dealership alignment with spacers installed?

[Ranger1776]

ive been thinking, i heard on here that few shops know how to correctly do an alignment on my beloved TTB, im wondering if my local ford dealer could do it better... ive got the coil dpacers installed and theyd need to get whatever size bushings they would need... they are a full service dealer with the big garages in the back... anyone think they could do it better? even for a little more...

 

[adsm08]

It all depends on the alignment guy. We have a few alignment guys, two of them have been around long enough to be great with TTB, one is OK with them, two of them don't know TTB from PBJ.

 

[det107]

....two ok them don't know TTB from PBJ.

 

[4.0B2]

yeah, find an older guy that loves what he does for a living.. that's what I did and I won't take my B2 to anyone else for alignment.

believe it or not, he works at Firestone to!

 

[shane96ranger]

Just call around. You can find out in a hurry if they know what they are talking about. Anyone that knows will tell you there is a possibility you may need new camber bushings. Anyone that knows what they are doing won't put the damn thing "within spec" - because we all know that range is way too big. I got my Ranger aligned at Big O, and the bastard pulled worse than it did when I took it in. I took it back and they told me it was within spec.

There is only one shop around here that I would take a TTB to (not Big O).

 

[4.0B2]

yeah within spec does not work on the TTB's... not the spec they have. Best you can do is like Shane said and call around, talk to them... ask them if they are comfortable enough to give a 100% satisfaction guarantee on a TTB alignment... I did this with several shops and finally found one that said if I didn't like the alignment they'd not only pay for it to be done at Ford but they'd also give me my money back. That's how confident they are in their guy Mr. Earl. The guy even gave that to me in writing.

 

[adsm08]

yeah within spec does not work on the TTB's... not the spec they have.

This is so true.

I have aligned my truck myself 3 times since I put the Dana 35 in. It still isn't right. It's close enough for me though. It is fairly straight (but a little floaty, needs more caster) and I'm not too worried about the tires because they are done anyway. 6 years, 55K miles, if I rotate them I might get 2 more years out of them the way I drive, but the point is, I did it myself and it still isn't right!

 

[doorgunner]

This is so true.

I have aligned my truck myself 3 times since I put the Dana 35 in. It still isn't right. It's close enough for me though. It is fairly straight (but a little floaty, needs more caster) and I'm not too worried about the tires because they are done anyway. 6 years, 55K miles, if I rotate them I might get 2 more years out of them the way I drive, but the point is, I did it myself and it still isn't right!

Let me do the align. for you for giving so much good mechanic advice to me! I used the "string method" when I put on (not on me--on the truck) the DJM beams/adjustable NAPA bushings---got about 10,000 miles on the new tires so far (i think they got moar tread than when i bought them)...

Wait.....let me take my meds first

 

[hdmm]

I'm dreading having to bring my truck to somone to have it aligned, good techs, let alone a GOOD alignment guy are few and far between where I'm at. The previous owner of my new to me '97 put some hokey F150 coils in it or something and junk hollow aluminum blocks in the rear. The front end is all messed up (way out of aligment), the rear axle was loose, etc. So.....I bought a new Rough Country 4" lift kit to do the job right. It came with all drop brackets, drop pitman arm, steel lift blocks, etc. Once I'm done I need it properly aligned (cringe).