Allignment after lift problems ?

[springer275]

I raised my explorer 3" with a suspension lift (new torsion keys on the front) and added 31" Dick Cepek Fun Country II tires. I took it in to have the tires mounted and the allignment reworked. After all the work was done, it is pulling slightly to the left, but not real noticeable and is not pulling on the steering. The steering wheel is turned to the right by 1 inch when going straight down the road, but it is not from fighting the slow drift to the left. My 2000 explorer has never been wrecked and has been stock till now.

The shop says they have it within specs, but on the left tire they are out of "chamfer" (spelling?). They said they could try to tighten it more but they did not think there would be much improvement.

Anyone run into this? Is this just normal with this type of lift, or is the shop feeding me a line? Is there a fix that can be done that I can give to the allignment shop? My explorer is probably the only lifted explorer where I live in small town ohio.... So they have not had to work on one like this before.

 

[kert0307]

Raising the front 3" using torsion keys (which you really didn't need to buy because you could have just gotten longer adjustment bolts) is generally not recommended because it puts the cv joints and ball joints at near there max angles at ride height. If I were you, I would adjust the torsion bars so you have around 2" of lift.

If you were 2wd, you could get longer upper arms made to get the Camber back in check, but with a 4wd longer upper arms may cause the cv joints to pull out when the suspension droops. You can also get camber adjusters for the front, but it probably won't be enough for 3" of lift on the stock suspension.

 

[springer275]

Thanks for the information, I have talked to quite a few shops and they were not too concerned with 3" lift, though they did say it was pushing it to the allowable tolerances. It is actually not quite 3", around 2.5 to 2.75. And it is actually shifting smoother than before the lift was installed,.... go figure. (transmission was rebuilt earlier this year due to a blown torque converter - pre-lift)

I was just curious if the allignment shop just did not want to have to re-adjust everything for free if they screwed up, or if this is normal with adding new keys, leaf springs, etc..

 

[gavin]

it was probably camber, not chamfer.

the higher it's lifted via torsion keys/torsion twist, the higher the adjustment that needs to be done on the camber.

too much lift, and they can max out the adjustable camber bolts, without getting it into spec.

just because it's still "within specs" doesn't mean it may still be off, since the "specs" are a range, each side could be at the opposite end of the adjustable amount.

and 3" is definitely pushing it. I didn't even have that much at point, and it could be aligned to specs.

 

[springer275]

OK, if that is the case, what changes/replacements can I make to the stock suspension to keep the lift in place and not tear up the front end? Are there any for this late of a model explorer.

It is in such good shape (frame, body, motor, etc..) I can't justify getting something else that may be better suited for what I am trying to achieve, I would rather save my money.

 

[gavin]

a true suspension lift or lower it to 2" or less.

those are the only options.

unless you have the capability of fabricating a new sub-frame to lower the diff and LCA's and make new knuckles, and dropping the torsion bars to still be parallel to the LCA.


there is no way to keep the stock suspension and get that much lift on a 4WD or AWD Explorer, without there being a good chance of something grenading, and keeping the alignment good.