Weekend is over...what did you get done?

Zero camber adjustment available on a solid axle, without using specialized, indexable ball joints.

Too much caster could be the culprit in some extreme situations, but the stock XJ is +7 degrees if I remember correctly, with a +- 3 degree tolerance. I could be way off on that but I think that's pretty close.
 
Hmm, I thought I had read where the alignment shop had to change the caster after the lift.

I thought there was limited availability for camber adjustment and if you wanted to go more than +/-5 you had to buy aftermarket ball joints. Apparently I am crazy. :D
 
bigalpha said:
I thought there was limited availability for camber adjustment and if you wanted to go more than +/-5 you had to buy aftermarket ball joints. Apparently I am crazy. :D
Click to expand...

Or I could be wrong, it has happened before.

From previous experience working as a front end and suspension tech, I have seen factory ball joints that do provide a cam type adjustment on some vehicles, but looking at the ball joints on a Jeep D30 I can not see how they would adjust.

That was quite some time ago though, and I've probably killed a few brain cells since then.
 
They make adjustable ball joints to adjust from 0-3 degrees. I had some on my lowered Ranger.

The camber adjustment on the Stock XJ is fairly small. Not very much adjustment available without adjustable control arms.

Caster IS a very common issue with DW but if you haven't had an alignment in a while and it wasn't doing that until recently then I'd would lean away from that.

As long as all lateral movement is cut to an extreme minimum then I'd lean more toward play in the steering, out of balance or worn tires, double check the ball joints.

While driving down the road in a straight line look at the tire. Does it seem to be tracking straight and tight or wobbling left and right? (I don't mean during DW)
 
lowrange2 said:
The camber adjustment on the Stock XJ is fairly small. Not very much adjustment available without adjustable control arms.
Click to expand...

I really hope you meant caster.
 
ONLY Renix Jeeps have a camber adjustment. There is a cam built into the knuckle, and when the cam is rotated it changes camber. Camber is when the wheel leans in or out at the top. This is not adjustable on 91 and newer Jeeps. There are specialized ball joints that do allow Camber adjustment on 91 and newer Jeeps, but you would only need them if your Axle housing or inner c's are bent. Caster is how far the axle is rotated one way or the other front to back. Rotated back is positive caster, rotated forward is negative. Factory specs for a Cherokee are 7 degrees positive caster and 1/8" toed in at the front.

When a XJ or MJ is lifted, the different angles and /or control arm lengths often require an alignment to bring everything back into spec. During the alignment, the caster is often reduced to ~5 degrees to help keep the driveshaft in line with the pinion. Anything over 3-4" of lift usually results in a compromise because you can't keep the driveshaft in line with the pinion and still have enough caster to prevent DW and make it track straight. Often you give up a few degrees on the driveshaft to keep enough caster.
 
Team Willys said:
ONLY Renix Jeeps have a camber adjustment. There is a cam built into the knuckle, and when the cam is rotated it changes camber. Camber is when the wheel leans in or out at the top. This is not adjustable on 91 and newer Jeeps. There are specialized ball joints that do allow Camber adjustment on 91 and newer Jeeps, but you would only need them if your Axle housing or inner c's are bent. Caster is how far the axle is rotated one way or the other front to back. Rotated back is positive caster, rotated forward is negative. Factory specs for a Cherokee are 7 degrees positive caster and 1/8" toed in at the front.

When a XJ or MJ is lifted, the different angles and /or control arm lengths often require an alignment to bring everything back into spec. During the alignment, the caster is often reduced to ~5 degrees to help keep the driveshaft in line with the pinion. Anything over 3-4" of lift usually results in a compromise because you can't keep the driveshaft in line with the pinion and still have enough caster to prevent DW and make it track straight. Often you give up a few degrees on the driveshaft to keep enough caster.
Click to expand...

Well said, and I'll add just one thing, if the caster was out enough to cause DW then the pinion angle would probably be drastically incorrect also resulting in driveline vibration.

For most of the past week I've been driving with almost 0 caster, no steering stablizer, no sway bar, track bar a little out of whack and with original ball joints with over 200,00 miles on them....without death wobble.
 
get somebody to shake the wheel back and forth with the motor off while you look for movement. i've been able to find my DW that way everytime. it's usually loose parts. the steering stabilizer and alignment will work with your loose parts to find death wobble for you. get an alignment, find your loose parts, and the DW is conquerable.
 
Did an oil change today on the XJ and decided to go with the Rotella-T since it gets such rave reviews. Tried to find a 10W30 or 40 but couldn't and had to go with the 15W40. Hopefully it won't be too thick for the cold mornings.

Curious to see how it stands up to my driving style. I can easily get 5K out of the Valvoline Max Life Blend i've been running for a year or so now (after coming off of full synthetic).
 
shaggybob said:
I really hope you meant caster.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did. I had camber on the brain.





I FINALLY got both of them going at the same time! It's amazing! lol

503070934_photobucket_8907_.jpg
 
runger runs! its seeing a vac leak but theres only one bolt holding on the egr valve so im hoping thats it, if not ill have to re-seat the manifold :(
 
UNCC_99XJ said:
Did an oil change today on the XJ and decided to go with the Rotella-T since it gets such rave reviews. Tried to find a 10W30 or 40 but couldn't and had to go with the 15W40. Hopefully it won't be too thick for the cold mornings.

Curious to see how it stands up to my driving style. I can easily get 5K out of the Valvoline Max Life Blend i've been running for a year or so now (after coming off of full synthetic).
Click to expand...


been running the 15W-40 since I got the Renix and saw that AMC recommended 10W-40 in cold temps and 20W-50 in the heat. I figured split the difference and get the detergents of a diesel oil to help clean this P.O.S. out a bit.

I don't know that any of the internal clearances have changed enough to preclude it's use in later model engines, but I know Chrysler recommended thinner oils. This may have been in response to stricter CAFE standards.

You'll probably notice slightly lower miles/gallon and the oil will probably start looking dirty about 100 miles after you put it in-- the detergents will remove a lot of junk that other oils didn't touch as quickly.
 
Shorty said:
been running the 15W-40 since I got the Renix and saw that AMC recommended 10W-40 in cold temps and 20W-50 in the heat. I figured split the difference and get the detergents of a diesel oil to help clean this P.O.S. out a bit.

I don't know that any of the internal clearances have changed enough to preclude it's use in later model engines, but I know Chrysler recommended thinner oils. This may have been in response to stricter CAFE standards.

You'll probably notice slightly lower miles/gallon and the oil will probably start looking dirty about 100 miles after you put it in-- the detergents will remove a lot of junk that other oils didn't touch as quickly.
Click to expand...

What I did as well was sub out a quart of 15W40 for a quart of Lucas...BIG mistake in cold weather (and in general the more I think about it). This morning's cold start was ROUGH. Engine turned over VERY slowly and made a bunch of racket for a couple of seconds. Put about 60-70 highway miles on it today to get it good and warmed up and changed it again for some 10W30. Think i'll stick with the 10W30 for the winter and go up to a 15W40 come summer.

Spent all damn day looking for a lower weight Rotella T...3 different Wal-Marts and 2 different Napa's with no luck. Stopped by the Advance that I work at, and there's 15 of the them on the stupid shelf!!! :banghead:

Oh and on a different note, accepted an offer for a new job that starts next week. Engineering, logistics, and production (along with everything else for the time being) for an Italian company that makes planetary gear boxes, winches, and track drives. HUGE opportunity. Now I can begin to look for a place of my own and move for hopefully the last time for a long time to come.
 
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Well there was always a general feeling of "looseness" in the front end before I replaced all the parts in the front end but didn't have any DW.

After replacing the parts is when I suddenly developed the DW. I'll get an alignment and see how that affects things. The lower control arms are the longer ones developed specifically for the lift as is the trackbar.

Gotta get the DW fixed since nobody wants to buy a Jeep that can't exceed 55mph.
 
I bought my new truck a couple weeks ago. I decided to try out a chevy this time. Its an 89 S10 with the 4.3 V6. Torsion bars already cranked and I am itching for more lift. :) Its mostly just a Dirt Bike hauler though.

IMG00066-20101114-0754.jpg


IMG00068-20101114-0755.jpg
 
whoever built the cage on the last one had no idea what they were doing, but otherwise it looks pretty nifty.
 
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