well heres an update

I went to a shop and they said the cam is so out that they cant do anything for it

so i got a cam kit at napa for $46, installed it and went to a cheaper closer shop. $50 for a 4 wheel alignment!

They told me that my balljoints are so bad that anything that any adjustments they make to it will just come undone or get just as worse as soon as i drive it around. He actually said he doesnt think hes seen any so bad before haha. Even if he was lying, which i dont think he was, im still going to replace them. I was going to do it ASAP anyways. Now i wont have to get a second alignment

So now its operation gather 200 bucks for balljoints before my tires wear too bad and drive it as little as possible.

dang it

 

Well heres what ended up happening

I installed new upper and lower balljoints (and some tie rod ends that got destroyed in the process). When i put the new upper arms in i pulled them out as far as they could go and tweaked my cam kit to hopefully fix any negative camber and it came out like this



!!! but still, better than the tops kicked in like i was expecting

I took it to get aligned and they said that they couldnt get it within spec. I thought for sure that they would be able to get the wheels straight now because theres too much positive now. To my surprise they said that they cant fix all the negative camber and it still has about a degree too much; When i just drove it in with too much positive!!

To me this doesnt make any sense. But then again im no front end tech. Is this normal or was this guy just not very good at aligning? Is it because when they align it theres no weight on the suspension?

 

You need to find a better alignment shop used to deal with truck that have modified suspension.

 

Thats what i was hoping to hear. They at least got it driveable and not tire eating. So i guess ill go to a 4wd shop when i get tires

 

can't do any alignment in the rear, so you meant to say 2 wheel alignment


Tell them to adjust camber and toe only, and to not worry about trying to adjust for caster. The caster angle is non tire wearing, as long as it matches side to side the vehicle wont pull even if the caster is "out of spec"

 

oh! haha yeah i know that i was just copying what the ad said. didnt put much thought into it. i guess they adjust all four wheels on cars?

ill tell em that next time

 

Im sorry to bring back this. I did my entire front end, and my camber was way out, like 3* negitve camber. I took it to a shop (tires plus) and they found my UCA's were loose, so they tightened them and re-did my alignment and got it into spec. Truck rides so much better and smoother, plus no bad wear. Your UCA's need to be re-torqued after the springs settle a little.

 

ok. the reason is this. camber and caster are adjusted at the same time. in order for them to get caster in spec camber will be to negative. if they get the camber in spec you will not have enough caster and your truck will wonder all over the road. trust me, ive ran into this on many leveling kit alighnments.

 

Hm. Maybe you should practice more (Dont take that serious) My Alignment is near damn perfect. You got to take apart the front end.

 

no 2 trucks are the same. ive seen identical kits in identical trucks and some you just cant do anything about. others get lucky

 

Yeah adactly. My mechanic was crawling all through my suspension then found the UCA's slipped out. Its going to take time sometimes to get the alignment right.

 

Sorry to high jack the thread... I just installed a 6'' rough country on my 2006 FX4 and I kinda have the same problem. When I drive backwards they go negative camber and when I drive forward they go positive camber...

I can't drive this way... but if I could fix it to be just negative or just positive I can drive it to an alignment shop.

Otherwise i'll havee to have it towed.

Any ideas on what might be the problem.