Rear axle camber

Hey guys, i need some advice, my wife's 2009 Jeep grand cherokee has got an issue with tire wear. It has really bad negative camber on the rear axle, the wheels look like this /\ and it is causing excessive tire wear. What causes this and is there a quick fix? Replaced the tires less than a year ago and they are already slick on one side. Could the axle be bent and do they make shims that could correct this? We have already had it aligned and the guy said there is no adjustment for the rear.

 

Sounds bent to me. If the rear wheel bearings had gone out you would hear it.

 

That is what i was afraid of. Thanks for the info. I know a guy here that can straighten the axle tube, i just really didn't want to tear it all down.

 

Sounds like you either have a bent axle housing or worn out axle bearing. Use a floor jack and jack up the rear axle then grab the top and bottom of one of the rear tires and give it a good push/pull shake. It should not move at all, if you can move it then the axle bearing are most likely worn out. The alignment tech should check this before he does the alignment as if you have loose or worn out part the alignment can't be done properly and they are just taking your money. They should give you a printed sheet showing your alignment specs before and after the alignment if they don't, don't trust the shop.

 

I checked for worn bearings yesterday when i rotated the tires. There is no play in either side.

 

Rear axles are very hard to bend... keep that in mind. Do you have pics?

 

No pics at this time. This jeep has been in a wreck in the front end and had significant damage, could this have bent the rear axle also?

 

It messed up a wheel and bent fenders, but the hood was undamaged and the frame was undamaged.

 

I had it up on jack stands this weekend and with the wheels off i put a level on the end of the axle shaft and both sides were a whole bubble off leaning inward towards the vehicle.

 

I would think more control arm or something else before I would say the axle housing is bent but it is possible. The alignment shop should have told you want the problem is before selling you an alignment... jeep Cherokees are unibody and may very well have bent the body throwing the alignment off.

 

Alignment shop guy is crooked, they said nothing about it, i just noticed the tires were wearing out extremely bad a week ago, so i decide to rotate them, these tire are onky 8 months old, and prolly have less than 10000 on them and are already slick on the inside.

 

not a unibody! a real frame they say, with a body welded on

 

Agreed unless someone joyrided the GC and got it airborne like the Dukes of Hazzard. But now that we got more info about an accident the unibody/uniframe could be tweaked and/or rear axle hitting an obstacle or curb