Alignment issues with TC heim joint uca's

Ok, went up another 1 inch in the front and got it aligned at a more prestigious shop and I could not be happier. It has way better control than ever before!! The new shop, Northwest Chasis, said that Firestone almost f*cked up my lca adjuster bolts. He showed me how they were a little bent on my driver side and said it was caused by making adjustments while the truck was not all the way in the air. They noticed it upon first inspection while I was still there, luckily they bent them back and repaired it. They also said the camber, caster were way off. I am very pleased, finally.

Funny thing is, when I first got there I was going to give the old man, who was the tech, the alignment spec sheet from Firestone to help them figure it out and before he even looked down at the sheet his exact response was "that's useless....that's toilet paper" in a very polite tone. When I picked up my truck, they did not even have a new printout for me, they did not have one. I guess they do not use a computer. The youngest guy working there was probably 45 or 50 years old. I swear there were several 60 year old+ mechanics in that shop. Great service overall...

 

I would make the Firestone place refund your money and buy you new bolts. I am sure that can't be good having bent alignment bolts.

 

The bolts themselves were not bent, there is a little tab on the big bolt that connects the LCA's to the frame. You can see easily when looking behind the tire. There is a tab that is supposed to bend up 90*, mine was flattened and almost ruined. The shop repaired it and said I have no permanent damage but almost did. I am not very mechanicaly inclined so I will try to post some pics later tonight. That Firestone first tried to charge me $300 for an alignment, and they did not even do it right and almost broke something. I winded up paying them $150, but this was before I knew about the damage. I am thinking about calling to talk to a store manager or corporate just to note this incident in case my truck falls apart on the highway. I know the best they will do is apologize and maybe try to give me coupons to thier store. F*ck that, I'm not going back there ever.