brian0128

I installed an omen 3.5 lift that I purchased from dpg offroad. Everything went together smoothly and we were able to align the vehicle "good enough" that day. Parts installed include ome front springs, 1.75 inch spacers, ome shocks, ome leaf's, Jks disconnects and Jks lower control arms and jks trackbar. The control arms were installed using equal lengths 16 1/16's eye to eye measurement. Front springs and spacers were installed on top of factory spring isolaters. I verified axle was centered by measuring from inside of rim to chassis between shock and spring per directions from jks.

After taking measurements I noticed the wheel on drivers side was farther forward than passenger side. Wheelbase on drivers side is 1.25in longer. I did notice that when installing the lowe control arms the "natural" position of the axle without lower control arms or track bar attached was drivers side axle 3 inches forward and passenger side 3 inches back. Then I took some other measurements and noticed the front passenger side is 1 inch taller than drivers side and yes I put the longer ome spring on the drivers side.

I understand that ride height will vary but why would wheel base be longer on drivers side. If I have my toe in set at 1/16 and 32 psi in all tires and the wheels appear to be straight visually why does the car track right when I let go of the wheel? Does the longer wheel base on drivers side have anything to do with it?

jakbob

my guess is that the track bar is not adjusted correctly for the ride height. but wait for someone else to chime in. im drunk, but 90% sure of my answer.

Zack92MJ

Lol ^

But yeah that could be a problem snap a picture of it?

jakbob

wait... the ten percent just kicked in... maybe you have a bent upper control arm. that would cause the axle to be the way you describe.

emptypockets

If your driver side is lower than the passenger side, I'd vote track bar.

brian0128

I just ordered the jks uppers to rule that out.

RShrimp

Maybe this XJ has been wreaked in a past life??????
When I did mine the wheelbase was off by 1/4 to 1/2 inch side to side and I had 11.5 degrees of caster. I shortend one side to get wheelbase even and this also brought my caster down to 7-8. (I just used a degree wheel the second time)
My point:
I would not expect the lowers to be perfect on the first install (thats why they are adjustable) The 16.5 inch measurment is just a starting point.

I would not expect, however, that they would be off by more than a half inch or so.
Did you happen to measure your wheelbase before the install?
Are you sure that both sides of the rear end are "on the pin"?
Is it possible you got one of the rear leafs in backwards?
Just thinking out loud here.....

brian0128

UHere's a picture of what it looks like. Track bar and drag link alignment doesn't look too bad to me. Going to ask a friend to put it on an alignment rack tomorrow.

brian0128

So I took it to get aligned and here's what I've found. There is a shim on the passenger side lower control arm and not one on the drivers. Is that to compensate for the crown of the road? The caster is right on at 8 degrees per side. The wheelbase is still longer on drivers side and car pulls right still. My rear toe is off by 2 tenths of a degrees. Is that a big deal? Any thoughts on that? How would I fix it?

RShrimp

Thats not 20 degrees, it is 2 tenths of a degree. Something is not jiving.
There is no way your wheelbase could be off that far (with a solid front axle) and not have a huge thrust angle.

The alignment specs look great. (on Paper) Something is way wrong either with the alignment process or with your ariginal measurments.

brian0128

OK, I'll go get more measurements this afternoon.

brian0128

Alright, I've put about 200 miles on the Jeep and the springs are breaking in. The ride height is still higher on the right side of the Jeep but I can live with the 1 inch in ride height different between sides.

I measured the wheelbase from the RF to RR and got 100.60 inches. On the drivers side I got 100.25 inches. So the wheelbase is definately longer on the passenger side but not by as much as before the alignment.

Can someone help me interpret the alignment specs on the picture I posted and let me know why the Jeep would be pulling right? It doesn't matter what surface I'm on, I even tried driving down the runway at the local airfield and it still pulls right if I let go of the wheel. It did not do this before my lift. I've verified tire pressure in all tires is at 32psi. Could the thrust angle be causing me to pull right? Is there a way to correct the thrust angle?

*Edit* The picture of the alignment has the exact same readings as the chart above from what I can tell. I took a picture of the screen after the tech had completed the alignment.

adbarr

22yr alignment tech..
couple of things 1> the track is probably to tight - chk tire to fender offset side to side
2. the lower control arm mounting brackets are slotted - caster is a good thing but "axle offset" in degrees is more important - closer to zero the better or it will pull or drift for life or longer

adbarr

ideal jeep...
front axle offset " zero"!
total toe "zero" new xjs want like 30degrees but ive found that 1. it makes noise in turns and 2. it scrubs the edges of your tires..
goto a place that uses a hunter align rack preferably a dsp 400 or 600 or newer

brian0128

I am not sure I am following you. What do you mean the track is too tight? The axle is centered using the adjustable track bar. I measured from chassis between shock and coil spring to the inside edge of the rim.

How do i measure axle offset? What is axle offset? Do you mean is the wheel centered in the wheel well? I know they measured my caster being 8 degrees on both sides but it sounds like you are talking about something else.