Rocc It

Hi fellas.

I'm new to the forum and revisiting Jeeping after a 15 year hiatus. I played with Lowriders, Hot Rods and VW's for several years, but the Jeep called me back. My last was a 91' Wrangler with a small lift. I came into a 95' Cherokee a few weeks ago and I'm slowly trying to go through it and get it sorted.

The goods that I'm aware of (or was told by the PO):

6.5" Rusty's short arm kit
Trussed Dana 30 front axle
36/12.50/15 TSL Swampers (Bias)
Rebuilt (cammed per PO) 4.0HO w/ approx 20k
HID's
Cut fenders and Bushwackers

Not being a stranger to bias ply swampers, I'm not expecting the jeep to drive like a caddillac, but I am trying to keep it safe and reasonable at highway speeds. So I'm working my way through the suspension/drivetrain to bring it up to par. From what I can tell, no gears have been changed, and no SYE installed.

What I've done so far...

After driving for a week, I noticed a couple of spots in the driveway, and wound up replacing the front pinion seal and the slip yoke seal.
The steering was scary, so I replaced all the tie rods and adjusting sleeves with new OEM.

The steering is my main focus right now and the area that I need some direction/assistance. Following my tie rod replacement, I did a garage alaignment, but wound up with death wobble that I didn't have previously with bad tie rods...so I continued adjusting until the wobble went away. Unfortunately, it appears to actually have toe out now, though it does return to center for the most part and doesn't wander much. I want to go after the ball joints next, but the front end has serious negative camber, and from my research around the net and specifically on Kevin's Offroad, it seems that I need to consider some offset ball joints, but which ones and what amount of offset?

There is no steering dampener or front sway bar on the Jeep. I think I may need to get a sway bar on there, but I assume that won't be of any assistance with regard to its performance in a straight line or the death wobble with it correctly aligned.

Any help/insight is appreciated!

Demonoid369

Either long arm it or drop brackets so that your angles can be closer to stock, which can possibly save you from those types of ball joints. The most common result of death wobble is the track bar, check that out and make sure it's tight. Of you have a 242 TC then 0 toe is good but a 231 you need 1/8 inch toe in. Check the control arms also make sure they are tight

stang65

caster may be causeing your death wobble also drop brakets or longarms could help that. also might check the alignment on the front completley alot of toe can give the apearance on camber on the front.

Rocc It

It does have drop brackets.



The track bar appears to be plenty tight. Though it does seem to have a rubber bushing on the lower mount.



Pardon my ignorance, but what does the transfer case have to do with the alignment? Its a 231 FWIW...

Demonoid369

Because with the 242 there is the 4part time meaning you can drive 4 wheel drive on pavement, toe in with four wheel drive will wear your tires down way quicker, same reason why the GC and some Cherokee with awd(not 4wd) can't have toe in

Demonoid369

There is also a difference between "appear tight" and knowing its tight. Have you taken a wrench to them and make sure? Have you checked that the axle is centered too? If all is tight are both upper and lower arms adjustable? The lowers are for correcting length but the upper is what helps correct castor and such

Rocc It

I've not taken a wrench to the track bar...but I will tomorrow. (its dark and cold out there right now)

Yes, the uppers and lowers are both adjustable. Actually, from what I can see nearly every connection is adjustable.

Is there a specific procedure to verify that the axle is centered?

Outside of the wobble issue, the camber is going to eat my tires up. Am I understanding correctly that the castor angle could be causing the negative camber? The pinion appears to be fairly level. I'm not sure that changing the castor will get me to a 0* camber since it seems to be several degrees negative.

Are the offset balljoints commonly needed with the larger tires on a dana 30?

Demonoid369

Haha I know that all too well lol if I start not feeling my toes and fingers, I'm going back inside lol
The castor and camber I'm not all that well versed in so hopefully someone more knowledgable can explain lol should be able to search and find some threads here or just in general the castor and camber. As far as I know, if the axle is adj. properly there should be no need for offset, the only time I've seen offset needed were on a axle housing that was slightly bent

Rocc It

Okay, i took a wrench to the track bar today. Its tight as can be. I did however note that the whole rig is pitched to the passenger side. Its down rougly an inch lower than the drivers side and it pulls to the right. Tire pressure is even. Hopefully that sheds a little light and doesn't confuse the issue more.

freegdr

Just by looking at top pic your casters off front yoke should be pointed up more .

freegdr

This write ups very helpful ....http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoAlignment.htm

Rocc It

Okay, good info. Is there a different degree of caster that i need with a lift or should it be set to a factory degree? (I want to make sure that the aligment shop has the correct information when i take it in.)

freegdr

Theres a chart towards the end of that link I posted gets ya pretty close this all can be done at home with a tape measure and degree wheel. Noting set in stone after caster adjustment to should be set. I do mine from the rotors mud tires are not very straight to measure off of.

freegdr

Also control arm length needs to be set then adjust for caster with the drop brackets subtract 4 inch from lift height from the chart for length to start at...http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/c...h-chart-81592/

Rocc It

I spent the afternoon at the alignment shop.



Interestingly enough, the tech/manager is also a proud xj owner so we had some good conversation as we tried to diagnose mine on the rack.

The caster is at 9.6. The camber is roughly 1.5. Even with adjusting the caster (we shortened the lower arms , bringing the axle rearward, the camber didn't change much I'm back to square one again...guess I'll be doing some offsets.

To compound the issue, we got hit with a nasty winter storm this afternoon, so I cant really get up to any reasonable speed to see if our labors netted any positive result.