Isra

I'm looking to buy a '95 Cherokee 4.0 4x4 Manual but I think the alignment might be off a little. How can I check to see if it will be a big problem?

klees

well you can place your wheels straight and see where the steerin wheel is, whether its straight or its turnin to either side...take a test drive on a straight road and drive it straight and let go and see if it goes straight or not...hope this out with ya

truckntractorhick

look at how the tires have worn

BuckB91XJ

Don't let the front end alignment being off, stop you from buying an XJ at a good price. There really is very little front end alignment adjustment built into the XJ front end. You can adjust the front tire toe with the tie rod end adjustment. that's about it. If your XJ is lifted and has adjustable upper and lower control arms, you have a little bit of castor adjustment ability but, you don't have this with OEM control arms. If your XJ wanders off the road when you let go of the steering wheel, it has brake, wheel bearing or front suspension bushing issues that need to be addressed. None of these issues are very expensive to fix, though. I wouldn't let front end alignment ever be a show stopper at getting an XJ for a good price.

truckntractorhick

agreed! my current XJ had the worst alignment possible lol when i drove it home, i let go of the steering wheel and almost went into a ditch cause it yanked so hard! but all fixed now!

BuckB91XJ

When my son and I went to buy his 87 XJ I found out on the way home in a washington rain storm that the balljoint at the top of the trackbar was so warn it was all I could to keep it between the ditches at highway speed plus add to that, driving at night with no dash lights in a strange vehicle.......LMAO.......it was a very interesting trip that I don't want to repeat anytime soon. His XJ is all good now and at $600 it was a steal of a deal!!!!!!

truckntractorhick

nice work! i drove mine home with no lights period!!! lol redneck flashlight out the window!!! haha

tburda

Steering wheel alignment isnt a good way. Wheels can get off alignment after a while especially on older vehicles if they've had a few alignments, the wheel may be slightly cocked but the wheels are aligned. Alignments are aligning both of the tires correctly (toe, caster, camber) not the wheels to the steering wheel. The best way to find out when you're looking at buying is to take it for a good test drive. Just like everyone said take it for a ride down a FLAT straight stretch, let go of the wheel about 45 mph (CAREFULLY!) and see if you have any shimmy, pull, etc. The only downside to this is mismatched tires, bad tire pressure or a PREVIOUSLY BAD alignment that as abnormally worn tires can cause all the same symptoms of a bad alignment. The biggest thing with an XJ to look for is death wobble. Normally it's a fairly easily fixed problem. Mine needs a steering knuckle replaced due to a worn tie rod bolt hole which makes mine pull on braking and on some bumps.

There are ways to check "redneck alignment" to see exactly.

If your camber is off...have fun. The wheels will either tilt in or out top to bottom.

Toe is the relation left right.

caster is the adjustment front to back. If everything is stock on it, the odds of this adjustment being off should be a million to one.

I'm still kinda new to the XJ's hopefully some other people can chime in here and help me.

MY xj has terrible negative camber. My balljoints are non adjustable, i have no way to adjust camber. I'm going to have to swap all my balljoints out to adjustable balljoints from mopar that fit my axles. I DONT KNOW if other years older cherokees have camber adjustment. The cost for me to correct this is going to be approximately 325 dollars just for the balljoints. Once i put them in (no labor since im doing the work) it's going to be another 50 to have it put on an alignment rack and aligned properly.

My negative camber is caused by my lift. So if you're stock suspension you shouldnt have much to worry about, outside of toe adjustment, which can be VERY CLOSELY adjusted at home with some levels, and a tape measure, and basic hand tools. There are write up's everywhere on the internet on how to do this. If you dont want to tackle that yourself, belle tire does a great job for a simple 49 bucks for a front end alignment.

like these guys said dont let a bad alignment scare you away.

BuckB91XJ

Caster and Camber is not adjustable with a stock XJ. If your Jeep appears to have bad camber...I.E. tires stick out more at the bottom, most likely your balljoints are worn. If your caster appears to be off, you most likely have worn control arm bushings. If you can't adjust your toe to make it correct, then you probably have worn tierod ends. There is a sleeve on the upper part of your draglink where you can adjust to center your steering wheel.

tburda

This is what i thought. I wasnt sure on all years and models if some were made with adjustable control arms or anything. Caster and Camber issues on these trucks suck. Toe in/out is no big whoopee at all though.