CJ7 - ballpark alignment - DIY?

If you're mainly worried about the toe adjustment, yes you can do it. We did it all the time stock car racing, and you can get it close enough until you get it to an alignment shop.

Find a level surface. Jack up the front and use a piece of chalk to scribe a line on the outside diameter of the tire. The easiest way to do this is to hold the chalk with your hand braced against something solid, such as the fender. Spin the tire slowly until the chalk line is all the way around the tire. Do this on each side.

Now let the vehicle down and settle the springs by pushing on each corner of the bumpers a couple times. It will require 2 people to do the toe measurement. Use carpenter squares, or something similar, and bring the edge of the square up to the chalk line at the height of the spindle and measure the distance between the squares. You have to do this on the front and back of the tire. Subtract the 2 measurements and you have your toe setting. A larger measurement in the front means the tires are toed out.

Chris

What is the toe setting for a '96 XJ?

Most vehicles will be between 0 and 1/8" toe in, and according to this, yours falls in that category as well.

Chris

Oops, my bad, the post I referred to is in degrees, but that can be converted using some simple trig and your tire size. Just multiply the tangent of the toe in angle times your tire diameter and you will get the toe in per side. Multiply that times 2 to get total toe in. the tangent of .11 is .00192 so the formula would be:

tire dia. * .00192 * 2 for total toe in

Chris

I last used Trig in the early 70s...... Now if I want to count past eleven I have to take off my shoes.

XJ 27.7" x 0.00192 x 2 = 0.106368 ~ 1/9" ? WJ 29.3" x 0.00192 x 2 = 0.112512 ~ 1/9"

31s = 0.11904 ~ 1/8" 33s = 0.12672 ~1/8"

Thanks!

Especially in this case..

I have been doing my own alignment on my CJ7 for ten years and my tires wear out perfect.

To start, why do you think the alignment is out? If it wasn't out when you started, it still isn't out. You didn't have the 'tie rod' that goes between the two wheels off did you? If not, no issues. You were messing with the steering drag link.

The drag link you unhooked only aligns the steering wheel. It is nice to get it straight so the blinkers work right, but that is just a matter of turning that sleeve.

Meanwhile if you want to adjust the toe in, you first need to measure it. I use the seam in the tire tread as a measuring point and go from side to side in the front of the tire and then in the back of the tire up as far as I can and keep the tape measure straight. As others have mentioned, you should have about 1/8" less in the front than the back.

If you have to adjust this it is a pain. You have to loosen off the steering stabilizer shock first and both sleeves on either end of the tie rod. The tie rod will then turn.... Ya right.... I use a plumbers pipe wrench on it to 'help' it along and recommend soaking the threaded ends and sleeves for several days in a good penetrating oil first.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

You have to loosen the stabilizer?

As this group always does - GREAT (and timely) help.

Many thanks!

Lynn in Vancouver

On a CJ7, yes. The tie rod is one straight bar that goes between the front wheels. The stabilizer bolts onto this rod so you can't spin the rod to adjust the toe in with the shock tight.

Mike

billy ray wrote:

Ahhhh okay..... I couldn't figure why you would have to on an XJ.... It may well be coming off anyway as it is 10 years old.

We will be doing the toe in the next couple days - depending on when the snow starts falling......

A lot of the DW went away when we rotated the tires over the weekend, Ed had one episode of DW on the way to work Monday, on the way home he stopped by Major Bob's and had all four rebalanced. The tire that had 5.5 ounces of weights was broken down and rotated 180 degrees, it now is carrying 2.75 ounces of lead. He had no DW on the trip home.

We checked all the linkages like we did last year at the camping trip Jeep Clinic last year and the ball joints by pivoting the tire up with a crowbar. Everything is good and tight with the exception of the sway bar end link bushings. They are all compresses, cracked, and deteriorating. The main bar bushings.... well.... you can see daylight between the bar and the bushing......

Ed just got home..... no DW today and just a little vibration but that may be due to the alignment still being off and the shocks and stabilizer. We were unable to get the stabilizer loose on either end Sunday to check. One of the shocks is completely dead, 2 are making noise and only one seems to be working correctly. They are factory units from '96. We soaked all the nuts/bolts in penetrating liquid Sunday. I guess we will do the shocks/stabilizer when he picks up the parts.

No problem.

You need a helper and a tape measure. The tollerance is 3/64s (or just under

1/8th inch), so you have to be as precise as possible.

Set the wheels straight ahead, then identify two positions as near as possible/practical to 3:00 and 9:00 on the tires, and make your measurements from the same place each time. Locate the mold mark that runs around the tires pretty much in the center of the tread, and measure from the 3 and 9 o'clock positions, and adjust the tie rod so the measurements are the same.

Since the tolerance is so tight, you can not measure from the tire lugs or shoulders because the tire can be a bit different on the rim and affect the measurement. The mold mark on the tire should be the most-true measurement you can make.

I adjusted the alignment on my CJ5 using this meathod, and it worked out well.

I like your method, except the jacking up part. The tires have seams on them from the tire mold machine, I measure from the seam and adjust as needed.

Jeff, I think you misunderstood the method a little bit. Jacking up the vehicle is merely to mark the tire. You're right, it isn't necessary to use the marking method. You can use the tire seam. We normally marked the tires for the stock cars because the tire seam didn't last long on racing tires because they were so soft. Either method will work just fine though.

Chris

I think the marking method is the best way - I don' even trust the mold flash that much. I may be a tad paranoid (some call it anal ) but I go one step further simply because of possible warped wheels: I use a piece of tape on the tire to get an easy to see mark and measure between tow points at either the front or the rear of the wheel. I mark the point where I measured then rotate the tires as close to 180 degrees as I can and still get a straight-line measurement. I then measure the same points on the other side of the rotation. May be more effort, but it removes any doubt about the accuracy of the measurement. As for how it works out, I managed to cut two tires (in a parking lot, of all places!) and got a 50% treadwear adjustment on the BFG AT KOs with right at 50k miles on them.

I counted to 21 once and almost got arrested for indecent exposure.

I trust the mold mark much more than I trust a line that I might draw.

I have four tires on my CJ5 that are worn evenly and without rotation in many years.