Hi All,

I have a 94 with 32x11.5 BFG MT on -22 (I think) wheels. The alignment before was done by a guy who knew the ins and outs and it was excellent. He explained to me he optimized it but I dont know how. I now had the alignment redone and the shop either screwed up or used factory settings and it sucks.

Should this vehicle aligned to stock settings or something else? IF so, what should it be set at?

Cheers
Tx

 

There are plenty of things to take into consideration, Camber, Caster, Toe, Thrust angle.
"what should it be set at" isn't an appropriate question especially when you say "it sucks".
not enough information.
A good alignment tech will ask you "what exactly sucks", "if it was so good before why did you have it redone? something broke?", "have you checked your tire pressure?" and "show me the current alignment readings".

 

I had the ball joints replaced and they had to redo the alignment. Should have left it .. but here we are ...

What makes it suck is this:
- steering seems very light around center but then steeringmore seems harder than before
- in slight fast turns, tires make noise now as if they were grinding . they dont howl but I can hear them. going straight they dont.
- front tires seem to get warm when driving but I dont know if that was before or if its abnormal
- it "feels" different and I wonder what all is wrong

it was done at an auto shop that does good work but aligning 4x4s might not be their thing. there are no measurements but I can take it somewhere else if I know what it should be.

I dont know of any places that are not general shops that dial in whats for the stock vehicle... the guy who did it before was awesome but obviously went out of business

Where I live there arent shops that get into these things, you can have alignment by the book for the stock vehicle. however if I knew IF a 4x4 with bigger tires should have certain alignment values different I may be able to convince someone to do it.

its a ˟˟˟˟ty situation

 

I guess it isn't normal anymore to give customers a printout of the adjustments. Back in my day (late 80s to early 00s ) our printout showed before and after measurements and we gave that to every customer.
from what you say I would first suggest that you check your tire pressure, see if the last shop has anything saved regarding camber/caster/toe.
Tires being warm can be caused by low tire pressure, too much toe in or too much toe out, or you just never noticed before that tires develop heat when rolling down the road. It's a judgment call whether or not they are building EXCESSIVE heat.
As to having light steering when pointed straight down the road, maybe there were adjustments to camber/caster, maybe it needs a touch more toe in. I just can't say without data.
As to heavier steering when turning, again it's a judgement call as to what is too much, but since you have new ball joints that would add a LITTLE bit of extra resistance. Any chance they installed or replaced a steering damper at the same time? Too much Positive Caster can add to the turning effort but it also is what allows your steering to return to center when you let go of the wheel and keeps your vehicle going straight down the road.
The punch line is that you should never get an alignment without requesting a printout and if there are any drivability complaints afterward you should give them a chance to rectify it or to tell you why they can't and explain what is going on.

 

So here is an update. I didnt use the vehicle much so it has been a while.

A shop had initially diagnosed worn ball joints and I had them replaced. I should have checked them myself but I didnt ... afterall on a 30 year old vehicle it never hurts to replace the ball joints.

What they missed is that the idler arm bushings were worn and I think that they mistook worn idler arm for worn ball joints .... but anyways ... here we are now.

What is inexcusable to replace the ball joints and once done not to notice the steering is still wobbly because the idler arm is wobbly AND THEN to do an alignment and not notice that. How is that even possible? It would be hard to screw this up. I am thinking (kind of hoping for their sake) they didnt even do an alignment. What is worse, a shop that is incompetent or a shop that is fraudulent?

I replaced the idler arm bushings (its easy to do with parts that cost a few bucks. Note to anybody doing this: save yourself effort and leave the idler arm attached to the steering).

After that was done, steering was super tight (makes me think the ball joints were fine too but I imagine they weren't to feel better)

I took the vehicle to an offroad shop and they aligned it for an offroad vehicle, "the way it should be" and they test drove it until they were happy. Steering gear is slightly loose but its tight enough. Vehicle feels normal now. I also got a print out with before and after and before it was completely messed up.

Moral of the story, dont let shops work on your stuff, unless you know 100% they are good.