- Thread starter
- #21
Been on since mid-June last year. I've done two Cruiser/Crawl meets and put close to 12k miles on it. It probably was higher than this initially...
Rate my alignment specs
- Thread starter cvenom96
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- Thread starter
- #22
Was able to get my driveshaft/pinion angles.
Front: 1.5*
Rear: 7.4*
Front: 1.5*
Rear: 7.4*
I’m not sure how to read those but this is what I do.
Assuming you are using a cube style electronic angle finder,
Looking at the drive shaft from the drivers side…
Front shaft:
Place the left side of the cube on the pinion flange and record the angle.
Place the top of the cube against the underside of the tube and compare that angle to the recorded angle of the pinion flange.
Ideally the should be difference no more than 1.0.
The rear shaft:
Place the left side of cube on the transfer case flange and record the angle.
Place the right side of the cube on the pinion flange and compare that reading with the recorded reading of the t-case flange. Ideally they should be the same.
There is some room for them not being exact but taking those readings is a good start
Assuming you are using a cube style electronic angle finder,
Looking at the drive shaft from the drivers side…
Front shaft:
Place the left side of the cube on the pinion flange and record the angle.
Place the top of the cube against the underside of the tube and compare that angle to the recorded angle of the pinion flange.
Ideally the should be difference no more than 1.0.
The rear shaft:
Place the left side of cube on the transfer case flange and record the angle.
Place the right side of the cube on the pinion flange and compare that reading with the recorded reading of the t-case flange. Ideally they should be the same.
There is some room for them not being exact but taking those readings is a good start
- Thread starter
- #24
Ok you are correct I did the rear one wrong. The front number is correct. It's off by 1.5* being inline with the DS. The rear pinion/transfer case flange is off by 2*.
The easiest fix for the front is to lower the lift. If you rotate the axle to add caster you will make the pinion angle worse and if you rotate the axle to align the pinion better you will make the caster worse. As it sits now it's pretty much splitting the problem between the two.
If you have an adjustable front panhard take another look at it, especially if it was setup when you had the other plates on. Having the axle positioned off of center can add angularity to the u-joint that won't be seen using the method you used to measure the pinion angle. If you don't have an adjustable pan hard get one.
As far as the rear goes, at your ride height most will have vibrations and correcting the rear pinion is the way out of it. I prefer longer LCAs but adjustable UCAs work as well. And like the front, centering the rear axle is important as well.
other things are to look closely at the rear drive shaft slip yoke for play and if the u-joints are from before the lift consider replacing them.
And you mention you got more lift than advertized, might there be spring spacers installed on your truck? If so I'd remove them.
If you have an adjustable front panhard take another look at it, especially if it was setup when you had the other plates on. Having the axle positioned off of center can add angularity to the u-joint that won't be seen using the method you used to measure the pinion angle. If you don't have an adjustable pan hard get one.
As far as the rear goes, at your ride height most will have vibrations and correcting the rear pinion is the way out of it. I prefer longer LCAs but adjustable UCAs work as well. And like the front, centering the rear axle is important as well.
other things are to look closely at the rear drive shaft slip yoke for play and if the u-joints are from before the lift consider replacing them.
And you mention you got more lift than advertized, might there be spring spacers installed on your truck? If so I'd remove them.
- Thread starter
- #26
Nope no spring spacers on it or I'd definitely have pulled them by now. At this point I'm planning on doing the adjustable lowers for the rear and possible uppers for fine tuning. Good point on the panhard bar. I need to recheck that since I didn't after the swap. I agree about the issues with caster/pinion angle. I could do a cut and turn, keeping the pinion angle where it should be but, I worry that I'd still need something like Delta or Blackhawk arms in order to clear the steering linkage.
I've thought about swapping the springs but I'm still not sure on it. I'll need to buy those and "hopefully" it puts things close enough that pinion angles are good and it gets the caster back where it needs to be. Or, I keep it where it is and just swap out all the stuff we've talked about. Honestly the truck rides really good other than the pulling issue and wandering. Always something....
I've thought about swapping the springs but I'm still not sure on it. I'll need to buy those and "hopefully" it puts things close enough that pinion angles are good and it gets the caster back where it needs to be. Or, I keep it where it is and just swap out all the stuff we've talked about. Honestly the truck rides really good other than the pulling issue and wandering. Always something....
You don’t need much to fix caster, I’d install offset trunion bearings for sure. If you are running a stock tie rod I think it will clear the arms.
If you dont really want that much lift and you are happy with less lift I would get new springs in a heartbeat. $500 or so gets new springs. Sell the old ones to recoup half your money, install in just a few hours. It might fix all your problems plus lower CG which is better on and off road. I completely think we should run these with as little lift as needed for our personal applications.
- Thread starter
- #29
I've got the offset trunnion bearings but haven't installed them yet. Going to be doing the knuckles and likely gear install shortly so I'll get it one shot. Interesting thing I've noticed though. Under hard acceleration, the truck will track completely straight. As soon as I begin to slow, the front will settle and I can see the front of the truck start to point right slightly. Accelerate again and same things happens. Now, I've replaced all of the bushings, everything in the brake system is new so no sticking caliper, alignment shows it should go straight, Delta panhard bar mount in the back and adjustable panhard bar in the front. Nothing "should" be shifting in the suspension.
That sounds like a tie rod joint.
This is your truck following the crown of the road. The roads in the US angle down to the right for drainage.
The nice thing about the trunnion bearings is you can install them slightly offset so you have a small difference in caster from one side to the other. Setting the trunion bearings this way can offset the crowned roads.