Shop can't align my truck.

[baddriver]

I installed new ball joints, tie rod ends, and moog 80065 camber adjustment bolts.

took my truck in to the shop for an alignment and they cannot correct the negative camber. they said that the moog kit is the wrong one, and that with their kit it will allow more adjustment.

is there anything else that would cause the camber not to be fixable? such as upper/lower control arm bushing, or bearings? etc???

its all stock no lift or drop. 97 2wd sport

 

[410Fortune]

if you didnt raise or lower your truck why did you install a camber adjuster kit?

- camber = crank the torsion bars a bit

 

[carlover]

sounds to me like the shop is trying to make an easy buck off of you.

 

[baddriver]

its painfully obvious prior to me putting on the adjusters that i needed the camber kit, the tires looked like / \

I dont think the shop is trying to screw me, the adjusters are at max adjustment, they showed me in the shop.. i was raising hell.

I dont think their kit will offer any more adjustment, the moog kit seemed to be the one most were using on here.

can anything else be bad that is throwing the camber off? theoretically, i shouldnt need any adjuster if all parts are good, the stock shims should work.

 

[410Fortune]

YOUR TORSION BARS HAVE SAGGED
that is why your tires are looking like that

You need to CRANK your torsion bars until the tires are sitting straight again and the truck is lever frm side to side

Seriously very easy solution and I am guessing your alignment shop has never heard of adjusting ride height by turning the torsion bar adjusters

 

[baddriver]

wouldn't cranking up the torsion bars give the truck more negative camber and a harsher ride?

 

[JTX]

No it will fix your problem.. Crank them one turn.. Lower the truck and drive 30 feet. Than crank them some more if needed.

 

[gijoecam]

They should have measured the ride height before performing the alignment... I can't find the specs off hand, but the measurement should be measured from the ground to two points on the vehicle: The pivot bolt for the lower control arm and the lower-most tip of the knuckle. Subtract the two measurements for the distance...

Measure the distance between the (A) front suspension lower arm bushing center bolt and (B) Space Saver Lift. Record the measurement.

Measure the distance between the (A) front suspension lower arm (lowest point) and (B) Space Saver Lift. Record the measurement.

Subtract measurement (A) from measurement (B) for ride height.

When performing an alignment check only, the ride height should be between the specifications shown. (90-111mm) 3.58-4.57"

The ride height, after new parts have been installed, should be between the specifications shown. (110-116mm) 4.33-4.56"

Adjust the torsion bars (height) as necessary by tightening or loosening the torsion bar adjusting bolt.
Tighten the torsion bar adjusting bolt to increase the torque or raise the height.
Loosen the torsion bar adjusting bolt to decrease the torque or lower the height.

Make sense?

 

[baddriver]

ride height was on the low side, ~3.5" and pretty even on each side.

i cranked it down 1 revolution. it seems a little better, i am going to try another shop for the alignment, if those guys didnt know that, i should probably take it somewhere else anyways.

 

[410Fortune]

BINGO!!!

Also one crank is not gonna do much if they have sagged ALOT

Have you seen the torsion twist how to threads on this forum? Would be very helpful, you can do it yourself and get the alignment very close yourself (with tape measure)

 

[rizzjc]

Good info. I need to do this before I get new tires. This has plagued my truck since day 1.

 

[RiderX]

Hey baddriver,
I just got all the parts for my front end reconstruction, same moog stuff.
A couple of questions.
Is your rebuild from a known problem?
Does your explorer feel tighter?
I've got a bad case of "wander" and clunking from my front end, (me as well as my explorer!).
Please keep us updated.
Thanks.

 

[hiwayhunter]

I installed new ball joints, tie rod ends, and moog 80065 camber adjustment bolts.

took my truck in to the shop for an alignment and they cannot correct the negative camber. they said that the moog kit is the wrong one, and that with their kit it will allow more adjustment.

is there anything else that would cause the camber not to be fixable? such as upper/lower control arm bushing, or bearings? etc???

its all stock no lift or drop. 97 2wd sport

I have a 2001 Sport 4x4, the previous owner had the drivers side upper A arm/ball joint replaced at Wal-Mart with a aftermarket A arm. Had left front tire chewed up, took to Ford and had alignment, also pulled to left when letting go of wheel. Could not adjust camber, WAY out of wack on drivers side.

Checked the Wal-Mart A arm with a new Ford A arm, ball joint was in a very noticable different location to new Ford A arms ball joint. Replaced aftermarket A arm with Ford replacement A arm and problem fixed, alignment able to be adjusted on the money.

Could be wrong part in right box at Wal-Mart, or aftermarket messed up the measurements when they made the part, or maybe wrong part, wrong box and dummy mechanic at Wal-mart???

 

[410Fortune]

Yes

all of the above

 

[robertoa1a]

Man. I have the exact same problem and went through the exact same thing. The alignment shop said it is within tolerance. Then they said they had to adjust the tow like 1deg. Thay then showed me a custom shim and said that the shop doesnt allow them to install it. They could me that when I walked in. If a mechanic has never seen an explorer then *&%$!!! Im glad I found you guys.

I don't see much use for a mechanic shop any more unless it's for an auto trans. I would rather waste hundreds on un-nessary replacement parts and and tools then give money for nothing! That goes double for dealerships!

 

[coppe]

man... adjusting the torsion bar might be my actual problem, i have taken the truck to like 5 diff. shops and alignment places, and no one has ever found the cause of my camber beeing off in my right tire..... i think ill try the post on this to try and do it myself. One guy actually told me that the chassis was completely screwed up.

 

[Parsonmoon]

I just did the same thing. I replaced the upper and lower ball joints. I replaced the passenger side with a single swing arm instead of the stock two piece. And I replaced the tie rod ends, then installed new shock. I took it to a local service shop for alignment, but that didn't help, no way near what it was before I replaced everything. They told me that the front was not tracking with the rear and that was the best the could do. Well now, when coming to a stop and applying the brake, the X slowly stops then the ABS kick in and make it shutter.

 

[Tavery1]

Coppe- I am a tech student and we just finished off alignments and I've done 5 or 6 "live jobs"(teachers vehicles) in the past week week and a half, and if camber is off but appears as "within tolerance" it could very well be a sub frame problem.

OP- did they give you a printout of the sheet? If they did can you tell me what the steering axis inclination(Imaginary line drawn through upper and lower pivot points on the spindle and line drawn from the lower pivot point) and your included angle is?

Also, jack the truck up and look at both sides for bends and use the "finger test" if 2 fingers fits in one gap check the gap on the other side etc.

Within tolerance means what the manufacturer specs are camber tolerance for your Ex could be 1*-8* +/- 2* yes both sides may be in spec but if one side is 2* and the passenger side is 8* you'll still get bad tire wear and a bad drive.

 

[jammind]

so if i lower my truck i need to install a camber adjuster kit. if so were do i get this.