Hey all,

I'm needing an alignment and one place says they will do a free read out before they dig into anything.
I have a 3 link currently and I was curious if there is a way to take the print out and make adjustments myself?

 

If you make an adjustment, how will you confirm the measurement?
There are dozens of videos showing DIY toe/caster/camber adjustments using string and measuring tapes.
And if you scroll down to Related Topics there are more posts of others doing just this^^^^^^

 

There are dozens of youtube videos showing how to. That's what I did and it worked great.

 

I might not have worded this that well. I have seen many driveway alignment videos, I was hoping for a bit more accuracy.
I'll try to clarify what I'm thinking. To my understanding an alignment rack will uses lasers to take specific measurements, as to the vehicles current alignment. That read out will then be expressed in degrees, (I could be wrong), and if it is in degrees, could I manage to take this read out and convert the degrees to mm/inches? I'm hoping I could get a read out and then make the needed adjustments based on this, or can that feedback only be seen on the machine and shown in the green once things are moved into an acceptable range?

 

The alignment shops clamp lasers to your wheel rims, and read castor, camber and toe-in in degrees and mm

Its good to have an accurate printout, which they give you

Toe-in is probably the only thing they would adjust on an XJ cause its easy

Castor requires more work

Camber is not readily adjustable on XJ, although special parts can be fitted, but I cant see why you would need to

As others have said, it is possible to measure ( and adjust) these things yourself, see Youtube etc

 

Either do it yourself or take it to a shop that specializes in Jeeps or 4wds. A regular alignment shop will NOT fix the alignment correctly on a lifted Jeep.

 

Well I was hoping that if I could get the print out to read how much adjustment needed to be made, that I could then just add or subtract the appropriate amount of mm. For caster Ive just used a magnetic level and brought my pinions to spec for the appropriate lift, though the front diff is a compromise for reducing vibes and achieving good caster. As for toe Ive always used angle iron that Ive bolted to the hubs, cut to even length from center, leveled out and made adjustments from measuring at both ends. For camber we cant do much anyway so I have never tried looking into it really.
I have seen the IRO video where he uses a string, that only gets you so far, and that is great if your if your frame is square. Many years ago this jeep had an impact on the front and things are probably a little off, plus a lot of twisting from wheeling likely has changed the chassis over the years.
The thrust angle is one reason I wanted to see a read out, and to see how the front axle is aligned with the track bar. If I could get a good read on how the axles are currently sitting that would be ideal. The leaf bushings need to be replaced before I even consider taking it in.

After calling a few shops I was quoted anywhere from 109-300$+ depending on how much they have to do to make adjustments. My arms do not have adjustable ends at both ends, only body side, hence why I was hopeful on getting a read out and attempting this myself. That and saving some coin on some other emissions fixes I just learned of.


I know its always easier to just dump this on shop and say here ya go fix it, But even after all these years, I'm still on here learning and trying to do everything I can myself.

 

my local shop charges $55 to measure everything, give you a printout (and adjust toe-in), but $105 p/h for any additional work

the prices you quote seem excessive

 

IMO, having that kind of precision measurement "before" does little if you can't achieve the same kind of precision measurement "after".

Alignment shops typically offer a Warranty/Guaranty so if it's not right, they will do it again. If it goes out of alignment, they'll redo it (short of some kind of crash).

I do my "driveway" alignment whenever I replace a steering component (tre, trac bar, etc.) then off to the shop to get it done right.

 

Well I cant argue with that, I was just curious if anyone else was as stubborn as I to do it themselves. Perhaps itll be best to find a shop thatll have a good price. I cant recall where I read once, that they can kinda fudge the numbers to make the vehicle appear that its in spec, is there any truth to this?

 

There is problems of accuracy of your own measurements for several reasons, which I will allow y'all to DYOR if you dont believe me

So thats sometimes why I do a before and after shop measurement. I dont think its a huge deal on an XJ, but I have another vehicle, a known steering problem child, where everything is adjustable by shims, so I get a baseline measurement, do the adjustments myself (instead of $105 per hour), then take it back to make sure its spot on

The final laser measurement does differ from my final measurements sometimes

 

An alignment shop can have issues too, simply due to how well they attached to the wheels. It's pretty laughable seeing a claimed precision to +/- 0.005 degrees. On a back of the napkin calculation, I get toe-in changing by 0.02 degrees from a hot to a cold day, due to the tie rod expanding.

 

I wouldn't expect that kind of accuracy from a lifted cherokee but it would be nice seeing what it drives like in that good of an alignment.

 

I will second that you need to take it to a specialist 4x4 shop. When I was new to the jeep world I had a shop try and do an alglingement and they said they couldn’t. Maybe it’s cause I had multiple worn out front end parts. They didn’t even mention those parts when they they tried to hose me for other repairs that weren’t actually necessary. Get a pro to do it but make sure your front end is solid first. Then consider an at home driveway alignment.