I went to Firestone today to get my xj aligned because I had just finished my lift. Anyways I told them I had adjustable upper links to do the adjustment but when I came back later to pick up the Jeep they said they couldn't do anything about the caster angle. Right now it's sitting at 9 degrees and I don't really like that. Sooooo what's the best way if going about adjusting just my upper links without messing up the rest of everything?

 

There's your problem, lol

Find a second shop and see what they say. Did Firestone say WHY they couldn't adjust caster?

Reason I'm asking is maybe they don't work on modified vehicles because they don't want to assume the liability. It's either that, or they ran out of adjustability, or they're lazy or incompetent.

 

Caster can only be adjusted one of two ways on the XJ platform.

1st is if you have adjustable control arms.

2nd is, if your XJ is stock or has fixed, non-adjustable arms, then there are shims that go behind the "horseshoe clevis". That piece is inside the lower control arm mount on the body side. But with fixed arms, only the lower control arms can be adjusted out, not your uppers.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that either that tire place has never done an XJ before or that they cannot get or have those shims.

 

I've got adjustable uppers at least. But they are a pain in the *** to get back on after I take them off, in the past I had to remove all the suspension components in the front and put the upper links on first. I was wondering if there is a trick or something to adjusting them out?

 

The "trick" is to disconnect both at the axle after supporting the tie rod at the knuckle. It will want to tilt forward. Adjust the jack to the desired castor attach one side and then match the other. Not much to it really. You can use a cell phone with a leveler app on top of the upper ball joint for measurements

 

OP, it now sounds to is that the shop just didn't know what they were doing.

For now, it's best to take 4.3xj's advice and go from there until you can find a 4x4 shop that can do it for you..

 

I'm assuming shop said your at 9deg positive.

I would not worry to much about the actual number. If wheel feels tight like there resistance on it more than you like bump it back alittle less positive.

if it isnt centering well coming out of turns and you gota stay on top of it to drive in straight line your casters probly at zero or even negative. Possibly might be a very sloppy front end that's all over.

castor is a non tire wearing angle and can change how a vehicle steers and handles.


not reading the angle means we will actually tune to feel not to a number that some other guy thinks is ideal. Not to mention if were measuring the angle correctly in first place to start with.

 

I agree - don't be too concerned about the number if it drives good. Assuming 9* positive, that's actually not a bad number. I've found the sweet spot at 4.5" of lift is right around 8*.

I've had the "lifetime alignment" through Firestone for over 8 years and I've never been able to get them to adjust castor via control arms. I was told the techs are only getting paid .5 hours for a "lifetime alignment", so they typically rush through them as fast as possible. For example, a tech making $25/hour flate rate would only make $12.50 on the alignment. You can see why they refuse to do anything more than necessary. Messing with adjustable arms would make them go broke. Even though I can get my '99 XJ aligned for free at Firestone, I refuse to go there because of the lack of quality and knowledge of the techs. I happily pay my brother's shop $80 to have him dial in my jeeps on their new Hunter alignment rack. It's worth every penny if you can find a tech who is actually experienced in aligning solid axle 4x4s.

 

Excellent link on how to do an alignment at home:

http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoAlignment.htm

The XJs are very simple to align at home with an angle finder and a tape measure. Camber is the angle that causes tires to wear quickly, on XJs camber is fixed and non-adjustable. I aligned mine two years ago and have driven it ~15k miles on new tires. No odd wear. Tracks great. Pay close attention to the preferable caster angle in the article. It is a compromise between caster angle and pinion angle. Too much of either causes trouble.

 

Well, camber IS adjustable, but it gets very pricey as it requires special offset or adjustable ball joints.

 

When you have to do a major repair to 'adjust' it, is that an adjustment? I say that falls into the category of a modification. If you have an XJ that needs the camber adjusted then something is bent/damaged.

 

Do not necessarily disagree, but to me, ball joints aren't a major repair..........replacing an engine or transmission ok, but ball joints, no.

 

Or special inserts. The old school guys will know what I'm talking about.