donjuan79

What’s up guys, just had my alignment done today after putting on my Metalcloak 4.5 Gamechanger, everything with the numbers looks good, however my front driver side spring is bowed and the sway link is pretty angled. That side of the axle is a half inch further out towards the front of the vehicle than the passenger side which is perfectly straight both the coil and the link. I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT SIDE TO SIDE USING THE TRACK BAR, I’M TALKING ABOUT THE WHEELBASE LENGTH. I’m wondering if I should bring the lower and upper both in a half inch on that side. The guy who did the alignment said not to mess with it but there’s no way I’m leaving it like that because it’s clearly not right even though he got the numbers he wanted on the machine. Any thoughts?

jadmt

post a photo of your alignment sheet and a photo of the coils and links. You do not want to shorten the control arms on one side. you want to adjust your track bar to center the axle. 4.5" MC lift a lot probably over 5.5" unless you are really heavy. what do you get using this?

donjuan79

the axle is already centered side to side using the track bar, what I’m talking about it how far forward the axle is sitting. Passenger from frame to centerline of ball joint is 22, driver is 22.5 which is causing the driver spring to bow

TheDirtman

Yes you should shorten the two arms.

donjuan79

I went out last night and actually measured the lower arms and confirmed that the driver side is 1/2 longer than the passenger side. Why he didn’t square the axle and set the wheelbase first I’m not sure. I called him and told him the driver side is 1/2 inch further forward and that the spring is bowed and that the sway link is pretty angled and he said that’s normal and not to worry about it. I call BS on that one. He also said not to adjust them because it would throw off the castor and pinion angle, and the toe. So now I’m wondering if I move them both a 1/2 inch if I should call and demand another alignment with the wheelbase being properly set.

TheDirtman

The alignment print out would clearly show the front axle being off. It shows the wheel base on each side. If you move both the upper and lower it will not affect the pinion or caster enough to notice. Being off by that much should be putting some bind in the suspension as well. I would have him fix it or find another shop. Most alignment shops won't fix aftermarket suspension unless they specialize in 4x4's. Too many variables and the tech is not educated in such things or may not have to tools to do it.

Who installed the lift?

donjuan79

I installed the lift and used the starting numbers Metalcloak gave me. Quadruple checked them. I’m going to lean towards the tech not being skilled enough and not capable of giving me a wheelbase reading. I will add I opted for the MC front and rear control arm drop brackets, for MC was able to give me a different starting point for the rear arms and that’s like perfect, but the front they told me to use what was in the instructions so I knew going in that my axle would probably be too far forward. I just assumed the tech would fix it when I’m paying $240 for an alignment. He never even touched anything in the rear because I had it pretty much perfect as it was. As soon as I saw my driver spring still bowed and the link sitting at an angle though I knew he didn’t do it right so I measured and got that 1/2 inch difference. I immediately called him because I figured just take the upper and lower in exactly 1/2 inch and everything should be fine and he kept saying don’t move them because it’ll mess up the alignment and that the bowed spring and angled link are normal for lifted jeeps. Here’s my printout. The numbers all look good, close enough to the 5 degrees MC wants, but the wheelbase isn’t right and wasn’t even checked.

jadmt

crazy because the sheet looks good. was this ever in an accident? does it drive straight? 1/2" difference on control arm side to side is an awful lot seems it would not stay on the road.

donjuan79

The only reason I knew something was wrong was the fact the driver spring is bowed and there’s some serious angle to the sway link. And some bump steer. I figured the alignment would fix it since the passenger seems to be just about perfect, but even after the alignment the driver spring is bowed and that link is angled. That’s when I decided to measure and sure enough there’s a 1/2 inch difference in the arms. He started with the passenger side so my guess is he got the castor and pinion angles he wanted and then just adjusted the other side to match without ever checking the wheelbase since there’s no specs for that on their sheet. I feel like a lack of knowledge and tools was the culprit here. If I had taken it to a different shop I’m sure they would have set the wheelbase before setting the castor and pinion. And no accidents and hasn’t been wheeled yet, been waiting to get everything dialed in first.

jadmt

did you actually measure wheel base? did you do a highsteer kit? with a 4.5" lift that would be needed to prevent bumpsteer. post a photo of the bow and the swaybar link angle. I just find it hard to believe it would not pull something terrible with that much difference.