Bizarre

Okay....get this.
A few weeks ago, I was looking at the front of my 73 from a distance and I noticed that the passenger side wheel had an excessive amount of positive camber (wheel leans out at the top). So...I jack up the front to pull the weight off and shake the wheel...hoping that something will show me why it's doing what it's doing. I find nothing, and everything is tight. Just to give you some idea of the amount here...the driver's side wheel is at 0.5 degrees positive and the passenger side is FOUR degrees positive...So, not something I can just shrug off.
My first thought is that maybe the previous owner installed a camber/caster adjusting sleeve in the top ball joint...and maybe it has moved.
I start pulling it apart...carefully checking everything as I go. I am down to the bare axle housing now...and I found nothing worn, out of place or even the slightest bit questionable.
So the only thing I can think that it could possibly be at this point is a bent axle housing. Now...I know that is not at all unheard of....But...how in the heck could I bend the short side of the axle housing and also bend it DOWNWARD so that it has positive camber. I mean...aside from a very serious accident...what would cause this?

 

Hit a curb at an angle hard enough and the tube will bend.
It may have slid into a curb on ice.
PO may have just wheeled it hard enough to bend it.
No telling what has happened to a 34 year old jeep unless you are the origional owner.

 

Well...that's just the thing, I must have done this myself...because I'm sure I would have noticed this before. I am not at all "easy" on it...but I just do not recall doing anything hard enough that would cause it to bend like this...or do they bend easier than I think?

 

All it takes is the right amount or presure at the right point. 3.5 degrees of bend is hardly noticable on the axle tube. The only reason you saw it was the tire itself. So it is an easy thing to miss.

 

Were there any shims behind the spindle? They make camber shims that go between the spindle and knuckle. I'd check the housing with an angle finder before saying it's bent. It could be the knuckle or spindle as well.....
I have seen knuckles bend in the past....
Nickmil

 

This is a little far-fetched, but could the wheel itself be bent, and you just noticed it when it was out at the top?

 

There were not any shims...However, I am certainly not opposed to "fixing" it with camber shims. And I have been all over the housing with an angle finder and from what I can tell...it's straight as an arrow. For some reason...I had it in my head that the knuckle would break, not bend...So you have seen them bend before?

No...The thing is...that the CJ actually drives pretty good...and I know that many would say not to monkey with it...but there are something I just CAN'T seem to leave alone...This is one of them.
I figure a bent wheel would really make your eye balls shake at 50+ mph....and...I moved it around in different spots to make sure it was not some sort of optical illusion...and it was always the same...no matter where I put it.

 

Yup. Usually the housing bends first but I have seen a few bent knuckles. Check the studs carefully on the balljoints also as I've seen them bend causing a similar problem. Definitely not common but we just got a honda in at work that this happened to causing a serious camber issue after being "curbed". Nickmil

 

My buddy's old Acura had been curbed like that, not bent rim, but bent his lower control arm and the tie rod. My dad and I slaved in the scrap yard for an hour, he helped a little for an old one. I ended up torching it to get the spindle nut off And he sells the car a week later :evil:
If I were to guess could it have been thrown out at the pumpkin? For say a bead broke and the tube slipped out a little?
Also I did not see, but, did you roll it around to make sure it wasn't parked on something? I know it's funny but I thought I had a bent D25 and it was a rock it was sitting on

 

Hey guys...thanks a ton for all the advice...Sometimes a thing like this right in front of your face...but you don't see it. Here I was spending hours of my time measuring pretty much every little thing...except of course for the thing that was actually bent. As a matter of fact...I am sure I pushed it out of the way a few times to measure other things.
AND...the fact is...I still did not go to it as a bent piece...I was just getting ready to replace it's inner bearing, picked it up and...."HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYY...this here don't look right".

Anyway...see if you can find the problem in these picturesR)



CRACK!!!!!!!!



So...I got to thinking of when I possibly could have done this...and I just could not remember...But then Briana (Wife) says "how about the time last summer when you drove through that creek at about 50 mph and your front wheel dropped in a hole so hard that you almost rolled it?"
Yep...I'm guessing that would be the one....I guess I must be trying to block out things like that

 

Congratulations!

 

Glad you found the problem! Nickmil

 

I'm just glad I found it before something much worse took place because of it.

 

Yup I did that on my old scout once but the dead giveaway was had right front break tbls. Good catch.