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Harbor Frieght Alignment Tool

Im not sure about the rest of you, but after a few alignment shop bills it gets really, really annoying.

Now after a lift or a tire size swap we are all often told we should get our Jeeps in the shop for an alignment. Abnormal wear on the tread will result from an improperly aligned Jeep. What happens if you decide to do it yourself? Well you could really screw things up if you dont take your time or you could save a few bucks and do it more often because it doesn't cost you anything. Everytime I rotate my tires or do anything that affects the front end of my Jeep I give it a quick check.

Tools: Time:
Alignment Tool from Harbor Freight
13mm socket and wrench
 15-20 minutes

How hard is a do it your self alignment? Well the first time I attempted it I took my Jeep to the shop and let them do it. I then came home and decided to copy what I thought they where doing. This is the exact write-up I followed and have done it many times with good success. So do you think Im going to have them do it again? NO. The only problem I had with the above mentioned write-up is it requires two people do the measureing. I don't like waiting for others to offer up help so thats why Ive opted to give the Harbor Freight $9.99 tool a try. If you have any questions or comments about this reivew visit

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Hook the Passenger tire underneth your Jeep and flip out the leg so the rod is elevated and slide the dial until it reads 0 and lock it down. Using a torpedo level insures your guage is level so your measurement is more accurate.		 DSCN2.JPG
Now hook the drivers side wheel in front of your Jeep. 		DSCN3.JPG
Use a level to insure its level. The pointer on your guage will rest on the outside of your tire giving you a measurement. Each tick indicates a 32nd of an inch. We are looking for 1/8th of an inch toe in.
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This is what the guage looks like a bit closer.		 DSCN3156.JPG
Now Im just a hair off. I should be good to go. However, I am not. Twist the Tie-rod counter clockwise looking from the passenger side tire to increase Toe in. Clockwise to move the gauge towards Toe out. After each adjustment I raise the Jeep by the Diff housing to allow the drivers side tire to come back into place and insure my movement is accurate. Lower the Jeep.

Now, since you have changed your Toe you need to climb behind your drivers side tire and find 0 again. back to the first step. Yeah it gets old going from this step back to step one over and over. However, its going to save you 60bucks.		 DSCN3171.JPG
After about 15-20 minutes of 0ing the guage. Checking the front, changing the Toe, lifting and lowering the Jeep. It begins to make you want to do things.