Ok, so as many of you know I just lifted my truck, (keys, t-bars, and blocks). I took it to a tire shop for an alignment and they said I needed a new idler arm, they quoted $300. So I fixed it for $50. I took it back and now they say that it can not be aligned because I cranked the t-bars and that i need remounting brackets for the control arms. He siad this is because he can not adjust the control arms correctly because of where they are possitioned now.

Am I being fed a line of bull?

Everything I read before I did this, which is a ton, said that you will just lose ride quality, and wear some parts out faster, but make sure you align it so you dont wear the tires and other things funny.

Any Ideas?

 

bump

 

You will have too much positive camber which might not be adjustable with your torsion bars cranked up. If you are worried about your tires wearing funny or worried about the front end being out of whack because of the lift. I would adjust the torsion bars back down to stock (or as close as you can get it) and have them adjust it. Then crank them back up. Otherwise you will most likely wear the outside edge of your tires down from the caster being out. But you might have that problem anyway if the torsion are cranked up even after an alignment as it is pushing the control arms further down then they are intended to be, therefore pulling the bottoms of the tires closer together.

Ok to put it simply: Have them fix caster and toe, and f*ck the camber. It will never be correct with the torsion bars cranked up. Rotate your tires a lot to keep them wearing as evenly as possible.

 

The way it is sitting now the bottoms are leaning in too far.

 

let them adjust it again or look for a better shop.

 

Did you use the ford keys or your stock keys?

 

Aftermarket Keys

I talked to the shop where a always get my parts and work and they said the guys at our belle tire are a bunch of theives and morons. This shop does all the nice truck and cars in my area and have a very good rep for anything from rock crawlers to drag cars so ill trust them on this one because they have always done me right in the past.
I have an appointment with another shop recomended by ^ so we will see what they have to say about it.

 

How long do idler arms usually last? Would have needed to be replaced even without lifting?

 

Ok, ignore my post. I called my mechanic. There should be no reason they can't completely align the front end unless they ran out of adjustment for camber, which is doubtful. Sometimes they will not honor warranty work with a lift because its not factory.

 

The idler arm would have been bad anyway. I just never knew it until after the lift becuase I never thought to look. It truely was worn out and lose. My mom's 1500 van will be getting both replaced this weekend because hers are bad too. Pretty common I assume on high milage vehicles.

Thanks jcbst12 thats what i was thinking and so we will see what the other shop says.