Alignment Specs

Should I be happy with these alignment specs? I just did a new rack/pinion and did LCA bushings with Bison cam tabs. When I brought the truck in, I had the rear cam tabs with the bolt at the furthest outboard position when I put everything back together, and my alignment guy said it had a crazy amount of caster when it came in. After alignment they're all the way inboard. I asked him to get as much caster as he could, but it sounded like any more caster was affecting the camber. Does that sound right, or do I need a new alignment guy?

3inch Dobinson's lift, JBA UCA's, 33" tires.

 

New alignment guy. I’m running 3” kit, JBAs and 285s 4 degrees caster 0 camber 0 toe. No issue getting those numbers.

 

This alignment should do ok for the time being though, yeah?

And I'll look around for another guy in the meantime.

 

Yes. Wish the camber was a little closer to being the same. But if your talking like a week or so you’ll be fine.

 

That's a stupid amount of camber on the left. I'm guessing you have some(a lot) of Taco lean. I'm also guessing that the alignment guy is an idiot. To confirm that, we would need the previous numbers and pics of the current position of the cams.

 

Unfortunately I don't have before #'s. They may have been pretty far out of wack as I changed a lot of front end parts before the alignment. On the rearward cam bolts, the bolts are all the way inboard. And I'm attaching pictures of the fronts, taken from the front of the truck.

Left

Right

 

OK, there's no room for improvement on the right. However, there's a lot of room for improvement on the left. If you move LF and LR outward 2 flats, that should make the camber about equal to the right without changing the caster. Of coarse, the toe in will need to be reset after that.

As I mentioned previously though, I suspect you have a fair amount of Taco Lean.

The alignment guys an idiot.

 

So the taco lean is coming from the camber? Also, what is causing the inability to get it better on the right? Shouldnt I be able to get like 4° of caster?

 

The Taco lean causes more camber on the left than the right. If you change anything on the right to gain more caster, it will make the camber more negative. If you level it out, that should result in more positive camber on the right, which will allow you to move the RR cam outward and increase right caster.

 

After I made that last post, I realized that I mistakenly wrote camber as the last word. Not sure if you saw it before or after I edited it.

 

By level it out, you mean with a spacer on the front spring? I don't understand how the level-ness of the truck affects the alignments. Not doubting you, I just can't make sense of it. I believe I already have a 1/4" spacer in there. How much spacer is safe in the front?

I've long suspected I have a very slightly bent rear leaf spring mount on the driver side. Could that be affecting this?

Edit - I measured. The left is a full inch lower than the right at front and rear. Is a spacer the only way to fix that? I've read that worn body mount bushings can fix it, but that wouldn't alter suspension geometry, would it?

 

Yeah, an inch is a bunch. Somehow you need to get that fixed.

Tacos have unequal length control arms. To simplify things imagine that they are equal length. Then this is a pictorial explanation of whats going on.

 

That does make sense. Thanks. So could SOME of that be coming from worn body mount bushings? I'll have to get under the truck and measure the frame somewhere.

 

Worn body mount bushings wouldn't cause any difference side to side on the rear since the bed is bolted directly to the frame. I am 99.2% sure that 96% of your problem is the suspension.

 

Yea, I found a spot on the frame and measured both sides and it's an inch difference. Where do you start to fix something like this? Anything else I can measure to narrow it down , or should I just try swapping front coils? Do you think a bent rear leaf mount could be causing the problem?

 

Since you already have a 1/4" spacer, you definitely have something going on with the springs. Maybe you should talk to Dobinson's.

 

I'll give them a ring tomorrow.

 

Is there a good way to check for sure that the rear leaf mount isn't bent, aside from visually? And would/could that cause the problems I'm seeing?

 

The frame spring hanger would have to be REALLY bent in order to cause a 1" lean. Keep in mind that raising 1 end of a leaf spring hanger will only lower the truck 1/2". Simple leverage.

 

Good point. I'll call Dobinson's tomorrow.