Well my Franken Lift is now installed and I had it aligned at a place that has been doing suspension work for over 35 years. The problem I am having is that now it rubs the edges of the front sway bars with my stock 235/70R16 tires. Whats going to happen when I get some 245/75R16 MTR or such?

Take a look at the two photos of my front suspension I have attached:

Photo 1 Front Passenger-Side Suspension. Notice the rubbing at point 'B' on the sway bar. Notice there is very little adjustment done on the steering tie-rod end at point 'A' but lots of adjustment to the front lower A-arm bolt at point 'C'...a little more than 1/2" worth to be exact, which moves the entire A-arm inward.


Photo 2 Front Driver-Side Suspension. In this photo you will see a similar adjustment pattern. Rubbing at point 'E' with no evidence of adjustment on the tie-rod end at 'F' but more than 1/2" at point 'D'.

Now I am NOT a suspension expert by any means. But by looking at what was adjusted instead of what I would have thought would have been adjusted, they have moved the entire lower A-arm assemblies inward thereby causing the tires to rub the swaybar. If they had made more of the adjustment on the tie-rod end instead of the A-arm, IMO, there would be little or no rubbing on the sway bar. My question is...why did they not get the adjustments needed to align the suspension out of the tie-rod instead of the A-arm. Were they being lazy or is this the proper method to do the alignment? That 1/2"+ adjustment on the A-arms is what is causing the tires to rub.

John
];')

_________________
05 4x4/3.7L/6 Spd
245/75R16 GY Dura Trac
Lots of Mods!
My Wheeling Videos
My Mods, Upgrades and Custom Fabrications

My stock Eagle RS-As rubbed when at full lock turns after my Frankenlift, and it was in need of a good alignment, which I didn't get until I got my new tires.

My new tires may do this too, but only at full lock, and by that time I may be hitting the fog light door area and/or the pinch weld. It all depends on the articulation of the suspension at the moment. Now matter what, though, if I turn past the point where the steering wheel will move back towards center like a rebound, just before it won't turn anymore, I will get rubbing, on my fog light doors I'm pretty sure. That's just what I get for putting LT245/75 M/Ts on stock rims, I guess.

My solution, until I can do some real trimming and adding my bumpstops to the rear, is to go slow when I'm flexing out a lot, which you should usually do anyways, and then to not turn past that rebound point, on the street, or offroad. I'm willing to pay that price for being able to do what I can with these tires. And the rubbing I'm noticing doesn't show wear on the tires so far. It is just plastic lining it's rubbing against. I'll do some trimming and add the bumpstops eventually...and if that doesn't help I may get new rims and a different size tire after these are worn down.

BTW, the alignment guy at the Firestone store in Parker was really helpful at clearing some things up for me about alignment. He said, because of the lift, you probably won't be able to get the suspsion back to factory alignment angles, and that's just how it is. It's not a horrible difference. I had only one angle, I forget what it was, that couldn't be returned to factory setting. I watched the computer as he aligned my vehicle and explained some stuff for me. The Firestone guys were giving me a hard time because they said they would rub, and I said "OK, put them on". They then said it would void my 30 day return guarantee thing (so basically if they mounted them, I had to buy them, no matter what), but I still really wanted these tires, so I said OK. I wouldn't have done this without knowing what I know from the LOST Forums. I still think I made the right decision. I wouldn't be worry too worried about this.

_________________
2003 Limited, Silver - L.O.S.T. # 068957 Rockies
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2127390/14
2006 Kawasaki KLR650

Are you running stock wheels? Back spacing is your friend.

_________________
Men, we don't improve ourselves, we improve our stuff!

Congrats on the lift man.

First off and alignment consists of more than just toe. Typical done with tie-rod ends and you pointed out. You also need to worry about Camber and Caster for the front of the KJ. Take a look at http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm

The lower control arm was moved in to correct your camber.

The upper control arm is shorter than the bottom control arm. Thus when the wheel starts to droop (because of the lift) the top of the wheel tilts inwards (negative camber). This is because the upper control arm is shorter than the bottom, thus making a shorter radius. You need to correct this so at normal ride heigh you have 0 degrees of camber. That is done by bring the lower control arm in closer.

Only thing you can do is really lower the jeep again, or get some new longer upper control arms.

I have the frankenlift and my cam bolts are the same. Yes with 245/75/16 it rubs on the sway bar, but it is totally liveable.

Mine rubs at full lock too........just don't turn it that hard

Stock wheels are going to do that. Unfortunately all you can do is

1. Not turn that far (good luck on tight trails)
2. Get some aftermarket wheels with less backspacing
3. Put wheel spacers on the stock wheels

Moab wheels work perfectly by the way

_________________
02 KJ Limited w/ offroad pkg, Sunroof, NP 242
Moab with 255/70 Grabber AT2's
Tweaked Rusty's Coil Lift w/ OME LT shocks
Mopar skids & Rocky Road Supersliders
http://www.cardomain.com/id/bighause

Retired Jeeps - 84CJ, 90YJ, 97XJ, 86CJ

jeepin by al has the longer control arms.

Hey john, that is why I got Al's arms... now I only rub on the fog light door at full lock because my fenderwells are sagging

Take a look at mine. Not how much less gap is seen at my concentric nut, also My tie rod ends are adjusted further than yours too. This is after camber and caster adjustment.


This is after toe adjustment (tie rod ends)

_________________
I'm baaaaccckkk...
LOST Member 10
If you can read this you don't need glasses, go Wheel your Jeep!