Solved: Toe Out After Front Kit Installation

Just had my mt / lt kit installed and brought it to a Firestone to get (was hoping) a lifetime alignment. They gave it a shot and couldn't get the toe in spec. It was toe out I beleive and there weren't enough threads on the passenger side. Any ideas? The installation was smooth with no weird things happening with all uca and cam bolts going in smooth. I'm out of town for a week so I have some time to come up with a game plan that will include another off road oriented alignment shop to make sure it wasn't the tech's fault. Thank you!

 

Happens a lot, for some reason very common with the drop bracket lifts but not sure why you would have that prob on yours ? All you have to do is remove the tie rod end and cut a 1/4" off of the inner.

 

Same result as getting a shorter steering extensions?

 

What is MT/LT?

Are the control arms stock length?

 

+2.5" kit doesn't get quite the travel of a long travel kit. I'm wondering if I can just get some shorter steering extensions so the nuts can be where they need to be.

 

I'd just cut a small bit off the end of those tierod ends. You're still going to have PLENTY of thread inside it to be safe.

 

I misread @Evenflow and thought he said tie rod ends, but then read it again and saw that he said to take some off the inners which wasn't making sense to me. So how should the tre's be cut if they still need to sit flush against the steering spacers? Vice and hack saw seem too sloppy. Start looking for a machine shop that will let me disassemble the tre's at the shop and they can cut them down seems like the way to go... any other suggestions are welcome.

 

I suppose you could also cut the steering spacers? I'd just stick them in the chop saw and hack a 1/4" off, but it sounds like you might not have the tools available.

 

right there in the pic. where the outer is touching the nut.

 

Yeah that's what I was thinking - and yes I don't know if I can get access to a chop saw. I might ask my neighbor's that seem they might be able to help out with that. If worst comes to worst there seemed to be some good options in here:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/tools/reviews/g28/best-chop-saws-for-cutting-metal/

That's the steering extension - you can't see the difference from the tie rod end from the closeup pic. Seems like the thing to do though to fix this hiccup. Thank you

So should I back off the extensions and measure how much it will take to get full threads on the lock nut and use that as my measurement for shortening the extensions? Happy New Year btw!

 

Yes, I meant the inner, folks cut a bit off of the end of the inner all the time. It is much easier to trim the inner and still have everything look nice n purdy. You can also ditch those giant jam nuts and get slim ones. This whole problem is extremely unusual for your set up, are you sure they sent you the correct extensions ?

 

2 cheap options for chop saws/ cut off saws

 

Hmmm... I'm having a hard time visualizing how shaving the inner tie rod would help this if the amount of threads sticking out of the extension are the limiting factor. If the inners were bottoming out early I could see removing material. However with there being more than enough room inside the extensions to make the threads on the inner disappear when trying to pull in the toe, I think cutting some off the extension and maybe using a thinner nut could do the trick. I'll have to look into thinner jam nuts.

I'll also contact the company on Monday and ask them about it since there's at least one member on here that installed the kit (actually the company installed it for him) and didn't seem to have problems.

I basically have next weekend to get this fixed before I have to go back to work. I'm just trying to have multiple options for fixing the alignment before I need my truck to drive straight again. As is I could get by, but I'd rather have it steering straight obviously.

I was wondering if HF quality was too cheap for this application, but I guess it's like most things and cut a small amount off at a time and cut slowly. To answer you pm question the toe is out enough to make the truck wander and tough to steer, but not enough to make it undrivable. The tech wasn't willing to explain or give me numbers since he was really frustrated and I had to get any info from the service writer who didn't really know what happened besides there not being enough threads.

Thanks for the help so far everyone.

 

HF would be fine. Shortening the piece in between ( not the tie rod but the link it screws into) would shortening the whole thing. Allowing you to turn tie rod end out giving you more threads to work with. Assuming the link has enough threads inside of it.

 

When you shorten the inner the TRE or extension thread further down the inner which achieves what you need. I'm not making this shit up, tons of people have done it. Shortening your TRE or extension will not solve the problem because the inner may still bottom out inside the extension before you get the adjustment you need. The ID of the extension is larger than the OD of the inner so it fits over it...ergo you shorten the inner and you get the adjustment you need. It takes 30 seconds to shorten the inner, pull the TRE and extension off but leave the jam nut on. Locate the jam nut as a guide, chop it with any cutting tool and then thread the jam nut off to clean the threads...done.

 

I'd have to go look to follow exactly but it makes sense, I didn't realize anything was bottoming, just running out of thread

 

Need to determine which it is.

 

That's what I need to do huh. I figured any miscommunication could have come about from there being the possibility of three distinct cases occurring. Case 1 is I'm not not bottoming out with the inners in the extensions and then shortening the inners will not have a successful result. Case 2 is that the inners are bottoming out in the extensions and this is causing the jam nuts not to be able to be in position for the toe adjustment and all I need to do is shave down the inners. Case 3 is a compound of both problems where I'd have to shave down the inners and the steering extensions at the end where they meet the jam nut.

I figure I can set up some string on jack stands and put my toe in alignment and figure out which of the three cases I'm dealing with. Unfortunately the tech was pretty irate and wouldn't have been very helpful to speak with said the service writer. @Shmellmopwho offered to let me borrow a chop saw if I end up needing one - if it's only case 2 then I'll go buy a grinder and maybe a file to make the threads smoothed out at the ends. Here's my drawings if anyone couldn't figure out what I was talking about with the three cases. Sorry for the sloppiness - I had to use a pen and CD case on lined paper rather than my usual drawing tools since I'm hanging out with my parents this week. Thanks.

 

I'd also look at having another alignment shop mess with it. Ive seen this a few times on lt installs I have done. 2 out of 3 times a different alignment tech was able to get it into alignment and gain threads on the steering without cutting anything. Just by adjusting the Luca cams effectively pushing the lower arms out. The set that we couldn't get into alignment I threw the extensions in the lathe and took a 1/4" or so off of them

 

Thanks it's nice to have someone with experience chime in on this one. I guess I'll try to make an appointment for Saturday and if a tech who's experienced with off road aftermarket parts can't get it then I'll shorten the extensions.

I had read that Firestone Autocare in Huntington Beach was good at working with modified suspensions, but that didn't seem to be the case. Any suggestions for a place to go in or near East LA? I don't mind driving a little ways if I can make an appointment at a recommended shop.

Thanks again - I've been reading up on alignment and can see what you mean about pushing the lca's out while getting the caster and camber set up.