Basic Do-it-Yourself Jeep JK Wrangler Front End Alignment

Ddays said:
So I finally got to adjusting mine according to this Dynatrac diagram and taking it for a test ride. It made the higher speed handling noticeably better. I have mine set at 6* now. Surprising what 3* change will do.
75mph & over was ambitious. Now its single hand on the steering wheel good. I hit 85 no problem. For guys running the PR44 with the unlimited geometry, it would probably be worth the $10 to get a cheap angle finder at HF or the like & check yours. If the alignment shops are setting your specs to stock they may be off. Thanks WJCO for posting that diagram.

This is at 70+ mph
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Glad that worked out for you. :thumb:
 
So I checked all and feel like I double checked....steering feels nice and tight but while rpms are low...but when over 2500 then feels like steering slips every few seconds...any ideas?


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limon_three said:
So I checked all and feel like I double checked....steering feels nice and tight but while rpms are low...but when over 2500 then feels like steering slips every few seconds...any ideas?


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limon_three said:
Then the DW comes on while over 40 mph


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Did you check simple things like the torque on your trackbar? It's a pretty common spot to go loose it seems like from people
 
Just my two cents but awesome thread Eddie.... so I followed everything that you outlined for us and still couldn't get my alignment set up correctly so I take it down to a local body shop and the guy tells me I have the death wobble because I don't have a Rancho dual stabilizer... I asked about my caster and everything else you mentioned in the thread and he said all that was correct he told me jeeps are expensive and if I want it set up correctly then I would need to buy their rancheros stabilizer and also buy some additional parts that he could not mention when I asked about my ball joints he said oh yeah that would be one of them and that it would be a $1400 job so I said never mind I'll do it myself in my garage it's just that when I did myinspection I felt the ball joints were fine


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limon_three said:
Just my two cents but awesome thread Eddie.... so I followed everything that you outlined for us and still couldn't get my alignment set up correctly so I take it down to a local body shop and the guy tells me I have the death wobble because I don't have a Rancho dual stabilizer... I asked about my caster and everything else you mentioned in the thread and he said all that was correct he told me jeeps are expensive and if I want it set up correctly then I would need to buy their rancheros stabilizer and also buy some additional parts that he could not mention when I asked about my ball joints he said oh yeah that would be one of them and that it would be a $1400 job so I said never mind I'll do it myself in my garage it's just that when I did myinspection I felt the ball joints were fine


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Rancho is a badass company with good products but a steering stabilizer will not fix your death wobble. That shop is full of shit. At this time I wouldn't take anything they told you as credible advice.
 
limon_three said:
Just my two cents but awesome thread Eddie.... so I followed everything that you outlined for us and still couldn't get my alignment set up correctly so I take it down to a local body shop and the guy tells me I have the death wobble because I don't have a Rancho dual stabilizer... I asked about my caster and everything else you mentioned in the thread and he said all that was correct he told me jeeps are expensive and if I want it set up correctly then I would need to buy their rancheros stabilizer and also buy some additional parts that he could not mention when I asked about my ball joints he said oh yeah that would be one of them and that it would be a $1400 job so I said never mind I'll do it myself in my garage it's just that when I did myinspection I felt the ball joints were fine


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Lmfao they are trying to rip you off find a new shop

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Curiosity

I have a 2011 Rubicon unlimited, 4" evo long arm, stock axle and 5.13s. After a 4 wheel alignment I now have some spring bow towards the front of the vehicle. The caster seems pretty low to me at 3.1*; however, I have a great pinion angle. I called EVO and they recommended 4-4.5* and as long as there is no drive line vibrations im ok. I also have a 1310 Adams drive shaft on the front and am currently trying to get the Caster to 4-4.2*. What kind of pinion angle should I start worrying about or just as long as there is no vibrations in the Drive line. Thank you for the assistance and time
 
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Jk4lfe said:
I have a 2011 Rubicon unlimited, 4" evo long arm, stock axle and 5.13s. After a 4 wheel alignment I now have some spring bow towards the front of the vehicle. The caster seems pretty low to me at 3.1*; however, I have a great pinion angle. I called EVO and they recommended 4-4.5* and as long as there is no drive line vibrations im ok. I also have a 1310 Adams drive shaft on the front and am currently trying to get the Caster to 4-4.2*. What kind of pinion angle should I start worrying about or just as long as there is no vibrations in the Drive line. Thank you for the assistance and time
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That 4+ caster is what the manufacturer recommends. That will provide a good balance between the pinion angle and caster.
 
You guys are awesome! I can barely change my battery and you have all these DIY projects from scratch.
Keep it up! You're an inspiration.
____________________________
Dumitru
 
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Setting up front end

wayoflife said:
Re-centering Your Steering Wheel
Installing any amount of lift on your Jeep JK Wrangler will cause your steering wheel to be off. The higher you go, the more it'll be off and while an adjustable front track bar will help to minimize this, you will still need to re-center your steering wheel. Failure to do so will cause your ESP system to think that you're in a slide and will try to compensate for it by activating your BAS. Depending on where you are when this happens, it can be an annoying experience to down right dangerous. This write-up will show you what you need to do to re-center your steering wheel.

1. To re-center your steering wheel, use a 15mm socket or wrench to loosen the 2 nuts securing the the drag link turnbuckle.
main.php


2. Once the nuts are loosened, firmly grab the turnbuckle and rotate it up or down as needed while a friend watches the steering wheel (or you periodically check on it yourself) go back to center. Rotating it up will turn the steering wheel to the left and rotating it down will turn it to the right.
main.php


3. Once your steering wheel looks centered, use a 15mm wrench to secure the turnbuckle nuts in place and take it for a drive to verify you got it on. This may take a few tries to get it on 100% on but that’s all there really is to it.
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OverlanderJK said:
This is a great write up and tool to keep in the back pocket! :thumb:
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this is a great learning tool for home builds
 
Question: will slightly less than perfect toe (done by hand without a computer on the rack) be the cause of minor inconsistent bump steer? I replaced my tie rod because the joints were blown out. I adjusted the toe in myself and it’s a lot tighter now but there’s the occasional bump steer. Is it reasonable to say that a professional alignment should fix this?


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