Alignment help

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tommudd

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Has anyone had issues with LCA bolts moving AFTER the alignment.

I did my LCA/balljoint swap, got it aligned, was happy with their setup (not perfect, but almost all in spec) and so I marked the bolts and nuts with torque seal before I left their shop.

After several days of city/highway driving and some moderate wheeling, all 4 bolts have moved, front left about 1/4" in the rest less, but all moved in. I checked torque and all "clicked" with my wrench set to 125 ftlbs without turning, so they should be at least that tight.

I have not paid this much attention before, so maybe they moved after past alignments too, but wondering if anyone else has had this happen and if I should worry about it.

Drives fine and I wouldn't have known if I didn't mark them right away and then check last night after wheeling.

Thinking I should get the alignment checked and then either put back in alignment or left as is.

Wondering how much I should torque these if 125 lets them move still, would 150 be enough? Anything more than that and I worry about snapping the bolt.

Have never seen any move in the last 15 years of wrenching on these things
If tightened correctly they shouldn't and that is with seeing all but one 1000 to 5-6000 miles after doing a lift on almost 60 KJs
 

first&lastKJ

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waiting "silently" to hear what their excuse is next
I hope there is no excuse and they can get it to align. I may not get the alignment done until the 23 on my next weekday off. Not to many shops open on the weekends other than tire shops
I did measure both sides after installing the JBA's and it's 21 1/4'' passenger 21 1/8'' driver was at 21.5 both sides.
Does tire size have any affect on alignment? I have 225/75/16 now but will go to 245/75/16 if it gets aligned properly. Didn't know if I should have the 245's on when it's being aligned.
 
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tommudd

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Tire size has nothing to do with alignments
Did you tighten the UCAs with full weight of the KJ on them, that can cause some variation in height if you preload the bushing with it in the air
Are you regearing as well later ?
 

first&lastKJ

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Tire size has nothing to do with alignments
Did you tighten the UCAs with full weight of the KJ on them, that can cause some variation in height if you preload the bushing with it in the air
Are you regearing as well later ?
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Yes I did tighten UCA bolts with it on the ground.
No regear, unless I found a 4 cyl liberty with 4.10's. But if I did find one I would put them in the wifes 02.
I just added one extra upper iso. to each side in the rear 21.5
 

first&lastKJ

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Took it back to tire barn. They charged me 30 bucks last Sunday, nothing Tuesday and nothing today.
This is the best they could get.
This is with the JBA's lifted arms.
 
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first&lastKJ

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The alignment tech also told me to drive it for a couple weeks then bring it back an they will try again. He hopes it needs to ''settle in''.

How do the current numbers look?
Toe is ok.
Caster is ok. According to other posts I've read.
But camber is what I am wondering about. I don't know what these numbers mean.
 
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tommudd

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Camber and toe = OE spec

Caster anywhere from 2 degrees to 3.5 degrees and no more then 0.5 degrees cross caster.
Toe,Camber,and Caster all are adjustable but after a lift install don't freak out when they say they can not get Caster back into spec,this is normal and will not effect tire wear at all just make sure it's at least close to spec and even side to side.Camber and Toe are the important ones for tire wear.
 

first&lastKJ

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Camber and toe = OE spec

Caster anywhere from 2 degrees to 3.5 degrees and no more then 0.5 degrees cross caster.
Toe,Camber,and Caster all are adjustable but after a lift install don't freak out when they say they can not get Caster back into spec,this is normal and will not effect tire wear at all just make sure it's at least close to spec and even side to side.Camber and Toe are the important ones for tire wear.

Thank you Tom, it looks like they got it pretty close on their last attempt.
 

first&lastKJ

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Sitting at the tire shop waiting to get another alignment. Hopefully this is the last time.
 

JasonJ

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Looks much better. Still odd that you needed to put $400 control arms in it to get it aligned within spec.. when so many KJ's with same or similar lift have been able to get just as in spec with OE UCAs. Very odd. But at least it's right, now.
 

u2slow

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Looks much better. Still odd that you needed to put $400 control arms in it to get it aligned within spec.. when so many KJ's with same or similar lift have been able to get just as in spec with OE UCAs. Very odd. But at least it's right, now.

I had the same problem. 2" lift and the camber was uncorrectable. I got corrected arms (from RRO instead), and that cured the alignment woes.
 

JasonJ

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I had the same problem. 2" lift and the camber was uncorrectable. I got corrected arms (from RRO instead), and that cured the alignment woes.

Yeah, certainly not out of the realm of possible. I guess each KJ is going to be slightly different. I'm 3" lifted and my camber is just within spec.. and that's with 3 out of 4 lower camber bolts seized solid. Stock UCAs.

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do to get it in spec I suppose. I just would have thought, given equal lift heights, it'd either be all of us would have the same issue or none of us would.
 

tommudd

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It is funny since I personally ran close to 3 inches and above for a long time before there were aftermarket UCAs with no issues with alignments, not perfect by close.
Plus I know of about 30-35 KJs that were lifted in my garage and no issues ( all aligned at the same mom and pop shop right up the road from me ) most without the arms being done at the time and we sit them all up with 927s, clevis and top plates
We've never had any issues with any alignments as far as getting them right over the years except for one we had to take to Sears and that was a cluster...............
The last 15-20 I did all got the JBA UCAs , well one guy bought the RRO, LOL tried them wouldn't fit, ordered the JBAs

Only other thing is that they may have been in a slight accident that the current owner knows nothing about. Like I mentioned before my buddy's was off from sliding on ice into a curb and not even that hard. Didn't find that until we started measuring one day and he was the original owner
 
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