Alignment V.S. Modifying

[Ranger 1776]

i wanted to take my truck into the shop and get the adjustable camber caster bushings put in and have an alignment done, he is convinced that there are all these other factors that will mess my truck up in some way. I.E. the radius arms at such an angle (in reality the angle really isnt that extreme) and the axle halves being at such an angle (again in reality the angle isnt really that harsh) he says lets try taking the coil over shocks out of the back, and take the spacers out of the front, and it will probably sit level enough... i then explained to him that they come factory with a rake because some committee of people thought it looked good... i need some arguments to convince him to let me take it in as im sick of driving his camry to school and i miss my truck dearly...

 

[adsm08]

Who is "he"?

Rake does look good, you people are just nuts. Also, trucks are designed to sit higher in the back unloaded so that they don't have negative rake when you load them up because that screws with steering.

But in reality, your truck should be alignable with adjustable bushings, as long as you haven't done something super screwed up to it (18" suspension lift or such).

 

[straycat]

i wanted to take my truck into the shop and get the adjustable camber caster bushings put in and have an alignment done, he is convinced that there are all these other factors that will mess my truck up in some way. I.E. the radius arms at such an angle (in reality the angle really isnt that extreme) and the axle halves being at such an angle (again in reality the angle isnt really that harsh) he says lets try taking the coil over shocks out of the back, and take the spacers out of the front, and it will probably sit level enough... i then explained to him that they come factory with a rake because some committee of people thought it looked good... i need some arguments to convince him to let me take it in as im sick of driving his camry to school and i miss my truck dearly...

Who is 'He' you are talking about?? The king of the Naked Mole Rats? Post a photo of the truck on level ground and lets see what it looks like.

 

[4x4junkie]

Check your suspension's ride height on level ground...

If the axle beam pivot bolts are 1" or so higher than the center of your wheel hubs, give/take 1" (or in other words, 0-2" above the hubs), you should be fine. Keep in mind if you have stock radius arms, you'll usually run out of caster adjustment before camber if your suspension sits too high. This usually causes poor return to center.

http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2008/steering_tech.htm (scroll about halfway down)

I'd be tempted to go find another alignment guy if he doesn't even want to look at it first before making all those assumptions... Sounds like he's trying to push you off because he doesn't want to mess with it.

 

[hdmm]

"He"

 

[Ranger 1776]

sorry for the confusion!! "he" is my old man. i dont have any pictures of it sitting on level ground from the front but ill work on getting some up... ive had a few pictures of it up on here recently from the front...

 

[4x4junkie]

sorry for the confusion!! "he" is my old man.

Sorry, didn't realize that lol (you initially said "shop" and I figured "he" was just the guy there).
Finding good TTB alignment guys is tough in a lot of areas, many just guess and twist things at best, others do nothing but take your $$$, so you can see where I came from.

Maybe have him read over the page I linked above and see if it gives him a better idea of what to look for on yours.

 

[killj0y]

Sorry, didn't realize that lol (you initially said "shop" and I figured "he" was just the guy there).
Finding good TTB alignment guys is tough in a lot of areas, many just guess and twist things at best, others do nothing but take your $$$, so you can see where I came from.

Maybe have him read over the page I linked above and see if it gives him a better idea of what to look for on yours.

Funny you mention that. When I got my lift I took it in for an alignment afterwords and the guy was convinced there was no way to adjust it and that he'd have to put in adjustable bushings to fix it. I then told him to check the passenger side carefully. He said "oh" and proceeded to adjust and 15 minutes later the truck was aligned...

 

[doorgunner]

LOL........if an old Vet on meds can align a modified twin beam front end with 20 feet of string/ a 2" x 2" x 15" long board/ a home depot angle-finder/ a floor-jack/ a few wrenches/ a Dr. Pepper.....

surely an alignment man with 10-20 years experience can align one.....

 

[scotts90ranger]

I did mine with a tape measure (using inside of wheels as a reference), 15mm socket and ratchet for alignment sleeves, 12mm 12pt socket for pinch bolts, big adjustable wrench for alignment cams, and a calibrated eyeball for the camber , the rear tires are wearing faster than the front... (locker is helping in that respect), the front tires are wearing evenly though

 

[4x4junkie]

LOL........if an old Vet on meds can align a modified twin beam front end with 20 feet of string/ a 2" x 2" x 15" long board/ a home depot angle-finder/ a floor-jack/ a few wrenches/ a Dr. Pepper.....

surely an alignment man with 10-20 years experience can align one.....

Good luck finding one... Most places have such high turnover rates it seems most have but a few months to maybe a year or two experience at best. Unless they're instructed how to do it while in training (which TTB stuff apparently isn't), they're basically clueless.
Simple laziness I think is a factor too (not bothering to change a camber/caster bushing that needs it for everything to be correct).

Little mom & pop independents are probably your best bets to get a TTB aligned (that or a 4x4 shop that regularly deals with modified suspensions).