TC4RNR

first, do i jack the front up on stands?

second, do i lost the cam bolt(both sides) then kick the tire to adjust?

thanks.

ewong

uh.......

kicking tires is an odd way to do a front end alignment...

Why are you adjusting the cams???

HAVOC

I would only do this to get the camber so it "looks" straight, and the tape measure method to set the toe.
Then drive directly to an alignment shop and have it done correctly!

leebee

try searching for ' front end alignment', sdori has posted more than a few write-ups regarding doing it yourself.

lee

TC4RNR

that's exactly the reason i need to do the front alignment, i have the BJ spacers in couple weeks ago, but the write-up didn't state the details on how to adjust the cams.

drew303

jack the front end up and just turn the nut, it'll move the bolt in or out.

I think the front is a 24mm and the rear nut is 22mm forget tho.. It's a pain in the butt to torque them down tho... your back will hate you.

DCS

Do a search on alignment. I can't remember the guy's name, but somebody posted an excellent summary on DIY alignment, with photos.

I read it, printed it, took it to the garage, and did my first ever alignment job in about 2 hours.

The basic steps I followed on my unlifted runner:

I wanted slightly positive camber, which is where the wheels lean out slightly. Use a carpenter's square leaned against the side of the wheel to check and adjust camber.

I wanted slightly negative caster. Caster is the rake angle of the a-arms, similar to the rake of a motorcycle front wheel. Little or no rake is a twitchy sportbike. More forward rake (negative caster) is straightline cruiser bike. Its nearly impossible to get the rake identical on both sides, but if they are both negative and reasonably close, you'll be fine. Not enough negative caster makes the vehicle wander around on the road. Too much negaitve catser makes it want to return to center "too much" (less responsive steering).

I wanted slight toe-in, which is where the front wheels are slightly pigeon-toed.

The correct sequence is to set ride height, set camber/caster, then set toe.

The cool part is that if you cam-out the front cam a little more than the amount you cam-out the rear, then you automatically have built in some negative caster.

I made all my adjustments without jacks. You don't need to jack the car, just roll it back and forth once after each adjustment so that you can see your results. I did it my shoving the car back and forth 10' in my garage with the tranny in neutral.

My truck was level, so I basically ignored ride height.

Being new to alignment, I started cautiously by dinking around just with the front cams to see what would happen. I cranked one around more than the other, and it suddenly just flopped all the way over to an at-rest or unloaded position. Hmmm. That was unexpected. So since i was now hosed, i loosened all 4 cams, and let them all freewheel to the unloaded position, rolled the truck, and started from scratch. The camber was totally negative; really leaning inwards.

First I loaded the rear cams some by cam-ing each side out 30 degrees. You gotta lock each cam in place at each adjustment by torquing it back down. I then moved to the fronts. To build negative caster, I cam-ed the fronts out 45 degrees, so that they were out more than the rears. Then i rolled and checked with the square against the wheel. Camber was still slightly negative. So cam-ed all four cams out another 20 degrees. Rolled and checked with the square; I was getting closer. I cam-ed each out another 20 degrees, rolled, checked, and bingo. I had about 1/8" gap between the lower wheel side and the square, meaning slight positive camber. Since the fronts were 15 degrees out more than the rear cams, i also had negative caster on each side. Okay. Again, the imporatnat thing about caster is that the cross-caster (from right to left side) is roughly equivalent. Worst case is negative on one side and positive on the other.

Then i used a string tied to the tow hooks and wrapped around the front wheel and stretched back to the rear wheel to set toe. I adjusted the tie-rods on each side until i had each front wheel slightly toed-in. They're toe-in when the string is swung towards the rear wheel, but contacts the rearward side of the front wheel just before it touches the rear wheel. Like a 1/8" gap.

I'm pretty sure i can do it an hour next time.

I loaded the truck and drove to meet my family at the coast the next AM. Put on 950 miles in 4 days. It was hugely improved over it's prior wandering on the highway. Tracked like a dream. No funny wear on the tires.

I felt like quite the alignment pro all the sudden.

Last comment - none of this made any sense to me at all until i climbed under the truck and started cranking on cams and tie rods. You can actually see the effect of your work as you go. And even if you make the mistake I did and totally whack the cams, it's easy to recover.

Wow, that got long. Search alignment, find that thread with pics.

TC4RNR

thanks, i'll give it a try next week.