I did some final ride height adjustments on Sunday and settled on these ride height measurements.
Front – 30.75 inches
Rear – 31.75 inches
* Measuring from the bottom of an 18” wheel to the top of the wheel well opening.
There is about a 1/8 ride height difference in the rear. This was as close as I could get it. Even if I was able to get it spot on it would not be perfect anyway. There are always going to be slight differences on where the body panels are at rest. Also I had to reshape my front passenger wheel well. In fact it took a couple of us to pull it out and down slightly. So there is no way (at least on my rig) to know exactly if my measurements are spot on.
So now that I had my final ride height dialed in I could get an aliment done. I plan on keeping this rig for a long time so I wanted to go with a national tire chain retailer that offered a lifetime aliment option. Checked on google.com (reviews) and located a Firestone Tire Center around the corner from my work. Reviews were hot and cold but better then the other Firestone by my house. I checked Firestone’s website imputed my vehicles info and it gave me a price of 169.99 for a lifetime aliment option. Called the shop and asked for a quote and got the price of $179.99. I spoke with an Allen and told him what the website said, he was cool about it just said print it up and bring it in. A couple years ago I installed a Slee Off-road relay link and tie rod on my 80 after a little run in with a rock at Area BFE in Moab. I used the tape measure trick to adjust the toe on my 80 but always knew it needed an aliment. I asked Allen what if could do if I brought both of them in. He knocked an additional $30.00 bucks off the 169.99 price. So each lifetime aliment on the 100 and the 80 was 133.99 each not bad IMOP.
The results, the 100 was pretty much dead on. Camber and caster were in the middle of the specified range. The only item that was out of it’s specified range was the Toe. The guys were really cool at the shop too. They let me walk back and hangout in the bay while they were making adjustments. It’s pretty automated system; the computer takes you through the aliment step by step.
The results for the 80 were pretty much the same too. However the Toe not just off but way off. I had the tires pointing way too far out. Different tech this time but still a nice guy. Let me hangout and watch what he was doing. Since Slee machines in adjustment slots on their bars I asked the guy not to use the channel locks. All my tie rod ends are brand new so he could turn the relay and tie rod by hand anyway.
Next up are some new HIR light bulbs I bought on
Amazon.com. I should have those this week and will report back with my findings. I also still need to adjust the pitch weld, maybe tonight.