Tremor Upgrade UCA????

[Superdannyboy]

I don't understand the issue, which alignment spec can they not get to?

Camber and caster look fine. A little extra positive caster is helpful for lifted trucks on bigger tires.

Toe is set with the tie rods.

Yea I'd be most concerned with that toe. When I first got my Bajakits installed, I didn't ask for a print out of the alignment. Rode for a few months and completely ate up the inside of my front tires. I knew it was happening and left it that way so I would have an excuse to tell my wife I needed new tires so I could have 2 spares in the bed. Well it ate up the tires way more than I expected. The printout I posted earlier of my alignment before and after shows where the toe was. Lesson learned.

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[RangerStranger]

What’s up guys. This is Jeffrey Kammer, the guy with the Tremor trying to get it aligned properly. Here’s the long story short.

2021 Ford Ranger Tremor. 2” leveling lift spacer in front from fordrangerlifts.com. I ran that spacer with the stock upper arms but they were pretty close to being maxed out so I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on the bajakits upper control arms. Just the uppers! Not the full long travel kit that replaced the upper and lower.

That being said it’s been a pain in the ass trying to get this thing aligned. Like posted earlier in the comments the shop that did the install was specifically a Toyota off road shop. They didn’t have a Ford Ranger loaded into the system so they just went off of a 4Runner. That’s not a point that matters because they weren’t trying to get it within 4 runner specs, they simply needed to load a vehicle onto the alignment rack and that’s the one they chose.

The picture that I took was just to show how far off the camber was. They were able to properly align the caster and toe. The closest they could get camber was +(0.9). This is a problem for me because I don’t want it to eat at my tires and within a week of driving I can already see some more aggressive wear comparing the front to the backs.
I have another appointment at a different shop on Monday to see if they can get the alignment done properly, but if not I will be forced into going back to the stock arms.

As far as the tremor having different parts goes. There have been multiple sources and sites that say the tremor has a different knuckle, upper and lower control arms as well as a different sway bar. But here’s the kicker, I called Ford looking for a new upper control arm for a Ranger and asked if it was different from the Tremor and they said no. Which I don’t understand because there’s so much out there that says otherwise. Unfortunately I think being a Tremor owner is becoming more of a problem than a upside simply because there’s not a lot know about them and no one seems to make Tremor specific parts.

Last but not least, talking to BajaKits. I spoke with JT after I had them installed and told them I couldn’t get a proper alignment done. While I was at the shop JT had his lead tech and parts design guy give me a call and talk to the shop tech that was installing my UCAs. They couldn’t come to a conclusion so I took what I could and left. After speaking the the lead tech and design guy over at bajakits for another 2 days before KOH we found out collectively that the Tremor has different control arms which could cause the alignment issues, he said even if the design was a fraction of an inch of that there would be a problem. He offered to have me drive out to their shop which is about 2 hours away so they could take a look at it and see what the problem may be and what designs were different from the tremor and normal Ranger. If on Monday when I go to the second alignment shop and they can’t align it properly I will take him up on his offer and drive out to bajakits shop and have them look at it.

PSA! If anyone on here has a tremor and has purchased aftermarket arms I would love to know how your experience was and would love to see proof that it was aligned properly. At this point I really don’t see that happening but would love to be proved wrong!

thanks guys, looking forward to hearing back from you.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

Of course.
The top 2 are caster.
The middle 2 are camber.
The bottom 2 are toe.
Heck I didn't know either until I asked the mechanic.

Edit: I had the middle and bottom mixed up and I corrected it above.

Great! So it looks like @Superdannyboy had the following (L & R):
Caster = 5.32 , 5.03
Camber = -0.54 , -0.57
Toe = -0.02 , -0.02

@RangerStranger has the following (L & R):
Caster = 3.6 , 3.8
Camber = 0.9 , 1.0
Toe = 0.4 , 0.34

Here are my results with my Tremor and 2" FRL block. (I also have a 1" diff drop, not sure if that matters?)
Caster = 3.0 , 3.1
Camber = 0.7 , 0.7
Toe = 0.03 , 0.01

*EDIT* I do not have aftermarket UCA's. But may add them in the future to get the ball joint back to level.

 

[RangerStranger]

Great! So it looks like @RangerStranger had the following (L & R):
Caster = 5.32 , 5.03
Camber = -0.54 , -0.57
Toe = -0.02 , -0.02

Here are my results with my Tremor and 2" FRL block. (I also have a 1" diff drop, not sure if that matters?)
Caster = 3.0 , 3.1
Camber = 0.7 , 0.7
Toe = 0.03 , 0.01

*EDIT* I do not have aftermarket UCA's. But may add them in the future to get the ball joint back to level.

So you have 0.7 positive caster on both sides? Or negative?

 

[Dr3wDrop]

So you have 0.7 positive caster on both sides? Or negative?

Positive. I do not have values in the (-).

 

[RangerStranger]

Positive. I do not have values in the (-).

I’m only 0.2 degrees off from you. I was told that it’s bad and will cause wearing issues with tires. Do you have a tremor as well? I’m wondering if I am having alignment issues due to my 2” leveling lift.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

I’m only 0.2 degrees off from you. I was told that it’s bad and will cause wearing issues with tires. Do you have a tremor as well? I’m wondering if I am having alignment issues due to my 2” leveling lift.

I have no idea if my caster is good or bad. It was in the green zone of my report sheet

 

[Superdannyboy]

Great! So it looks like @RangerStranger had the following (L & R):
Caster = 5.32 , 5.03
Camber = -0.54 , -0.57
Toe = -0.02 , -0.02

No, those are my numbers.

My camber is (+)0.7.
Yours is (-)0.54

No, I have -.54.

 

[amick1995]

What’s up guys. This is Jeffrey Kammer, the guy with the Tremor trying to get it aligned properly. Here’s the long story short.

2021 Ford Ranger Tremor. 2” leveling lift spacer in front from fordrangerlifts.com. I ran that spacer with the stock upper arms but they were pretty close to being maxed out so I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on the bajakits upper control arms. Just the uppers! Not the full long travel kit that replaced the upper and lower.

That being said it’s been a pain in the ass trying to get this thing aligned. Like posted earlier in the comments the shop that did the install was specifically a Toyota off road shop. They didn’t have a Ford Ranger loaded into the system so they just went off of a 4Runner. That’s not a point that matters because they weren’t trying to get it within 4 runner specs, they simply needed to load a vehicle onto the alignment rack and that’s the one they chose.

The picture that I took was just to show how far off the camber was. They were able to properly align the caster and toe. The closest they could get camber was +(0.9). This is a problem for me because I don’t want it to eat at my tires and within a week of driving I can already see some more aggressive wear comparing the front to the backs.
I have another appointment at a different shop on Monday to see if they can get the alignment done properly, but if not I will be forced into going back to the stock arms.

As far as the tremor having different parts goes. There have been multiple sources and sites that say the tremor has a different knuckle, upper and lower control arms as well as a different sway bar. But here’s the kicker, I called Ford looking for a new upper control arm for a Ranger and asked if it was different from the Tremor and they said no. Which I don’t understand because there’s so much out there that says otherwise. Unfortunately I think being a Tremor owner is becoming more of a problem than a upside simply because there’s not a lot know about them and no one seems to make Tremor specific parts.

Last but not least, talking to BajaKits. I spoke with JT after I had them installed and told them I couldn’t get a proper alignment done. While I was at the shop JT had his lead tech and parts design guy give me a call and talk to the shop tech that was installing my UCAs. They couldn’t come to a conclusion so I took what I could and left. After speaking the the lead tech and design guy over at bajakits for another 2 days before KOH we found out collectively that the Tremor has different control arms which could cause the alignment issues, he said even if the design was a fraction of an inch of that there would be a problem. He offered to have me drive out to their shop which is about 2 hours away so they could take a look at it and see what the problem may be and what designs were different from the tremor and normal Ranger. If on Monday when I go to the second alignment shop and they can’t align it properly I will take him up on his offer and drive out to bajakits shop and have them look at it.

PSA! If anyone on here has a tremor and has purchased aftermarket arms I would love to know how your experience was and would love to see proof that it was aligned properly. At this point I really don’t see that happening but would love to be proved wrong!

thanks guys, looking forward to hearing back from you.

Benny at Levittown has stated that the Tremor control arms and regular ranger control arms have the same part numbers in their dealer system. I’m not saying it’s impossible they are indeed different, but I have not seen anywhere that states they are until this post.

There is a difference in the aluminum and cast steel knuckles, and the UCA’s made for the aluminum knuckles will not work with the cast knuckles. If I had to guess I’d say that’s probably where the alignment issue is coming from.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

No, those are my numbers.

No, I have -.54.

good call. I’ll correct my post

 

[RangerStranger]

Benny at Levittown has stated that the Tremor control arms and regular ranger control arms have the same part numbers in their dealer system. I’m not saying it’s impossible they are indeed different, but I have not seen anywhere that states they are until this post.

There is a difference in the aluminum and cast steel knuckles, and the UCA’s made for the aluminum knuckles will not work with the cast knuckles. If I had to guess I’d say that’s probably where the alignment issue is coming from.

I completely understand, I had the same results in calling all of my local dealers with them saying the part numbers are the same. I’m just really confused at this point because bajakits told me they made a UCA for the Ranger in cast. So I called and asked what I had to do to make the aluminum ones compatible. They said all I needed to do was swap the tapers out. So I placed the order for the cast tapers and had them installed. Yet, here I am with an issue not being able to align my truck. Also it’s pretty bad because it’s only been about 2 weeks and I can already see the outside of my front tires wearing way more than my backs. Gotta figure this out asap!

 

[Dr3wDrop]

I completely understand, I had the same results in calling all of my local dealers with them saying the part numbers are the same. I’m just really confused at this point because bajakits told me they made a UCA for the Ranger in cast. So I called and asked what I had to do to make the aluminum ones compatible. They said all I needed to do was swap the tapers out. So I placed the order for the cast tapers and had them installed. Yet, here I am with an issue not being able to align my truck. Also it’s pretty bad because it’s only been about 2 weeks and I can already see the outside of my front tires wearing way more than my backs. Gotta figure this out asap!

I’ll check my truck tomorrow. But i it hard to believe you can see visible wear marks with only 14ish days of driving?

 

[RangerStranger]

I’ll check my truck tomorrow. But i it hard to believe you can see visible wear marks with only 14ish days of driving?

If you have a tremor the tires have sharp edges on the outside. Now to be fair it could be just from turning the truck and the fronts bite more on the side edges. Regardless I’d like to figure out my alignment and get it better than +(0.9) camber.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

If you have a tremor the tires have sharp edges on the outside. Now to be fair it could be just from turning the truck and the fronts bite more on the side edges. Regardless I’d like to figure out my alignment and get it better than +(0.9) camber.

Just for fun, ill see if Firestone can redo my alignment and ill ask them specifically to try and get the camber to 0.0

 

[Superdannyboy]

I’m just really confused at this point because bajakits told me they made a UCA for the Ranger in cast _____. So I called and asked what I had to do to make the aluminum ones compatible. They said all I needed to do was swap the tapers out. So I placed the order for the cast ______ tapers and had them installed.

Can you fill in the blanks above because there are cast aluminum knuckles and cast iron knuckles.
Do you have iron or aluminum knuckles?
Did you buy the upper arms for aluminum or iron?

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