Talk to me about alignment settings

[oscyjack]

Alignments have never made much sense to me off paper. Because of that, I'm in deep water when I get one done.

I'm having trouble aligning my truck properly for how it's set up. The front wheels look to me as if they are both set with toe in too much, or maybe camber set too low or something. Basically, the top of the tires are visually further outboard than the bottom of the tires. It's a marginal amount of course, but the outside edge of the tires are wearing rapidly in comparison to the inside tread. I'm fairly sure the last shop just set the specs to factory, which is improper for a leveled truck with larger tires.

I built the front end in March/April. Everything is new and quality except for the center link and sway bar itself. I used rare parts for idler/pitman and idler support and their G2 tie rods. I got new moog UCAs with offset bushings so that the truck would have a chance at a decent alignment. New lower control arms bushings are moog, and I got "kryptonite" aka mevotech ttx lower ball joints. Moog end links and small parts. I even did a new rancho steering stabilizer and bilsteins on 4 corners.

The truck is levelled, I bought it that way from the previous owner. It has zone keys which are turned down as much as possible but it still sits pretty high.

The truck is riding on 20x9's, with 2016 take off 265/60r20 GY SRA's.

On Friday I'm going to town fair tire to have another alignment done. The 3rd since February when I bought the truck, and the second since the front end build. I'd like to be able to go there saying, ignore factory specs and use these instead, or some sort of advice that makes sense both on paper and on the road that the tech can use to get a decent alignment.

Can anyone help me get this done right?
Thanks all,
Jack

 

[N2BRK]

I've had my truck since 12/08 and I know what I want... and it STILL took me until this year to finally find someone that knew WTF they were doing and got it done to my satisfaction. I ended up helping him It was a true truck shop, and I was referred there by the guy that sends all of the heavy duty township trucks there (garbage truck, etc). I have been to every Firestone, Sears, etc. in the area and always walked away with a shitty alignment and pissed off. One guy at a body shop did "ok" but I had to get him to redo it when he got the caster set backwards!

I would not go to any car/truck chain store. Ask around for a big truck alignment center. When you get there, talk to the actual mechanic. Tell him that you have keys in the truck and need him to max out the Caster adjustment. Until I put on my offset upper balljoints, I could not get enough caster in the front end, so you might not be able to get enough... but just max it out and hope for 3 degrees or better; make sure to have about 1/2 a degree LESS caster on the driver's side, or else the truck will pull to the shoulder. Have him set the camber straight up and down to 0*. Toe in 1/4".

Hope this helps!

 

[2004LB7]

i have done mine myself on my 04 and my 08.

i set the camber to 0* by using a right angle guide from a flat floor. i use my works warehouse as it is the flattest smooth floor i have access to. measure from the rims 90* to the floor.

toe in was at 1/8 inch measured from the same place on the tires. i have tried marking the tires with a line while turning them and it works great. when adjusting toe in, make sure you drive the vehicle a short distance (20 ft or so) to let the tires settle after each adjustment.

i have tried 1/4" toe in and it seamed to wear faster.

i have found no need to have a shop do it as it doesn't take long at all to do and saves me a few dollars:thumb:

 

[oscyjack]

I've had my truck since 12/08 and I know what I want... and it STILL took me until this year to finally find someone that knew WTF they were doing and got it done to my satisfaction. I ended up helping him It was a true truck shop, and I was referred there by the guy that sends all of the heavy duty township trucks there (garbage truck, etc). I have been to every Firestone, Sears, etc. in the area and always walked away with a shitty alignment and pissed off. One guy at a body shop did "ok" but I had to get him to redo it when he got the caster set backwards!

I would not go to any car/truck chain store. Ask around for a big truck alignment center. When you get there, talk to the actual mechanic. Tell him that you have keys in the truck and need him to max out the Caster adjustment. Until I put on my offset upper balljoints, I could not get enough caster in the front end, so you might not be able to get enough... but just max it out and hope for 3 degrees or better; make sure to have about 1/2 a degree LESS caster on the driver's side, or else the truck will pull to the shoulder. Have him set the camber straight up and down to 0*. Toe in 1/4".

Hope this helps!

Thanks both for the advice. At this moment, I'm not going to tackle it myself, it would end up being worse.

The last place definitely made caster adjustments. I'm gonna take this advice right to the guy. town fair is cheap for an attempt, and I'd like to see if they do any better than the last shop. If it doesn't work, I'll ask for a refund and start searching for a pro.

That's why I ended up with the moog UCAs, supposedly they increase camber adjustments by 3 degrees. I should have just got the cognitos, but $300 more while dropping $2k on the front end was steep for me. but I still envision dropping the front to stock height when I find a set of keys from someone on the boards.

I'm hoping my alignment journey goes quicker than your 8 years haha

 

[N2BRK]

camber isn't your problem, it'll come in. Caster is your problem when you crank the bars:thumb:.

 

[TheBac]

One of the most difficult things to find in this world is an alignment tech/shop who can think independently instead of just "reading the manual" when it comes to these trucks. I know Im going to have big problems getting the 1/2 ton aligned when the time comes.

 

[WVRigrat05]

Caster is your friend on a leveled truck. I have the spec sheet the alignment guy had to do to get mine right. Caster is two something the driver and 3 on the pass, remind me I'll post it up later

 

[N2BRK]

exactly. Caster suffers when you crank. After the offset upper ball joints, I was able to get 4.6* of Caster :woott: At only 2.x* the truck was following every little groove. Adding a trailer made it worse of course. I actually experimented with 6*, but I couldn't get the camber in... but she tracked awesome

 

[Chevy1925]

Caster does not cause tire wear though.

I wouldn't want more than 1/16" toe in at ride height.

Leveled trucks get as much caster as possible but you can only get so much while keeping camber in spec. Aftermarket uca help but your still limited. Some places don't like playing with eccentric ball joints FYI.

I like camber to be 0-1* positive. These trucks like to wear the inner edge of tires if you do a lot of city driving. 1* is not noticeable to the naked eye but it helps flatten out tire wear I've found.

Off set caster should be best left to the types of roads you have. If you do a lot of freeway driving, you don't need a lot of off set caster. If you drive in a town where there are steep road crowns, you should have a decent amount in off set. Decent amount meaning .5-1*. Freeway should be .25-.5*

 

[clrussell]

One of the most difficult things to find in this world is an alignment tech/shop who can think independently instead of just "reading the manual" when it comes to these trucks. I know Im going to have big problems getting the 1/2 ton aligned when the time comes.

If your up for another trip down we have one of the best alignment techs in the country imo.

65 year old man who has done them for 37+ years. People honestly haul their old corvettes a long ways to have him do them.. It's probably because he is one of the few still doing it that did them back in the day.. Haha.

 

[N2BRK]

James is right - no one will want to play with adjustable ball joints. I set them and brought in the truck. They make money by getting it in and out fast, not by dicking with your custom front end, lol. As for the caster, correct again as it does not wear tires, but it contributes to a much nicer drive. I drive mixed here in NJ and find that my truck is very sensitive to low amounts of caster. That could be my roads and/or my tire and wheel choices. If you haul or tow much you will want as much as possible too because it will reduce when the ass squats and the front climbs More caster makes towing more pleasurable too.

I've lowered my cranked front end considerably over the years as I added power and boosted launches were a bad idea. I can tell you that in my truck, caster is like Copenhagen; makes conception a miracle and childbirth a pleasure, etc. :roflmao: