What the F*** don't I get?

Yeah... looks like you got a bunk set of instructions and that's where all the confusion came from when i talked to you last.

Set at E position according to the chart that I posted.

 

Steve in post #30 the long flat edge of the ball joint is parellel to the exposed edge of the splined washer, exactly like "A" in post #36

 

Maybe. It's certainly easier to see in person when you're looking at it. I may be misinterpreting the position of the camera a bit.

 

Thought I would post a update on the alignment from hell. I called Specialty Products - (Light Racing) concerning the instructions that were packaged with my UCA's that were inaccurate, having the images of the ball joints backward (positions A-B-C-D-E-F-G shown as G-F-E-D-C-B-A). They acknowledged the error but have yet agreed to refund my alignment costs due to misleading ball joint settings. The tech support contact, Chris have been very helpful and has recommended that I rotate both front LCA cams to the full inboard position and both rear cams to the full outboard position. This will move the lower ball joint fully forward in the wheel well. Next set the drivers side UCA to "G" or 0.0 deg and the passenger side to "E" or +1.0 as the truck seems to be biased about 1 deg more on the drivers side. Caster should be between 2.5-3.5, zero camber and toe 0.10deg. I don't want to sound too skeptical but we will see.

 

Made the changes as stated above today, had to pull the toe in considerably, she looked like a peogin. Off to Firestone in the AM. for a realignment. Any one out there takin book on the outcome? I want a piece of the action if so.

 

If you have that SPC logo facing out, 2+ caster over stock, OR 1+ caster over stock, you should be no issues if they do the alignment right.

If you still rub, remove a degree of caster from the balljoint and have them max out the lower adjustment cams on caster.

Adding caster at the lca pushes the wheel forward, adding caster at the uca (via LR bj) pushes wheel backwards.

Thus the opposite is true. Shouldn't be an issue though if you have yours at 2+ or 1+ over stock (spc out).

I'd probably add at least 1+ over stock on each side. I'd bet that you wouldn't have ANY rubbing at 2+ either but...

Here is a sweet picture I made you.

 

Use the search function and check for TOKU, guy is pretty good at alignements and can get you damn near factory specs lifted.

 

Hey guys I certainly appreciate the help, however at this point I am going to stick with the advise that Chris from Specialty Products (Light Racing) is recommending. I think you will understand if you go back and read post #46 concerning the instructions that came with my UCA's. At this point they need to resolve the alignment. Thanks again and I will post alignment specs tomorrow. The saga continues.

 

Stock is actually 5.5"

 

Cool representation of caster adjustment effects. Thanks

 

Another installment of the "Alignment from Hell". After setting the LCA's and UCA's according to post #46, off I went to Firestone for the 5th alignment. Here are the results; Driver side caster = 3.2, Pass side caster = 3.1, no wheel rub, ya gotta love that. Driver side camber = 1.1 with the ball joint pushed fully inboard, pass side camber = -.01 with ball joint about mid position (CRAP). Obviously not done yet. New directions from Chris at Specialty Products are to move the driver side ball joint from "G" to "E" and passenger side from "E" to "D". The thinking is that this will increase the caster by about 1 degree and at the same time draw the camber in enough to give some adjustment back to the drivers side and still be able to zero the passenger side. If there are any praying people out there following this thread, I'm not oposed to some divine intervention. Check back for the latest installment.

 

But a heck of a lot better. After the adjustments made in the post above, these were the results prior to alignment. Left Camber +1.4, Caster +4.3. Toe +.38 - Right Camber -.4, Caster +4.9, Toe +.56 After the alignment Left Camber +.4, Caster +4.0, Toe -0.02 - Right Camber +.03, Caster +4.7, Toe +0.09. I think if I were doing the wrenching, I would have pushed for better Toe but at this point I don't think I'm going to eat the tires off the truck and the handling seem very good. Big + no tire rub anywhere. So I think the biggest take away here is if your rubbing after tire and lift changes you may want to consider first pushing your lower ball joints either forward (for rear well rub) or backward (for front well rub) then start working with the ball joint position to get your alignment numbers where you need them. I had to drive the LCA forward adjusters so that the bolts were fully inboard 3 o’clock (driver side) 9 o’clock (pass side) position and the rear adjusters fully outboard 9 o’clock (driver side) and 3 o’clock (pass side) looking from rear of truck, to get the wheel out of the rear of the well and centered in the well. I'm hoping this saga will save someone else some time and money. BE SURE YOUR INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE LR UCA's IS NOT REV. 6/10 Bottom Right Corner of Page. It is mirror image backwards and will totally screw you up trying to get the ball joint position set correctly. The rev. I finally used was 2/11 thanks to PRS 2 TiFJ, a TW member.

 

Hey Nick, glad to hear it worked out. I bought a set of LR UCAs last week and I've been following this thread. I actually talked to Chris at SPC yesterday on an unrelated matter and your problems came up in the conversation.

You still running the LCA at max caster (i.e. ball joint all the way forward)?

So did you manage to get the guys doing the alignment to finally make the caster adjustments on the UCAs or did you have to keep doing them yourself? Chris (as well as several people one TW....Oz maybe) said to set it up at E will the ball joint pulled out and take it in for the alignment guys to adjust further. I ask because I'm wondering if I'm going to have the same issue with the one-sided caster bias on my truck (2010 DCLB 4x4 Sport). If I do, I probably need to make sure the guy doing the alignment is comfortable adjusting the UCA.

 

ME TOO!

LCA are just a bit off from the full forward position but not much.

No, I kept doing them. After the 3 alignment attempt due to backward ball joint settings, they were gun shy and I didn't want to tax them anymore. Keep in mind I payed for a lifetime alignment from Firestore, so I could go back as often as I needed to get it right. I didn't realize it was going to take 6 attempts though.

If your going to instruct them to make the UCA changes, make sure they lift the front end from the LCA's otherwise the weight of the truck will slam the ball joint fully outward. I may not damage anything but it sure will scare the crap out of the mechanic.

As far as the caster bias, you know if that is the case when you have everything set up equil, LCA,s same settings side to side, UCA ball joints set to the same postiton side to side. Once on the machine, set camber to zero first, see where the toe is, if in spec and the caster is different side to side, you may have a slight bias which can be corrected by repositioning the UCA ball joint on that side. Keep in mind changing one setting usually effects the others slightly.

If you want to talk more about this, PM me and I will give you my number to call.

 

Wow, crazy, I set the 5100s at 2.5 added the LR UCAs at 0* on both sides and ended up with 2.8 caster, plenty of camber adjustment between factory and LR adjusters & toe is easy with tie rod ends. Had nowhere near any of this headache or rubbing. Might have saved yourself some money by upping the coin for a 1yr, 3yr or lifetime alignment since you'll wanna do it again after driving some and letting everything gel. There are also a billion threads here to have read with pics to see where to initially set things, and Chris4x4 always willing to answer other questions via PMs before wrenching. That's the beauty of this place. Sorry, but the nightmare seems a bit self inflicted and I don't see any specs posted I'd stay with. Caster 2.5-3.0, with factory toe & camber seem to be the drive like a dream settings. Good luck. Not trying to be an asshat, just confused by all this....instruction version aside.

 

don't see how it was really self-inflicted.....see posts #33 and #34. Half of his problems came for the fact that SPC included an incorrect set of instructions for adjustment.

 

I don't know what set I had but I sure looked in here before doing anything and compared some threads and asked questions. I'm confused a bit about needing the UCAs if not lifting. Were there lift coils involved? Didn't see that. The self inflicted bit was more about paying for alignments each time. They are only 20-30 more for 1yr vs. 1 time and realistically you should do it after a few weeks or months down the road to make sure things stayed where they were put instead of finding out with tire wear.

 

Man your weighing in on stuff and obviously haven't read the thread. But that's ok, I'll consider that when reading your post.

 

I did read enough to wonder what the big deal was. Other than every truck being different needing different initial settings and different versions of instructions, what did I miss? My posts pertained to why would you mess with lifting and modding suspension and pay for individual one time alignments knowing how iffy stuff is nowadays having other people who are out for the buck primarily, not caring about doing the best job possible working on your ride like without being able to have them try again for free when it doesn't come out right.

 

See the OP's first post. Aren't Eibachs lift coils?