Bbasso

I had a wheel alignment done this morning and the mechanic said that my rear is bent just on the passenger side- toed in. but the other side was ok.

What are the chances of bending the rear? (I drive easy, only been offroad once with me and the previous owner never got it dirty.)
What else should I be looking for instead of a bent housing?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

ktmracer419

A wheel could be bent a little, also check for a spun tube. Also, if your housing is bent enough for it to show up on an alignment rack, the wheel bearings would have quite the side load on them and the outside of the housing should be heating up a bit more than the other side after a long trip.

My general rule of thumb is if you can't slide an axle shaft in there easily, you have an issue, lol.

Bbasso

Should I try another place for the measurements?
What's the likelyhood that the mechanic some how messed up getting the current measurements?

With the basic tools, how can I test to see what is actually wrong?

Bbasso

so you could see:

ktmracer419

thrust angle is the angle of the rear tires in relation to the front tire location/body of the jeep.

this often happens when people install lifts and the leaf spring center pin misses the hole or something. If it drives down the road fine and the suspension isnt sagging more on one side than the other, and nothing looks broken i honestly wouldnt worry about it.

What kind of shop did the alignment? Unfortunately, many shops also employ idiots.

nowhereman98

Check your front leaf spring bushings and your u-bolts. Maybe your axle slid back. Have someone fallow you to see if the Jeep dog tracks.

Gee oh Dee

The other side would've been off as well, not just one side.

Bbasso

the place that installed my lift has been using the wheel alignment shop for a long time with min to no complaints. When I spoke to the older gentleman who did the alignment, he came across as knowledgeable but kept words to a min.

Ok, So I get a friend to drive behind and look for the dogleg.
I'll check the suspension but what are the tell tale signs I need to look for?

Bbasso

leaf spring center pins are sitting correctly...
no wobble from wheels.

BNJeepsta

Measure from the inside of one rear tire to the other rear tire in front of the axle. Then do the same behind the axle. If they are the same then dude is full of crap.

dan8yourv8

in my opinion if the center pins are good and the bushings are good and the u bolts are tight then its good but if the tube is bent then the wheel bearing would be noisy as ****. and if it was the axle shaft that was bent then still the wheel bearing would still be messed up the brake shoes would be oddly worn so.. idk stuff would wear down a lot quicker and you would notice multiple things going wrong.. could have been that the alignment head was not set tightly and all the way down against the wheel. i would take it some where and get one of them "FREE" alignment checks and see what they come up with. besides that it looks like you need them adjustable ball joints for the front to fix that camber

dan8yourv8

keep us posted i would like to know what the problem ends up being

Bbasso

I'll be sure to update as I know.

Bbasso

I had some time today, so I went to two places that offered free wheel alignment checks.
Both places said that my Jeep was dog legging because the rear was forward on the passenger side.
I made an appt tomorrow with the place who did the suspension install and told them of the problem and fix. He didn't seem too happy that I found fault with the install.
oh well.

I'll report back tomorrow.

rompnXJ

yeah, that'll do it.. a thrust angle like that will cause it to dogtrack pretty hard.
also, tell em to spend a little more time on your alignment next time; not only did the guy not bother to save the before measurements, but your RF wheel toe is just BARELY in spec. if he'd have printed it in bar graph mode youd see the arrow right up against the edge instead of centered between max/min specification.