96 xj Cherokee alignment and steering

[black magic]

[QUOTE=alexbrown64;1579889]Black Magic, i have upper and lower adjustable control arms on my Jeep, and have played around with castor to suit different Heights. There is always a bit of compromise between drive line vibe and steering feel. But at your 3.5" lift, your vibes will hardly be there and you can concentrate on getting the castor correct to make the steering feel good. Mine is set up so the steering is really light. If i could do it all over again though, i would get these...
http://www.tmrcustoms.com/store/inde...oducts_id=2057 Super expensive, but takes all the pain out of continually removing control arm bolts, adjusting and trying to refit them. With these control arms, go for a drive, adjust while they are on (1 minute job) and test again. They will also last a life time.

You may also want to consider a steering box brace, to help save your frame rails and get better steering. I have one, and got rid of all the slop and funny noises. I got mine from c-rok as it for right hand Jeeps.. http://www.c-rok4x4.com/#!product/pr...ame-repair-kit and reasonable price.

im looking at some Rubicon express arms, in your opinion would be better off to get upper or lower ones to correct my castor?

[junglejuice]

I use Iron Rock Off-road arms in mine....

Plenty of people do the lowers only, it allows for more down travel then what the stock arms allow but I've never seen anyone run adjustable uppers with stock lowers.....

[alexbrown64]

Black Magic. As JJ said, you want the lowers. And i would seriously look at a set of the type i posted up, as you dont have to half remove them to adjust them, and that can be a serious pain to rotate the diff and get the bolts back in.
On Go-Jeeps site, you will notice the chart below. The upper control arms stay the same length up to 4.5" of lift, but you adjust the length of the lowers after only 2" lift..

Lift...........Lower Control Arms/Upper Control Arms
********Decimal**Fraction**Decimal**Fraction
Stock........15.75.......15 ¾........15.00........15
2”.............15.92.......16............14.88 .... ...15
3”.............16.09.......16............14.92 .... ...15
4”.............16.33.......16 3/8......15.03........15
4.5”..........16.47.......16 ½........15.11........15
5”.............16.62.......16 5/8......15.21........15 ¼
6”.............16.97.......17............15.44 .... ...15 ½
7”.............17.36.......17 3/8......15.74........15 ¾
8”.............17.81.......17 ¾........16.09........16
9”.............18.30.......18 ¼........16.50........16 ½
10”...........18.82.......18 ¾........16.96.........17

See also here: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/3...-arms-1307226/

Cheers, and good luck..

[black magic]

Originally Posted by alexbrown64

Black Magic. As JJ said, you want the lowers. And i would seriously look at a set of the type i posted up, as you dont have to half remove them to adjust them, and that can be a serious pain to rotate the diff and get the bolts back in.
On Go-Jeeps site, you will notice the chart below. The upper control arms stay the same length up to 4.5" of lift, but you adjust the length of the lowers after only 2" lift..

Lift...........Lower Control Arms/Upper Control Arms
********Decimal**Fraction**Decimal**Fraction
Stock........15.75.......15 ¾........15.00........15
2”.............15.92.......16............14.88 .... ...15
3”.............16.09.......16............14.92 .... ...15
4”.............16.33.......16 3/8......15.03........15
4.5”..........16.47.......16 ½........15.11........15
5”.............16.62.......16 5/8......15.21........15 ¼
6”.............16.97.......17............15.44 .... ...15 ½
7”.............17.36.......17 3/8......15.74........15 ¾
8”.............17.81.......17 ¾........16.09........16
9”.............18.30.......18 ¼........16.50........16 ½
10”...........18.82.......18 ¾........16.96.........17

See also here: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/3...-arms-1307226/

Cheers, and good luck..

thanks, do you know if anyone in aus stocks them or ones similar

[alexbrown64]

Both these mobs below make double adjustable lower control arms a lot cheaper than tmr. Cost is about US300 and they both ship to Au.
you can get cheaper single adjustable control arms, but like others on here, do it once and do it right. Its just my opinion on getting double adjustable, as it would personally save me a lot of heart ache.. especially when you want to play around with adjustments.

https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com.../DFLEX-LF.html

http://www.metalcloak.com/Aluminum-C...-TJ-p/7054.htm

I personally like the metalcloak. Good website with pics, installs, etc.. product looks great, strong, easy to adjust hex section.

Cheers

[junglejuice]

Just something to think about, I personally prefer the single adjustable as they can never loosen and self adjust due to vibration etc, I find using the stock jack makes positioning the diff pretty easy....



The IRO arms I have in mine use the OEM bushes (as do some others) meaning sourcing replacement bushes is easy....

[black magic]

Originally Posted by junglejuice

Just something to think about, I personally prefer the single adjustable as they can never loosen and self adjust due to vibration etc, I find using the stock jack makes positioning the diff pretty easy....



The IRO arms I have in mine use the OEM bushes (as do some others) meaning sourcing replacement bushes is easy....

im looking at these synergy ones, i work at double black and i had them recommended to me
http://www.doubleblackoffroad.com/je...trol-Arms.aspx