Wheel alignment on modified truck

Hi Forum,

this winter I performed some maintenance on my suspension (new uni ball and bushings) and now would need a wheel alignment so that I am not ruining my brand new tires and I am wondering if I can just go to a normal car repair shop, which does wheel alignments or if I should prefer a specialized offroad shop?

I already called a little around and
- one (privatly owned) shop does not want to touch it
- Toyota dealer would charge 250$ just because its modified
- Goodyear service (with good google reviews) hesitated for a second and said sure for 150$

Can I trust the Goodyear place that they know, what the right specs are for my truck?
Also what is a reasonable price for this service?

My truck has
- Total Chaos upper and lower control arms
- 2.5" King Shocks
- 285/75R16 GY wrangler duratrac tires
- lift is at around 2 - 2.5" i guess

Thanks

 

Call a local off road shop and ask for a rec. i pay about $125 for it in AZ and CA

 

Just bring it in to a local shop with good reviews and ask for the most caster possible. Since your UCAs are not adjustable they may push your tire into your cab mount and firewall unless the LCAs have caster built in. Most likely will maybe need a cab mount chop and some firewall love with a BFH.

 

Yeah if you want it done right I would expect to pay around $125 give or take. The 4x4 shop in town where I usually get mine done charges that.

I wouldn't go to a dealership unless you know the tech there knows what he's doing with modified suspension alignments. Sounds like they just want to price gouge you for it and then give you stock alignment numbers.

Might be able to find an old school alignment place that will do it for a 'normal' $75 or whatever fee. We have a place in town that has one of those old fashioned alignment pits and they do it all without any computers, it's pretty cool. All the classic car owners take their cars there. Got one done there once and they didn't say anything about my truck being modified

 

What is the exact reason that you want to go with max caster? Also I assume caster is getting adjusted with the two mounting points of the LCA, the front pulls the LCA further in while the back one is pushed out !?

 

Because when lifting you lose caster. Then adding as much as possible pushes the tire away from the cab mount/firewall for clearance. The LCA is like a V so you adjust them opposite to more the tire forward but also changes camber. So without adjustable UCA the alignment tech can only do so much at the LCA adjustments.