alignment question/issue

Had a tire shop give me an alignment and asked them to get my caster to 3*, or as close to that as possible. They said they couldn't adjust the stock UCA's because of my lift. I have 6112's on the 3rd setting so 1.6" lift, should i take it somewhere else or will i need aftermarket UCA's? thanks.

 

I'm no alignment expert but I think this is one of the primary reasons why people with lifts choose to go with aftermarket UCAs...better castor/camber alignment numbers. There's only so much you can get out of your stock uppers.

 

Exactly the reason brother

 

in your opinion is the extra caster worth the cost of new ucas?

 

I like having serviceable ball joint UCAs and knowing that I can adjust them if I need to for whatever reason (alignment, tire fitment, etc.) and for better articulation. I think it's a worthwhile investment if you plan on upgrading your suspension.

 

I can only speak to the SPC Light Racing UCAs that I'm running though, they're the standard ball joint style UCA like what comes stock on these trucks, only they're adjustable and serviceable (unlike stock). Uniball UCAs are another popular option on here but I don't know how they stack up in terms of adjustability, but they are more expensive.

 

Thanks for the input. The only thing i'm worried about is my bigger tires causing poor handling because of the low caster. I think I'm going to ride with it like it is for now, and down the road get some ucas when i bump up my ride height. current set up

 

i have looked at the SPC UCAs they seem reasonably priced

 

Yeah a lot of people run with their stock uppers after upgrading their suspension until they can afford to do the UCAs...it's not usually a necessity right away unless you're lifting 3" or higher and/or do a lot of offroading where you need better articulation. Or if your alignment numbers are really bad.

If you have a shot of the inside of the wheel well it would be interesting to see what your current UCA angles look like on your setup.

 

this was right before the new tires same lift set up

 

Yeah that doesn't look bad at all, I've seen way worse lol.

 

That's what i thought too

 

Even though your front end isn't that high the caster benefit of some UCAs would be really noticeable. Especially on the highway. My truck is only 2-2.5" lift in the front. I rolled around on the stock UCAs for a year before I pulled the trigger on some delta joint icons and holy crap what a better ride! The steering wheel returns to center much better, it doesn't follow grooves on the highway, I can feel the road better through the steering wheel.

 

I'm calling BS on can't get it. Spec is 1.1 - 2.8 I don't think he knows what he is doing. I was up around 3 caster with stock UCA/LCA maxed out to stay in spec for camber. So I had even more throw, but couldn't use it to stay in spec. I put on SPA UCA(light racing ) in order to push the wheel forward to run 35s. Went -1 on UCA, which pushed wheel forward and was still able to get just under 3 caster, in spec for camber.

 

I was only able to get 1.2-1.5 degs caster on my stock arms. The guy that did OP's truck is ok, he was able to get it even side to side.

 

Mine felt kinda squirrelly with 1.6 degrees of caster after lifting 2.5". UCAs made it drive reasonable again.

 

Spc upper control arms for sure

 

Take it back or go to a different alignment shop. I'm running the exact same lift up front (6112 @ #3) and this was my report:

 

I'm going to talk to a tech from another shop to see if they can get more caster. If not i guess i'm getting UCAs.

 

A lot of people recommend 3+ degrees of caster, but mine at 2+ degrees felt better than the ride felt stock. You can definitely get more out of those stock arms.