I was reading the other thread on here about adjusting caster and just thought about this question i wanted to ask for about 5 months now.

When i inspected the jeep after buying it, i noticed the lower control arms are adjusted differently on each side. One has a thicker shim than the other. Almost as if one side's bolt is all the way back in the slot and the other side is in the middle of the slot. Could there be a reason for this or aren't they supposed to be the same?

 

Hmm... I would assume they should be the same. I just adjusted mine to make sure they were the same inside the sleeve. Unfortunately, I broke off one of the bolts on the driver's side sleeve, so I had to cut my losses and get it as close as I could. But they were pretty far off.

 

They should be pretty close but they dont have to be the same. The jig the unibody was welded on had a slight variation in it's tightness I am told. The earlier XJs were closer toleranced than the later ones. Could be the care that the older AMC employees had vs the DC employees. Could be the jig was worn out by the 2000-2001 Jeeps. IDK but there are definite differences as I have read about this before.

 

a 5/8" difference?

 

im not getting what you are talkin about, got pics???

 

I have read up to 3/4", so 5/8" is not unreasonable to hear about.

 

When aligning the front end on a Jeep or any vehicle in most cases you don't want the caster to be the same. You want the right side to be a few tenths of a degree positive (further foward) to the lift side, this compensates for road crown. most roads crown to the right, if both sides were dead even your vehicle would pull or drift to the right in most cases because it is following the crown.

 

That's what mine does. The passenger side bolt is further forward. That's why i'm confused. Alignment is dead on 1/8" toe in. I've always had this pull since i bought it.

 

You may get a tiny bit of increased tire wear but add a 1/16" to that toe in and it will track better. Old Taxicab trick.