Mechanic wrong or am I, drop brackets??

[sfwjesse]

I put in new coils from JC Whitney, 1-2" of lift stated in the catalog. These springs came with 2 piece camber bushings...supposedly so you could adjust the camber afterwards to compensate. I didnt know how do do it.....since the wheels have to off and the knuckel all loose to spin the camber bushings, so i figured id take it to an alignment shop. They told me there was no way they could get the camber anywhere close to vertical (the tires are sticking way out on the top at the moment)...and i would need drop brackets and i was missing all kinds of hardware to do it.

Am i missing something? this is almost nothing for a lift! I figure i just have the camber bushings in the worst possible position.....and need to spin them around. Will that be enough or do i really need drop brackets?? is there a way to ballpark the camber myself so the tires at least sit flat? please answer only if you are 100% positive you are correct and know what you are talking about. Thank you.

 

[4x4junkie]

If you have 2-piece camber bushings, try setting them to letter "M", then orientate them in the knuckle for max negative camber adjustment. If the tires still have too much positive camber afterward, then yes, you've got too much lift on it.
If the camber ends up negative, then you're good on the lift, you just need to find the correct setting for the bushings.

 

[metalmacguyver]

please answer only if you are 100% positive you are correct and know what you are talking about. Thank you.

4x4Junkie is one of those people that know what they are talking about, FWIW.

 

[Ranger44]

1-2" of lift should be correctable. Listen to Junkie.

 

[hitech_hick]

Could just be the shop too. I took my Mazda to Meineke's to get it aligned and they wouldn't touch it, apparently the last one they did took them almost the entire day to do. I took it to a little shop down the road, and they had no problem getting it aligned.


hick

 

[Loanranger]

x2 on what both 4x4 junkie and hitech_hick said, some places are afraid of the ttb, call around to find someone knowledgeable with ttb.

 

[TrexMex]

I got the exact same story from the alignment shop last week. Same case... bought the skyjacker 2" leveling coils and got positive camber. I went and bought the 2-piece camber bushings from NAPA and this is what I have now:

so... misalignment in the end but proves the shop wrong since now I have negative camber there... Bottomline, I'll take the truck to a more professional shop and pay for good service...

BTW, I think the correct starting point for 0º camber on the bushings is N, not M....

hope this helps.

 

[Loanranger]

Something I just realized with Trexmex's post, sure it might be possible to get the camber negative, but it still may be unalignable due to the caster. If you use every bit of the bushing to get your camber into spec, there's nothing left to adjust you caster. I know when I put my SJ 2" coils in, I bought the 3.25 degree bushings, and it barely got into spec on both camber and caster, so if you have a bigger bushing to start with, like say a 2.5 or bigger, it may just be unalignable without drop brackets.

 

[sfwjesse]

thanks for the input. I will attempt to get them in line myself. When you say "position M"...i am assuming you mean to allign notch M with the tab sticking out of my steering knuckle. Remember these are 2 peice...there is an unmarked sleeve that spins inside the bushing as well...idk where that one should be set. I am assuming that is the caster adjustment?

 

[TrexMex]

Yes, the letters on the inner (top) part of the bushing align to the notch on the bottom one. As I said, the instructions that came with the bushings say the letter "N" is actually 0 degrees.

My bushings go all the way to 4 degrees, which is where I got the negative camber from (at the maximum, or "Z" position). I guess this gives me some slack to get the truck to spec. I will post a pic after I take it to the alignment shop so you can see the difference.

 

[Muddycowboy]

ive had alot of problems with shops not wanting to work on a lifted truck to.

 

[rickcdewitt]

its amazing how often techs get confused over these front ends but its really rather simple.for every bushing setting there are two caster specs with the camber in range.

set the camber and toe,check caster.if out of range rotate the bushing 180* and check caster again. if you need more or less you either get a new solid bushing or change the setting on the adjustable type.it only takes a few times to get it at most but a lot of techs are intimidated by the scissor front end and myths of unalignability.

caster is really the only spec that you might need to hunt for(in a front end thats alignable)

 

[crbnunit]

TTB is unique and there are a lot of guys out there that have no idea how to align them. Just call around and find a shop that has a clue. You can get it pretty close yourself. Chances are, if you get it close, the techs probably won't be so intimidated.

 

[F150hybred]

I got to agree... there are far too many "tecks" out there that don't know how or don't want to understand how to allign a TTB or TIB suspension. If your having a problem finding a shop to do the work, a frame shop should and will have the ability to do a "proper" allignment.
And, for what it's worth... there are two different types of camber bushings out there. Those that do just camber (Moog) and the "two way" adjustable that will adjust both camber and caster... the manufacturer is... um... if you need to know, I'll get back to you. I can't remember rite now.

 

[TrexMex]

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18612&highlight=napa

I guess this is what you're looking for....

There is another thread out there that has a link to the alignment instructions for these type of bushings.