andrewenglish

Took my Jeep in to get an alignment after my lift today...

Camber on driver's side, front, is -1.1. The factory tolerance range is -.8. I am running 33" tires. I am wondering... can worn ball joints affect this? Or a bent C? Or is it really just that I have a bent axle?

I am out of time and cash to work on this vehicle, I don't know what I'm going to do at this point...

Anybody else have to deal with this ****?

andrewenglish

This is my alignment sheet BTW:

Black89

Lets start with this.....

Any ASE certified mechanic that does alignments and saw something out of wack that far should have looked for a cause. Which with the front being on slip plates would it would have been real easy to check the ball joints. A simple pry bar through the wheel and some pressure would show changes on the the machine at which point he should have stopped and said I can't do this with out new ball joints being installed. Second the hubs should have also been checked as well for wear as they can show slop in the same way and set the readings off. Find a new shop that knows what they are doing and go back to that place and get your money back because your rig should have never left the rack until was fixed and set right. And if the "other shops go there" they are all getting screwed.

andrewenglish

That's a damn good point. Disappointing because they have such good reviews and every time I dealt with them (before I decided to learn how to maintain my new Jeep), they were upfront, honest, and affordable. Crap.

I mean, they suggested looking into ball joints first to solve the problem (they didn't say anything about hubs though) so there's that. At least.

Black89

Worn hub bearings are going to throw the camber off. Not a lot but enough. I was an alignment guy for several years and used a Hunter system, my dad was also a certified GM and Chrysler mechanic for 38 years and was an alignment specialist on the Hunter systems as well. I just went through my whole front axle on my old 89' and will be putting in a new set of hubs this weekend. I had had a buddy align it after I put four new ball joints in because the steering wheel ended up a little off and my camber reading was just about out of spec on one side and right on the border on the other side. With a bar in the wheel we were able to get that number back into the spec range. I knew hubs with new bearings where needed considering the chassis has 245K on it.

BlueRidgeMark

It's your fault.


Well, you and guys like you.


Posts like this are why I read random threads on this forum. I learn tons of stuff that I wouldn't have learned otherwise, and it all gets filed away for future reference. Now, if I have an alighment done and camber is way off the shop tells me I need a new axle, I know better. I know there are things that might be done to salvage it.

jbsjunk

The numbers look fine and the cross camber/caster is good. Just the camber is a fuzz out. I do these for a living and usually find that the ball joints are worn a bit. Everything may check out tight, and both sides are out the same, but just out of spec. Leave it alone if nothing else is amiss and drives good.

Black89

I put my new hubs in this morning and took it to my buddies shop and put it back on the rack. Camber is right on the nuts again! Right hub had to have the axle pounded out of it and the hub actually fell into two parts after it was taken off. Left hub slid right off the axle but the bearings where rough. 65 MPH and the front end is nice and smooth with no vibrations anymore.

andrewenglish

It drives really nicely after the alignment... She's very stable and doesn't fight me anymore. The thing I'm concerned about is tire wear... I'm sitting on a set of brand new BFG AT 33"s and I want to get the most out of 'em. I'm worried that the camber will screw with my tire wear