Alignment after lift

Sugarbear

Sugarbear

New member
Ok I just put a zone 3 inch on my 2 door and I have front upper and lower control arms front Clayton off road but didn't have time to put them on and wasn't sure on the lengths my question is since I'm fighting my jeep to keep it straight I know it needs an alignment but can someone explain what is makin me fight it I'm curious to know what changes when lifting
 
OverlanderJK

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
You need to out the arms in and your issues will go away. You also need rear uppers since you have a two. All the info is in a write on the Project-JK site.
 
noroad

noroad

New member
I would put the control arms in as if you havent changed your tie rode and your tire are balances i would have to say its coming from being off centered (track bar) or your case angle is just to far off with the stock arms as that is a lot of lift for them! but i could be wrong!
 
Canvas JK

Canvas JK

-
I did not have to do an alignment on my JKUS after putting a 3 inch lift on it. I set the front adjustable LCA's to 23 inches because the factory front LCA's are 22 5/8 inches. Had to realign the steering wheel due to the front adjustable track bar. Followed the Project-JK write up.

R/
Will
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Sugarbear said:
Ok I just put a zone 3 inch on my 2 door and I have front upper and lower control arms front Clayton off road but didn't have time to put them on and wasn't sure on the lengths my question is since I'm fighting my jeep to keep it straight I know it needs an alignment but can someone explain what is makin me fight it I'm curious to know what changes when lifting
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You are having a hard time keeping it straight because you now lack the positive caster you need. Factory is +4° and that's about where you want it to be now. The link posted up to my front end alignment write-up will help you to set this.

Sugarbear said:
Do I need to check front pinion angle before removing the stock arms ??
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No. Your pinion angle only takes precedence in the rear and only if you have a u-joint style double cardan drive shaft. Up front, your caster needs to take precedence. A properly set up front end will have a pinion angle that is NOT in line with your drive shafts - this is totally normal.
 
wwood

wwood

Member
wayoflife said:
Your pinion angle only takes precedence in the rear and only if you have a u-joint style double cardan drive shaft.
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Does this mean that with a factory rear drive shaft I can lower the rear pinion angle (by making the rear upper CAs shorter) to remove some/all of the rear coil spring bowing? Right now my rear pinion and factory drive shaft are both pointing up toward the transfer case at about 10 deg. Can I lower the pinion angle to say 7 deg without risking vibs or damage to the factory shaft?

Thanks.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
wwood said:
Does this mean that with a factory rear drive shaft I can lower the rear pinion angle (by making the rear upper CAs shorter) to remove some/all of the rear coil spring bowing? Right now my rear pinion and factory drive shaft are both pointing up toward the transfer case at about 10 deg. Can I lower the pinion angle to say 7 deg without risking vibs or damage to the factory shaft?

Thanks.
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Yes. There is no need to set your pinion angle with a factory rear drive shaft as it has rzeppa joints. They will not have vibrations. Having said that, depending on how much lift you have, your cv boots will be in a constant state of pinch and that will lead to them failing prematurely. This is especially true on a 2-door. Also, not all adjustable rear upper control arms will allow you to set them short enough to return things back to stock.
 
Christarp

Christarp

Member
Just a little aside, but if you want to read more about why the stock driveshafts don't need to be angled with the pinion as much as aftermarket ones check out the wiki article on CV Joints here

I don't know about you guys but I just love all the little technical bits, and the gifs on the page really help show you just why they work the way they do.
 
jeeeep

jeeeep

Hooked
if you go to the Clayton site under the tech menu the premium kit instructions will have the length settings for your control arms
 
09blackruby

09blackruby

Member
So I was thinking I needed to purchase rear upper adjustable control arms for my jkur with a 2.5 lift and factory drive shaft to fix what I thought was a highway speed driveline vibration. Based on what I'm hearing, pinion angle probably isn't my issue? I can feel it in my seat and what seems to be the transmission shifter. (manual trans). Not trying to hijack this thread, topic seems to be related. Thanks.
 
Sugarbear

Sugarbear

New member
09blackruby said:
So I was thinking I needed to purchase rear upper adjustable control arms for my jkur with a 2.5 lift and factory drive shaft to fix what I thought was a highway speed driveline vibration. Based on what I'm hearing, pinion angle probably isn't my issue? I can feel it in my seat and what seems to be the transmission shifter. (manual trans). Not trying to hijack this thread, topic seems to be related. Thanks.
Click to expand...

You check the actual drive shaft??
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
09blackruby said:
So I was thinking I needed to purchase rear upper adjustable control arms for my jkur with a 2.5 lift and factory drive shaft to fix what I thought was a highway speed driveline vibration. Based on what I'm hearing, pinion angle probably isn't my issue? I can feel it in my seat and what seems to be the transmission shifter. (manual trans). Not trying to hijack this thread, topic seems to be related. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Are you sure what you're feeling a drive line vibration? Is it a solid vibration or does it oscillate?
 
09blackruby

09blackruby

Member
wayoflife said:
Are you sure what you're feeling a drive line vibration? Is it a solid vibration or does it oscillate?
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Seems to be a rearward in my seat vibration all speeds above 60.. I don't feel it below 60. It's probably a wheel outa balance. I have spacers too. I may pull the rears and re-torq and have my tires balanced again. My original thought was that I needed rear upper adjustables to help set my pinion but, sounds like with a stock shaft that wouldn't be the case. Am I reading that correctly? Thanks for your help all.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
09blackruby said:
Seems to be a rearward in my seat vibration all speeds above 60.. I don't feel it below 60. It's probably a wheel outa balance. I have spacers too. I may pull the rears and re-torq and have my tires balanced again. My original thought was that I needed rear upper adjustables to help set my pinion but, sounds like with a stock shaft that wouldn't be the case. Am I reading that correctly? Thanks for your help all.
Click to expand...

You're reading correctly. A solid speed related shimmy or vibration is almost always a tire balancing issue. If the vibration oscillates at a specific speed range, more times than not, it's a front drive shaft that is out of balance. Of course, if you've knocked off a weight or put a dent in your factory rear shaft, you could have a vibration from that too. But, not setting your pinion angle will NOT cause it to vibrate.
 
09blackruby

09blackruby

Member
wayoflife said:
You're reading correctly. A solid speed related shimmy or vibration is almost always a tire balancing issue. If the vibration oscillates at a specific speed range, more times than not, it's a front drive shaft that is out of balance. Of course, if you've knocked off a weight or put a dent in your factory rear shaft, you could have a vibration from that too. But, not setting your pinion angle will NOT cause it to vibrate.
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You answered my question.. Thank u! Now I know what to focus on or what not to focus on I should say...
 
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