Over the weekend I replaced my Ball Joints with factory Spicer units. Also Upgraded to a brand new V8 ZJ tie rod and brand new drag link. And tie rod ends to go with them. All MOOG parts for steering and Spicer for Ball joints.
This was the first time i have ever done any work myself relating to steering. Everything went very smooth actually and the ball joint job went well once I recieved some much needed tips from members on this forum. THANKS!

I have the alighnment CLOSE! It pulls to the right very very slightly. But i got the steering wheel centered and will see if i can adgust the alighment some more tomorrow and get it close to perfect. Not trying to pay for an alignment!

The steering has tightened up quite a bit! I still have some play in my steering wheel when the jeep is going straight. But the Turn-In is very very improved! tight and more a accurate!
New Ball joints have helped with how my XJ handles pot holes! no more bouncing around and thud sounds from the front end!

OUT WITH THE OLD

IN WITH THE NEW

 

I made sure to use lots of anti-seize

 

Any reason not to get an alignment? Doesnt take toe being out very much to blow through a set of front tores. The shop i work at would charge $60 for an alignment on a jeep. Obviously different shops charge differently but for less than half the cost of one tire to get it right it seems like a no brainer to not potentially blow through tires.

 

I was planning on it. I have called around to a whole bunch of tire shops here in the Raleigh area and the lowest price i can find on a laser precise alignment is $90. I just can not bring myself to pay almost $100 for a one-time alignment on a solid front axle. Just have to align the toe-in. Ill keep looking around but until I can find a proper alignment at a reasonable price ill try and get it as close as possible.
But you are right i should get a professional alignment and wont drive too long without one!

 

A proper alignment is very easy to do with a tape measure and a buddy to hold the dumb end.

 

This

Set your toe to around 1/8" toe in, and bingo.

 

awesome, sounds good. thanks! Ill give it a shot tomorrow

 

I've been doin this for 4 years and no odd tire wear yet, I also rotate my tires yearly...

 

If you pull the old one off, set the new one to the same exact length tie-to-tie, and reinstall, would you still need an alignment? What geometry has changed if the lengths are the same?

 

Just check it at least. You'll regret it if u don't and u end up killing ur tires

 

In a perfect world yes, but toe being of just little bit will eat through tires. And who knows if the last setup was correct.

 

between paying 90$ for a proper alignement or 3x that amount for new front tires in a year from now, I have no problem getting an alignement.

between august and november of last year I neglected to get an alignement after lifting with the excuse that I was waiting for a new track bar, so why pay an alignement twice. big mistake, my front tires are now easily 1/3 more used than the rear ones. last time I checked, front were around 8/32 and the rear were 12/32

 

Very nice job on the install looks good!


On my XJ in 3 yrs now all it has ever had was tape measure alignment on it. I also rotate my tires and recheck it after hard trail use or during a service of it. It shows no uneven tire ware at all the shop that installed a lot of my parts did it the first time and showed me how in person.


It is an easy way to save money and keep it in good shape yourself more often than you would go to a shop to have it done after some abuse on or off road.

 

Should've painted it. Gets really rusty really fast even in the south.

 

I gave both the drag link and the tie rod a good rub down with some grease. We will see how that holds up. At some point i would like to drop the axle and paint everything.