Matth

I have a 2008! Jku with. a 4" rough country spring and a 1,5" spacer. That's front and rear. The front has adjustable control arms top and bottom. Getting a free alignment tomorrow. Is there any tips for me to give the shop on setting this up. The shoppes around here don't do many if any of this kind of work. I'm adding the rear control arms in a few weeks and taking the spacers off so it will be just her 4" lift.
I want to get the best of what will be needed for the future. If this makes any sense.
Thanks for the help.

Sahara Lee

Just set to Rough Country specs unless they don't supply adjusted settings for the lift. In that case you should use stock.

I have Rancho 4" Sport Lift and use their recommendations. After all, they designed and built the kit specifically for my Jeep (and 35" tires with 4.5 bs):

Rancho Alignment Specifications:
Adjustment Preferred Range
Caster 4.6° ±1.0°
Camber (fixed angle) -0.25° ±0.63°
Toe-In (each wheel) 0.15° ±0.15°
Thrust Angle 0 ±0.15°

nthinuf

Can you postpone the alignment until after the height drop? Caster is the only spec that will change when you remove the spacers, so if you can't postpone, at least you'll have the numbers to go from when you re-adjust later.

Sahara Lee

Good advice! Also, after removing spacers be sure to loosen all top and bottom control arm bolts while off the jacks and shake your Jeep up and down. This will re-align/de-stress your bushings. Then re-torque to specs (Front: 75ftlbs for 4 upper arm bolts, 125ftlbs for 4 lower arm bolts. Rear: 125ftlbs for all 8 bolts.) Do this BEFORE taking in for alignment.

DIY front end alignment:
Basic Do-it-Yourself Jeep JK Wrangler Front End Alignment

BTW: The loosen/shake/re-torque thing should also be done to track bars (front and rear) whenever changing ride height.

Mark Doiron

If this is a CAR alignment shop--IOW, not one specializing in 4WD vehicles--I wouldn't let them touch it if it were mine, I don't care that it is free. If you still want to go through with it, if the tech says "install camber bolts", ask him nicely to remove it from the rack, you're done. He has no idea what he's doing. Bottom line: If you follow the procedures that someone else has already linked, there's no need for a shop to touch your rig. You really should become familiar with these, because as you do more mods (you can bet that a new driveshaft is in your future at four inches of lift), you will need to vary from whatever published alignments specs you were provided (if any). You may as well start doing it now.

kjeeper10

That much lift you are prob not going to get a good caster angle, even stock the pinion angle is going to be extreme. Why so much lift ?

Generally you are shooting for
4.5* caster
1/16-1/8 toe IN
camber under 1* (not adjustable)

Thrust angle should be correct if the rear axle is centered and square with the frame.

*All 8 CA's.. You want your axles centered in the wheel wells. Rear pinion 1-2* below the DS.
If you settle for just uppers for the rear you can set pinion only.

*Front uppers or lowers can be used for caster. Uppers shortened or lowers lengthened.

kjeeper10

You using Rancho drop brackets?

Sahara Lee

Yes, I am using the Rancho drop brackets.

And still using stock control arms.

And no cam bolts/washers.

And caster is on the money.

And steering is solid at all speeds (haven't been over 80mph but 75 is good).

Rancho did their geometry homework and got it right.

The Rancho drop brackets are built as a welded, one-piece unit, unlike the competition's.

http://gorancho.com/assets/applicati...6250B_Sell.pdf

kjeeper10

I know .....

jk.bushwacker

funny just had this done last night. due to an ATV hit on the trail last weekend. I had them only adj the toe (tie rod) and drag link. leave the rest alone, I'll do it myself. hell i'd do it all myself but they can get that toe perfect if they have one of those fandangled laser setups.

chk out this write up very nice Basic Do-it-Yourself Jeep JK Wrangler Front End Alignment