unknown lift on truck, need help

[dali]

Hey, new to the forum. I bought a 1994 Mazda B4000, it's got about a 3" lift from what i can tell. Thing is it needs a front alignment, all four 33" tires are worn on the inside. I have no idea how it was lifted, any ideas on what I should look for. What sort of camber adjusters do I need for the front, rear should be fine right. Is there anything else I should check on as well, axels etc, things that might have been worn out. Thanks for any help.

 

[4.0B2]

post up some pics?
does it use drop brackets or extended radius arms?
does it have a drop plate or new bracket for the passenger side axle?

if the kit is good, it'll have drop brackets that will make the stock camber bushings work just fine, b/c the drop brackets keep the factory geometry. it might just need a good alignment. take it to a shop and see, BUT MAKE SURE THEY HAVE SOMEONE COMFORTABLE WITH TTB. most people will just push a TTB rig thru and get them out of there bc they don't understand it.

 

[maniak]

The camber shims/cams normally have the size written (stamped) on the top of them. What you need to know is what shims are in there now, and how far off your camber is.

If your camber is say 2 degrees off but you already have 2 degree shims in there you most likely won't be aligning it with just shims.

If the kit has drop brackets on for the size lift springs (or within about 2" of the lift) you have then it should be alignable.

~Mark

 

[adsm08]

If your camber is say 2 degrees off but you already have 2 degree shims in there you most likely won't be aligning it with just shims.


~Mark

Why not? You just need bigger shims. My truck has 4* shims in it right now, all I did was spin them back around to get the right camber angle back.

 

[maniak]

Why not? You just need bigger shims. My truck has 4* shims in it right now, all I did was spin them back around to get the right camber angle back.

I'm assuming Dana 35 here (I'm not positive the OP has a dana 35).. But According to SPC, these are the numbers you get from their shims. You can see you get a bunch less on a 4x4 versus a 4x2.

Here is the list of their cams and how much they move..
Series 2WD Adjust. 4WD Adjust
Part # Total Change Total Change
23181 .25 degree .20 degree
23182 .50 degree .40 degree
23183 .75 degree .60 degree
23184 1.00 degree .75 degree
23185 1.25 degree .90 degree
23186 1.50 degree 1.10 degree
23187 1.75 degree 1.25 degree
23188 2.00 degree 1.40 degree
23189 2.25 degree 1.60 degree
23190 2.50 degree 1.80 degree
23191 2.75 degree 2.00 degree
23192 3.00 degree 2.25 degree
23193 3.25 degree 2.50 degree
23194 3.50 degree 2.75 degree
23199 0.00 degree

What brand is your 4 degree cam? The 3.50/2.75 spc cam is already really thin on one side, I can't imagine how thin a 4 degree shim must be.

If you have a nice flat place to do the work, you can actually setup the Camber yourself (and toe). I use the SPC 91000 to setup Camber on our vehicles. Here is a shot of it when I was setting the alignment on the mustang.


Checking the Toe by maniak_az, on Flickr

To make sure the suspension is not loaded I made my own camber plates. Its just 2 pieces of sheet metal (18x18) with bearing grease between them. I put one set under each front wheel. If you don't do that you can get some funky/wrong readings.

~Mark