Caster - Camber Adjustment / Ball Joint Replacement

[mrbill3]

I have an 89 Cherokee Laredo 4.0L, Auto, 2-Door, 165,000 miles. It runs great the only (big) problem I had was the front and rear springs wore out. I just replaced them (and the shocks) with a 3" lift kit from Rusty's Offroad. After I installed the lift kit on the weekend and test drove it, I didn't notice any problems. It doesn't pull to one side, have hard steering, vibration, loose steering or any other noticeable alignment or steering problems. For good measure I took it to get it aligned yesterday, 5/10/05, and was told that the camber is out L=-.55 deg. R=-.54 deg. The mechanic says that there is no way to adjust the camber short of changing the upper ball joints to adjustable ones. It still drives just fine. My questions are: 1) Is there a way to adjust the camber and caster and if so how do you do it? 2) Do adjustable upper ball joints really exist and if so where can I get them? I can only find adjustable lower ones. 3) If they do exist is there a problem if I change the upper and lower ones to adjustables? 4) Does anyone have information on doing the ball joint change myself? I can't find any info. Answers to any part of or all of the questions would be appreciated.

[SteveB05]

a half of a degree negative camber, while out of spec, is not a big deal. They are about as even as you can get, and that is why you aren't getting a pull.

There are offset upper BJs but I wouldn't bother with it. Have them set the toe to the positive side of spec and just keep your tires rotated every 8 to 10 K miles.

[JDPascal]

Camber spec is -0.75 deg to +0.50 deg so you are still within spec though not prefered (0 deg). If you want to get it back to spec, you would be best to use the adjustable upper ball joints from after market. MOOG or TRW are the ones that come to mind first.

The toe spec range is -0.030"(out) to +0.030"(in)

On the alignment rack, with the negative camber, I would set toe closer to the mid range and if you can get the max camber setting, set toe to the max positive.

Setting toe in your driveway will work but obviously has way less accuracy than the rack in an alignment shop.

JD