2.5" Suspension Lift

[66gasgrill]

looks great.:biggthumpup:

[broncomania]

the lift looks good on the bronco.

[johnpaulgolf]

Looks great...keep the pics coming...really want to see the new tires.:biggthumpup:

[JimR]

I finally got new tires yesterday....expensive suckers. Here are a few pics. 33x10.5 BFG Mud Terrains. My question now is about front end alignament. With the new lift I installed the c bushings and adjusted the toe on the drag link (it has the inverted y steering linkage). After that it still looked like it had some positive camber in it. It didn't concern me too much though because the tires were a little old. Now I have new tires on it I want to make sure it is correct. Is there camber adjustment somewhere on the front end? I read somewhere about some shims but have not found a whole lot of information. Thanks for the help.
Jim

[gigabytethis]

Do you have a ball joint press from HF that looks like a big C clamp. That works great for those bolts. Better if your have and air ratchet.

[blazinchuck]

There used to be a place called Joint & Clutch on Atonda Ave. They can do that for you.

I think we have a club discount with them also. I will dig up that info,Chuck

[JimR]

Here is the latest on the lift/tires. I took it to the shop to get aligned last night and picked it up tonight - I'll spare you guys the part of me getting frustrusted and the part where the desk guy told me that if the camber was out of spec that the tires would not wear unevenly - oh and the part where the truck was in 4 low when I drove away.

That being said, the caster was right on with the new c bushings that came with the lift kit. The toe was off but was easily adjusted within spec. The only thing that was off - and still off - is the camber. The right front is .8 degrees and the left front is .3 degrees. The spec says it should be within 1-2 degrees. I read that I want to be closer to the 1 degree mark. The cross camber is within spec at .5 degrees (I'm not sure what that is and neither was the desk guy). Can anyone shed some light on if I should be worried with this amount of camber? I know there are a couple options to fix the camber - shims or an adjustable ball joint.... Any knowledge is appreciated before I call the shop tomorrow and profess my displeasure.

[bucketobolts]

That is a common trait of a straight 4x4 axle. I'm guessing that the .8 and .3 degrees are positive? That would mean that the top of the tire is leaning out .8 degrees and .3 degrees. Usually the spec is for negative or the top leaning in. It can be hard to adjust on a solid axle suspension. There are shims that go behind the spindle at the knuckle. That means a lot of labor to install and you may not be able to tell any noticeable difference in the drive.

The cross measurement is the difference side to side. I like around .5 or less. But some manufactures have up to or more than 1 degree for road crown. That is a common spec on the axles in the class 8 trucks we build.

I would worry more about the toe in and caster being correct as they will have more of an affect on how it drives.

[KMIBronco]

I've got the same problem, glad you asked and got this thread going. We, My son and I upgraded to disc from a donor axle. During all the chaos, I didnt remember which axle the camber shims came off of. So of course, after all the camber on his truck is way off. looks like the front tires on an old john deere tractor.
Anyway Buckets right. our shims are about a 1/4" thick and taper to about 1/16". they Fit behind the spindle. So we'll be tearing it back down again this week end. Ken

By the way JimR thats a nice truck!!!!

[JimR]

Thanks for the info guys. That helps out a lot. I will probably be satified with how it is now since it sounds like there is a bunch of labor involved in getting the shims in and as it sits now it does not look bad. I will make sure I rotate tires often as well.