Unable to align passenger front tire ?

[Jack.]

Took my truck into getting an alignment today from a local shop and after an hr they told me they couldn't do the passenger front due to there not being enough camber ? Here's the note that was left on my receipt attached.

I did have the dealer install my bilstein 5100s and currently it's sitting at stock level. The tech mentioned something about the dealer might of accidently Sat the shocks the wrong way. Something about they mightve accidently flipped the passenger side 180 degree. Can anyone verify this?

 

[HSKR R/T]

AFAIK, The bolts that hold the top hat on are oriented so they can only go in one way.

 

[Jack.]

AFAIK, The bolts that hold the top hat on are oriented so they can only go in one way.

Interesting. I wonder what seem to be the cause. They're a very reputable performance shop so I actually trust them more than the dealership . I guess I gotta bring my truck in and let the dealer firgure it out

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Did you also get new UCA's installed. I had the same problem after lifting (though with top hat spacers) and the alignment could not be completed properly with the stock UCA's. After installing new UCA's meant for the lift, with better angles, the alignment was completed without issue

 

[Jack.]

Nope I'm still at stock uca. I was told since I'm staying stock height a uca isn't require

 

[Jack.]

Honestly now that I'm thinking about it I don't even really know the exact setting the tech at the dealer even clipped in at I know we went back and forth a bit in regard to how high I wanted it to be.

What's the typical front height of a stock laramie 4x4 from middle of fender to the floor? I may have to double check the meaurement

 

[Lpsouth1978]

I don't recall what my stock height was. However, I did a 3" spacer and upgraded to 35's. The height is now @ 40.5" on the drivers side and 41" on the passenger side. Assume roughly 3.5" of lift between the spacers and tires, and the stock heights would have been ~37"-37.5". I also have a Laramie 4x4. I hope this is at least some help.

Upgraded UCA's are generally recommended for any change over 2" of lift. The passenger side is usually slightly higher than the drivers side, so it may be just high enough to cause issues. I would suggest upgrading the UCA's before getting an alignment, to avoid needing another later (though this clearly doesn't apply here). I didn't follow that advice and ended up paying for a second alignment a few weeks later.

 

[Bt10]

Good luck on installation costs, but the Mopar UCAs are what, $50 bucks each? Not too bad a ding.

Is there a camber washer that needs to be punched out, or replaced, or flipped, or something like that, to allow full adjustment?

 

[Jack.]

Tried calling the dealership but it seem the guy is on sick leave for a week or so. I may look into adjustable uca just so I can fix this alignment issue and future proof incase I want to lift the truck.

Any recommendation for uca for 'stock / 2" lvl" rigg?

 

[Jack.]

The more I'm investigating this the more I'm seeing things , these shocks are installed wrong right? The one piece that hold the spring seems to be upside down.. right?

 

[HSKR R/T]

The more I'm investigating this the more I'm seeing things , these shocks are installed wrong right? The one piece that hold the spring seems to be upside down.. right?

I would say yes

 

[Jack.]

I would say yes

Im going to try to get the dealer to fix it, i been riding on these shocks for about 10-15k miles now, should i buy new one? or do you think its safe to just flip it upside down and reuse (the lower perch)

 

[HSKR R/T]

Im going to try to get the dealer to fix it, i been riding on these shocks for about 10-15k miles now, should i buy new one? or do you think its safe to just flip it upside down and reuse (the lower perch)

Should be fine to just correct it. But if you have bad tire wear from crappy alignment, dealer should be in the hook on for new tires.

And getting an alignment should have been part of installation process.

 

[Jack.]

Whelp the techs at the dealer have no idea why the alignment isn't possible with the 5100s even though I'm at stock setting . They're saying it's because it's after market which doesn't make sure. They recommend I go to a place that specializes in lift truck and see guess that's what I'll do just gotta find a place.

 

[cskindt]

Whelp the techs at the dealer have no idea why the alignment isn't possible with the 5100s even though I'm at stock setting . They're saying it's because it's after market which doesn't make sure. They recommend I go to a place that specializes in lift truck and see guess that's what I'll do just gotta find a place.

Did they fix the upside down spring seat?

 

[Jack.]

Did they fix the upside down spring seat?

yeah they fixed that, they mentioned that theyre going to throw in a new lower control arm on the passenger side just incase its whacky from the factory or something along that line, ill be grabbing the truck tmrw hopefully everything works out LOL

 

[Jack.]

Just an update. Went to mavis to try to get the aligment done, they can't do it either , passenger lower control arm was replace by dealership. This is odd

 

[HSKR R/T]

Just an update. Went to mavis to try to get the aligment done, they can't do it either , passenger lower control arm was replace by dealership on the passenger side. This is odd

Any decent shop would be able to diagnose why they can't and give recommendstions. There is absolutely zero reason a shop can't get the alignment correct with your changes,unless something wasn't done correctly

 

[Jack.]

Any decent shop would be able to diagnose why they can't and give recommendstions. There is absolutely zero reason a shop can't get the alignment correct with your changes,unless something wasn't done correctly

Yeah its driving me nuts. They recommended a "specalist" I guess ill drop by and see.

So far I've been to a performance shop, a local mechanic, the dealer and now mavis

Non of them really charged me for the alignment however because they can't do it

 

[Rick3478]

After reading the thread, I'm a little puzzled. You keep talking about camber, but the alignment printout shows caster as being the one that's off. And none of these should have been affected much by changing shocks, except for camber which should have been altered in the same way on both sides. And apparently we don't know what the alignment was like before the changes started.

So what I think they are trying to say is that there wasn't enough adjustment to get *both* camber and caster to spec, so they settled for correct camber and left caster as close as they could get it. Which is probably the safest and most stable choice to make, and not necessarily a horrible thing, you might have a little more "road feel" but doesn't look like it would be much.

Like others have said, a good offroad shop should be able to tell you what it needs. I would guess that upper control arms designed for suspension lift might give enough better geometry to bring it all together, but there are other possibilities and I'd still consult and delegate to people who have the right tools and know how to use them.