[Lattimer]

Bump for alignment stuff.......


Had my Chevy in twice so far to get the front end alignment, and it just wasn't good enough. Same shop just did my Tundra 3 times and still couldn't get that right. They used to be good........

Anyways, I got kinda peeved at the "that's as good as we can do" line, so I went and bought a QuickTrick alignment kit. Expensive bugger for what it is, but it works pretty decent.

Spent the last weekend working on the front end trying to get it where I want it. Truck is lowered 2"/2" with just springs, all new front end wear parts, otherwise stock. First time I have ever attempted any kind of alignment myself------but I am a mechanical engineer, and I have taught people for years how to laser align pumps and compressors. Took a bunch of trial and error and head scratching, but I finally got everything going the right way and managed to not destroy anything.

By the time I was done, I had to remove half of the rear self aligning washer on the right side, and had a single 1/16" shim on the front of the left side. Nothing else.

Now I have:

L Camber -.7 degrees
R Camber -.7 degrees
L Caster 1.8 degrees
R Caster 2.4 degrees
Total Toe 3/16" in.

Only downside to the Quicktrick is you can only do total toe, getting the wheel set straight is trial and error.

Today I got the chance to get the truck out and drive it to work and back. Ran it up to 90 mph, drove some side streets, took a few hard corners. Feels pretty good. Nice and stable, doesn't wander or pull at all. Steering is pretty "normal", not dead and not twitchy. Seems pretty good. Return to center still as lazy as it has always been, but I'm used to that.

I know now I can get a little more caster on the left if I want to, but the right is maxed out without doing the lower control arm mod. I'm on the fence at this point whether that is worth the effort or not. Not real sure how to quantify any improvement I would get.


Next I need to try to fix the alignment on my lifted Tundra. That should be a riot.