Who do you think would be the best for aligning my 97 4x4? Dealer, tire dealer or who? I have just about got the entire front suspension out and am replacing everything except the lower a-arms. I adjusted the new tierod lengths to the old. I didn't see how the upper arms or torsion bars were adjusted.

A thorough inspection under the truck revealed many depressing things. A possible leaking rear main seal. Transmission and seal leaks and a ton of rust everywhere. ALL exhaust fasteners from the manifold to the exhaust tip are shot. Brake lines heavily rusted. There is some sort of tin pan below the bed that is almost gone from the corrosion.

I guess I'll have to do the best I can with grinding, sand blasting and POR 15. I dread doing the rear main. I did the one on my son's Grand Cherokee. Very very time consuming.

 

I would go to a reputable shop. Dealers have a tendacy to be very high priced on stuff like that.
The key word is reputable. Last week a local Nissan dealership tried to tell one of my wife's co-workers that she just had to have a four wheel alignment on her Xtera, which has a solid rear axle!

 

I was wondering if you were gonna post a reply!! One other thing. I backed out the bolts which took the tension off the bars. Must I remove the crossmember to get the bars out of the a-arms or can it all be done from the arms? I haven't had any luck using the later. I couldn't get a c-clamp on it. I thought maybe I would have to drop the crossmember and work from the back forward.

Thanks

 

You shouldn't have to remove the crossmember. Your torsion bars are probably rusted in place. I'd try some penetrating oil.

 

you can still check the thrust angle and camber of the rear axle, sure there is almost nothing you can do to correct the problem, but its worth the time on a 5+ yr old vechile to check and see if something is out of specs and needs to be replaced.
-Patrick

 

I wound up cutting both T-Bars off since I was gonna replace them anyway. More trouble found. I have Warn running boards and noticed that the tubular steel supporting them were 90% gone. The corrosion had destroyed them. They were close to falling off and it doesn't look like Warn makes them any longer.

The brake lines and fittings that run through the chassi below the rear seat looks like it is ready to rust through.

Three steps forward and two steps backward seems to be the progress that I'm making.