to pull to the right.
  • Took it to PB#2 to get a read,
    • told me that alignment is completely off
    • next day PB#2 did the alignment, but interestingly their front left and right numbers were inverted compare to PB#1.
    • still pulling right.
  • Took it to PB#3 to get a reading,
    • my shit is all red, "yah dude, it is off, we can get you taken care of right now"
    • next day PB#3 matches front numbers with PB#1, but rear axle thrust is now in red, off by 0.28* to the right
    • rear numbers are inverted from PB#1
    • After 5 minutes of convincing them that my rear can be adjusted, they say that master alignment has to come in to do it.
    • no longer pulling right.
  • Took it to PB#4 to get it aligned, told them about the rear
    • front numbers are kaput, bleeding red
    • rear axle thrust is now reading "straight" at 0.08* to the left.
    • They set front to what ever, rear untouched
I decided to end it at PB#4, told them about my experience and giggled at their confused faces. They took me to their machine, showed me everything, i told them that i get it but i am not making this up and showed them alignment print outs from previous shops.
Click to expand...
That’s because an alignment is only as good as the guy setting it up. Sloppy set up will result in off numbers.
 
How much is your transfer case drop? Crazy that with a 6” lift and your amount of caster that you have no Drive shaft vibrations. If it works then better to not ask why, plus there is a good chance you may cause some vibrations by changing that pinion angle.
 
Right! I don’t know! Maybe I’m not diagnosing my vibs right! I’ll probably go ahead and back off the castor in favor of the pinion angle as stated a million times….lol. Thank you .
 
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