Alignment question

[Bloke]

I have a 97 OBS ECLB truck it has a 2/4 drop (yes a no-pointer), the last set of tires didn't last too long (poor alignment at another shop) so I got my new ones on yesterday. I took it in for an new alignment today at a better equiped shop that my friend works at. They measured it up and said the caster and camber were out pretty bad.

I'm a D.I.Y. kind of guy and my friend knows this, he told me to take it home and remove the upper control-arm. Once I have this out he said their would be a plate that I can punch out with an air-chisel to give them adjustment of the caster. Have any of you encountered this before? What is envolved? I'm planning to attack this tommorow, is there anything I should know before I tear into it. My friend is going out of town and can't help me.

I thought I would ask you gurus on here. Thanks guys & girls.

Rob

[BadNewsSS]

Makes no sense, they should have aligned it, no need for you to take it home and adjust anything, as you dont know how much to adjust because you have no way of measuring it.

[someotherguy]

He's talking about the factory knock-outs that are in place on all of our trucks, at least the OBS ones. Most shops charge around $50 to $75 to knock these out if your truck needs it done to allow a proper alignment.

I've never had to do them myself so I can't give you more details, sorry. But in response to BadNewsSS, this is a legitimate deal on the OBS trucks, dunno about the newer ones.

Richard

[Pyrite Z]

If the truck needs the knock outs taken out you can do it without removing the uppers.
I did mine with an air chisel.
take the nuts off the uca and you will see the knock outs they're pretty to remove you could probably do it with a hammer and chisel too.
the shops around here want to charge you like 80 bucks to do it. I would not recomend doing it unless the truck abosolutly needs them out.

btw I alligned my truck myself towards the beginning of this year and have never had or noticed any uneven tire wear. I drive @100 miles a day on it back and forth to work! the only diff is mine is bagged so I know what pressure to set it to for the long drive so as not to shred my tires.
I do not recomend doing the following unless you are going to take the truck to a shop to have it alligned immediatly!!
after I knocked out the plugs I made up a level to fit against the rim at the bead seat with the truck on the ground using an old 4 ft level I cut it down and used the part of the level that had the plumb vial and cut it so the plumb vial would be at the top part of the rig. I then attach it to the wheel using a bungee cord strapping it thru the wheel to hold it in place. oh yeah I cut a piece of alluminum angle and zip tied the level to it.
you must make sure the level is plumb to the left and right(looking at the wheel from the side of the truck) and centered on the wheel. after you have the level set up and plumbed you can adjust the upper control arms to be almost level you want a little neg camber were talkin very little.
now for the next part the toe in and toe out.
I set mine up almost perfect now I can't remember if I set mine with a little toe out or not but this method will help to get you truck close enough to get it to the shop. with the truck on the ground take and the wheels straight take a tape measure and measure the from the center of your right side tire tread to the center of the left side tire tread on the back of the front tires(towards the firewall). now write that number down. ok got that now do the same for the front side (towards the radiator) how close are the numbers?? they should be pretty close like with in a fraction of an inch.
OK if they're off a bunch you will need to work on that to do this you take the two numbers you just came up with and subtract the smaller number from the larger number this is how much the toe is out (this number doesn't really matter right now.). ok dont start freaking out now I'll try and get you thru this as painless as possible...lol
first off if the measurement was longer on the back side of the tire you will need to pull the front of the tires outward and vise versa if the measurement is shorter.
this step is to find out if your front wheels are centered first take the number you got from the front divide it by 2. now using your new number from the center of the right tire(the same center as mentioned earlier) make a mark somewhere like on the part of the tie rod linkage or you can use a 2x4 on its side on the ground any where as close to level as you can get. now that you have a reference mark to check the left out. measure from the center of the left tire to the mark. is this number the same? if so then the wheels are reasonably straight and you should be good to go. do the same for the back of the tires just for sh!ts and giggles.
now if the tires are out of whack you will need to crank the tierods in or out.
if the measurement in the front is smaller than the one on the back side of the tires they probably look like this but not to this extreme / \ you are going crank the tierods out till the measurements are real close just remember you have to count the number of revolutions that you turn the tierod cause you will have to turn the other side too!! ok lets say that the two numbers you came up with earlier are 51 inches in the front and 53 in the back so that gives us 2 inches of difference you are going to have to pull the fronts out 1 inch thats approx 1/2 inch for each side now the reason for only pulling the rears in 1/2 an inch is because as you move the rears in the fronts will be moving out the same increments.
so now the fun starts take the tierod connector(stoopid me I forgot the name) it's the tubular thingy between the inner and outer tierod loosen the nuts on it I almost forgot use some paint either touch up or model paint and paint a spot on the connector and the and the threads right against the connector just a small line horizontally on each end let the paint dry so you dont smear it.(for reference point zero) using channel lock pliers turn the connector in one direction one full rotation notice the paint marks are starting to show thread between the tierod and connector then you are turning in the right direction if the paint is going into the connector then stop and reverse the direction one full turn in the opposite direction this will put you back to point zero. Now turn the connector a few full rotations (make sure to count them)and check your measurement to the center mark. do this a few times to get you close to the 1/2 inch our ficticious number. when you get close stop and do the other side the same number of turns and check the center of the right tire to the center of left. check this against the measurement of the back side too you should be getting close to having the same measurement for front and back. when you get the number really close with in 1/8 of an inch or so then you should be good enough to get it to the shop.
sorry this is so long winded I just get carried away sometimes.......
if anybody has anything to add feel free and If I missed something please add it. just tryin to help out

[Bloke]

Hey, thanks guys.

HotRod Sixty8, that was awesome!!!! I'm going out to the garage right now to take alook. Thanks again for your help.

Rob

[jc55]

Nice job Hotrod. I've done classics that way.
Also a trick is to get 4 thin aluminum/sheetmetal plates as big as the contact patch of your front tires. Take two of the plates, put grease in between them and place it under the front tire. Do the same with the other tire. You can move the tires to the left or right easily by hand when adjusting toe in/toe out or changing tie rod ends.
For Camber I use the method you decribe (on the rim only like you said. The bottom of the tire bulges outward) and use a degree angle finder for accuracy. THis allows dialing in by degrees.

[Pyrite Z]

well after I read thru that I thought it might make a good sticky. I like the Idea of the plates with the grease between them I'll try that next time..

[GakiAkuma]

Sence the topic is abou talignment I was wandering.

With bags I know you get an alignment after you set it to your desired ridehight, So for long drives(100's and 100's of miles) how would you set up the PSI for a comfertable ride without it exceding the aligned ridehight and utterly destoying your tires?

[donit]

Can anyone tell me exactly where to look to see if mine have been removed already, I need to get my 92 fullsize blazer aligned, the shop told me $185. if they have not been removed or $45. if they have. Thanks !

[97whtgmclowrd]

they are called knock outs, On OBS ther located top of the frame rail where your uppercontrol arm bolts too. there pretty easy to do your self if you have the tools, they even make a tool for it. there are indention's in the metal where to cut out. sometime's you have to go further. to get caster and camber to spec's, just remember there has to be a 1/2 degree or more split between both sides of caster or you will have a pull.

[Chevy-Art]

This is what the tool looks like.
http://www.etoolcart.com/index.asp?P...OD&ProdID=1053

[kev2809]

why would gm put those plates on there if they were gonna be knocked out?

[aztekas69]

Hey guys I'm hoping someone can help me with this issue. I just gave a 6" inch front drop to my 86 c10. I used 3" drop spindles and 3" drop coils but now my tires look like this \ /. I also noticed that my upper arm has shims between the arm and the frame. Should I take them off and will this fix part of my problem or is there something else that I need to do. I would really appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

[aztekas69]

Figured It Out...

[whitelightenin6]

Originally Posted by kev2809

why would gm put those plates on there if they were gonna be knocked out?

they put them in there so that they don't have to align every truck that comes off the assembly line,
the newer chevy trucks (1999 and up) just have a peace of plastic on the upper control arm washer that has to be pulled out before it can be aligned.

[narleycarley]

since we talkin bout alignment, i used drop keys and they aligned it, then i put drop spindles on also, and it changed the camber alot (why spindles changed camber i dont know) and they cant get it it perfect, dont have anymore adjustment. Is there another brand spindle I can get that wont change my camber? I saw an ad in "Truckin" for McGaughy's and they advertised no geometry change. mines a 2007 1500 Classic with torsion bars

[el serg...]

hey guys i have a question n was wondering if yall can help me c i have a 07 classic with a 5/7 drop n ive been trying to take it n get it allinged n nobody takes it they all tell me its too low n cant get it up in that freaking ramp thing n i was wondering any of yall know a place i cant take it to in houston or what i can do so my tires wont look like this / \

[Beansfromcali]

Originally Posted by el serg...

hey guys i have a question n was wondering if yall can help me c i have a 07 classic with a 5/7 drop n ive been trying to take it n get it allinged n nobody takes it they all tell me its too low n cant get it up in that freaking ramp thing n i was wondering any of yall know a place i cant take it to in houston or what i can do so my tires wont look like this / \

OK the shop you took it to is telling you bullsh!t. They are probly just to lazy to do it. Ive aligned bagged trucks at my work no problem and trucks lower then a 5/7. Just call around and get an appointment somewhere else or just walk into a shop. All shops should be able to do this. you can try Meineke Car Care Center on Long Point Rd, Phone# (713) 461-7002‎
. Or Midas Auto Service Experts FM 1960 Rd E # J, Phone# (281) 443-8047‎. Those are just a few I found when I did a search for shops online. Theirs like 7 or 8 Meineke shops in or around houston and like 4 or 5 midas shops that can do it. I hope this helps you out. If you where in cali I would align your truck for you cheap. Their is no reason a shop can't align your truck enless the machine ia broken.

[el serg...]

thanx dude ill try d # n c what they say...

[Beansfromcali]

Yea they shouldn't have a problem. they should have a way to get it on the machine.