Tire alinement

[bringit]

Ok thanks to everyone on the board I have finally finished lifting my truck I wrote my sig prematurly because I am just now getting my tires and just got my lift done. My question has to do with tire alinement, I was wandering how many of you got the tires alined after doing your lift? I dont think it is needed because all I did was replace my springs, steering arm and brake lines. None of which affect the alinement, I didnt replace any tierods or ball joints because they all seem to be in good condition. Right now I have a old set of 31" tires on there and everythings seems to be working good. It dosnt pull to the side and there isnt any new wear on the tires. I have driven it about fifty miles and it seems fine. I really dont want to spend the extra money getting it alined if I dont have to. So do any of you think I would have to get it alined or can I get away with it the way it is?

[k-20]

i wouldnt bother,on a solid axle front end you can only really change the toe in & toe out,and that shouldnt have changed.

[bringit]

Does anyone else think I need to/did you get yours alined when you lifted truck? I could really use some opinions because im going to mount my new tires in 2 or 3 days.

[ryan68]

It'll be fine, the only thing adjusting the drag does it align the steering wheel. Mount em up.

[JIMs70GMC]

lifted 3 and never aligned. Are you getting 33" bias ply TSLs? Mine only lasted about 11000 miles on my GMC and cupped real bad.

[bringit]

There Bias-Ply, why did they only last for 11,000 miles? Will rotating them on a consistant basis help? This is my first lifted truck with big mud tires, and Im not sure what to do to make them last longer. I just had them mounted yesterday and then I put them on my truck. And its way taller than I had thought it would be, its kind of a pain to get in Im going to try to post some pics later this week.

[CyberRanger]

Used to work in a 4x4 shop & used to do alignments. We always recommended the alignment at least be checked after doin' lifts. While a lift won't usually affect camber it can drastically affect caster which keeps ya pointed down the road straight & assists in bringing the steering back to center following turns. Camber can be adjusted on a solid axles thru offset bushings that the upper balljoints seat in. They usually weren't necessary on most trucks. Caster can be adjusted thru shims between the spring pack & the spring pad. Most solid axle lift kits have the correct caster built into their springs, but it doesn't always work quite right. Lifts don't affect toe-in on solid axle trucks from '60-'87, but will mess w/ the steering wheel position even if you do a lift steering arm.

As expensive as our tires are, its worth doin' a check.

[LONGHAIR]

If the camber needs to be adjusted something is bent or worn (ball-joint). The camber is built in when the axle is manufactured. Caster can change if the springs don't allow the axle to sit the at the same angle as it was before. A simple shim will fix that.
Toe can change slightly by using tires that are considerable larger in diameter. It has nothing to do with the lift at all, it's just that the toe-in gets larger as the distance from the center of the axle gets greater (diameter).

[CyberRanger]

I saw plenty of new 4x4s come thru w/ the camber out of specs, usually not by a lot, but by enough to wear tires. Not every axle, steering knuckle or spindle is made exactly perfect, although its a lot better now than 20 yrs ago. Get a combination of any two or all three just barely w/in specs & put 'em together & you can end up w/ alignment out of specs by quite a bit. I don't know many dealerships that ever checked that unless a customer brought the truck back & complained. The two (1 Chevy & 1 Ford) dealerships I worked for would never align a new truck/car even if the preinspection found it pulled or drove bad & simply hoped the customer wouldn't notice or would take it elsewhere. Doesn't say much for the dealers.

Both sides can be w/in specs & still cause the truck to pull one way or another b/c of ½º or more difference from one side to the other. This isn't usually the case w/ new trucks, but was not unusual in '67-'87 solid axle trucks.

I always liked to tried to get camber somewhere in the neighborhood of ½º+. 0º is best for tire wear, but doesn't produce the best handling or feel. 1º+ or more give you better handling at speed, but at the price of tire wear. 1º- or more gives you better cornering. ½º+ is the best overall compromise between wear & driving is about in the middle of most new truck alignment specs now days.