Any alignment issues with coilovers?

[_Ian_]

Hey guys,

looking into Icon coilovers to level everything out and have read around that at a certain point alignment issues may come into play. Just wanted to see if anyone with coils has had any issues getting within alignment specs after adding a couple inches to the front, and if UCAs would be needed at that height.

Thank you!

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[I_smell_like_diesel]

I do not have coilovers, only a leveling kit but it's the same difference. Took mine to the dealer and they were able to align it just fine. The cam bolts on our lower control arms have quite a bit of adjustment thankfully.

 

[Msfitoy]

Depends on how much lift. I'm at 2.5" front and had my camber adjusted to 0...later I looked and it appears the camber adjustment is maxed out...so I suspect if you're going to 3" lift, then an adjustable UCA will be needed...

 

[RngrRegmnt586]

I have Icon coilovers at 3" with Icon tubular UCAs and they were unable to get it back to 0. I believe it's at 4 degrees of positive camber.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

I have Icon coilovers at 3" with Icon tubular UCAs and they were unable to get it back to 0. I believe it's at 4 degrees of positive camber.

Hi Roy,

Way, way too much positive camber.... sure it is not 0.4°? 4° will not be friendly to your tires...

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[RngrRegmnt586]

Hi Roy,

Way, way too much positive camber.... sure it is not 0.4°? 4° will not be friendly to your tires...

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Yes..... correction... 0.4° positive camber. How bad is that, Phil?

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Yes..... correction... 0.4° positive camber. How bad is that, Phil?

Hi Roy,

Not much of an affect. Ideally it is probably plus or minus 0.2°, but you are not very far off. My recommendation would be to carefully monitor tire wear and if signs of outside edges wearing more than the inside...then figure how to reset...otherwise l would say....enjoy your ride.

Another approach would be to go to another alignment shop and see if they could do a realignment.

Okay...another back story. This time it was Econoline. We had a management drive up to the northern lower peninsula and the trip up on I75, the complaint from all the drivers in the rotation of vehicles complained that all the vehicles pulled left. Since the suspension was revised, the fingers were pointed at the poor front suspension design engineer. So we got up to Traverse City where we had booked time at a service station for mechanic work. As luck would have it this station had an alignment rack. So the poor design engineer and the development engineers hovered over this first vehicle and it was found the suspension was not to spec. How could that be???? We are Ford and We Always Check our vehicles out for alignment prior to such a high level trip. The shop brought the vehicle into spec and the Econoline drove just fine. So all 20 vehicles when across the shops alignment rack and adjustments were made to each and each one drove well. The design engineer and the development engineers worked all night to get all the vehicle fixed. The finger pointed to the Experimental Garage alignment rack. A call back to Dearborn was made and an investigation was launched. Turned out one of the mechanics dropped the mirror attachment to the left front and decided to not tell anyone. This caused so much grief, if only he was honest...he denied this as first but then admitted the incident. Good news for him he was not fired, but he was put on much more mundane mechanic work and was not allowed to use the alignment rack.... We also instituted a process to align a vehicle and evaluate it to ensure everything was okay, and then shipped the vehicle out to one of our Garage Service Vendors for verification.... Fortunately more sophisticated equipment was installed in the X Garage a few years later.

Okay...a back story in this back story. We had two X garage mechanics on the trip, one guy, a big hulk of a fellow, Tim was sitting with us in the hotel bar and after a few (many?) brown bottles, we hatched a plan to capture a Canada Goose and put it into one of the Exec's bath tub in his hotel room. Bad idea, but Tim said he was up to it...so off we headed to the shore of Lake Michigan and Tim wondered into the midst of the flock on the beach. He grabbed a goose and the end result was Goose 15, Tim 0. The goose beat the crap out of him...beak pecks, a lot of hissing, wings that bruised Tim's legs and arms. NEVER EVER grab a wild goose.... So our prank was a partial failure as we retreated to the hotel bar again and passed a cardboard copy of a goose. So plan B was to put this cardboard goose in front of the Exec's hotel door. So the take away is we also had fun on these trips, after hours!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Reited

 

[RngrRegmnt586]

Hi Roy,

Not much of an affect. Ideally it is probably plus or minus 0.2°, but you are not very far off. My recommendation would be to carefully monitor tire wear and if signs of outside edges wearing more than the inside...then figure how to reset...otherwise l would say....enjoy your ride.

Another approach would be to go to another alignment shop and see if they could do a realignment.

Okay...another back story. This time it was Econoline. We had a management drive up to the northern lower peninsula and the trip up on I75, the complaint from all the drivers in the rotation of vehicles complained that all the vehicles pulled left. Since the suspension was revised, the fingers were pointed at the poor front suspension design engineer. So we got up to Traverse City where we had booked time at a service station for mechanic work. As luck would have it this station had an alignment rack. So the poor design engineer and the development engineers hovered over this first vehicle and it was found the suspension was not to spec. How could that be???? We are Ford and We Always Check our vehicles out for alignment prior to such a high level trip. The shop brought the vehicle into spec and the Econoline drove just fine. So all 20 vehicles when across the shops alignment rack and adjustments were made to each and each one drove well. The design engineer and the development engineers worked all night to get all the vehicle fixed. The finger pointed to the Experimental Garage alignment rack. A call back to Dearborn was made and an investigation was launched. Turned out one of the mechanics dropped the mirror attachment to the left front and decided to not tell anyone. This caused so much grief, if only he was honest...he denied this as first but then admitted the incident. Good news for him he was not fired, but he was put on much more mundane mechanic work and was not allowed to use the alignment rack.... We also instituted a process to align a vehicle and evaluate it to ensure everything was okay, and then shipped the vehicle out to one of our Garage Service Vendors for verification.... Fortunately more sophisticated equipment was installed in the X Garage a few years later.

Okay...a back story in this back story. We had two X garage mechanics on the trip, one guy, a big hulk of a fellow, Tim was sitting with us in the hotel bar and after a few (many?) brown bottles, we hatched a plan to capture a Canada Goose and put it into one of the Exec's bath tub in his hotel room. Bad idea, but Tim said he was up to it...so off we headed to the shore of Lake Michigan and Tim wondered into the midst of the flock on the beach. He grabbed a goose and the end result was Goose 15, Tim 0. The goose beat the crap out of him...beak pecks, a lot of hissing, wings that bruised Tim's legs and arms. NEVER EVER grab a wild goose.... So our prank was a partial failure as we retreated to the hotel bar again and passed a cardboard copy of a goose. So plan B was to put this cardboard goose in front of the Exec's hotel door. So the take away is we also had fun on these trips, after hours!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Reited

Haha... great story. And thanks for the advice. I have been considering what will now be the 3rd alignment. The first was after the coilover install. 2nd after the UCA install. And now the 3rd to see if another shop can get it closer to 0.

Do you think I should see how it feels with my new wheels and tires? Do you think that my current set of tires (7,000 miles) might be cupped or worn in such a way that it's vibrating now that it's sitting an inch taller and the alignment is different than before?

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Haha... great story. And thanks for the advice. I have been considering what will now be the 3rd alignment. The first was after the coilover install. 2and after the UCA install. And now the 3rd to see if another shop can get it closer to 0.

Do you think I should see how it feels with my new wheels and tires? Do you think that my current set of tires (7,000 miles) might be cupped or worn in such a way that it's vibrating?

Hi Roy,

I can not say for sure, but you can feel slight cupping with your hand running it over the tire. If you have cupping...not a good sigh and I would suggest you realign the truck and have the tires shaved at a tire shop to eliminate the cupping if this is the case.

Yes, I would recommend driving on the new wheels and tires to get a feel if there is a marked difference in vehicle handling/vibrations. The thing is that the wear is so slight it might be quite a few miles before you realize things are not right. I think you need a shop that can work with you and maybe they have a few tricks up their sleeves to get you within spec. Other folks have raised their vehicle and published their alignment specs and it appears most can get with in spec. Not sure why you have not had the same result. I rarely comment on lifting Rangers as I have no experience with non OEM mods on the current Ranger. My jaw dropped at the 4° nunber!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Best,
Phil Schilke

 

[RngrRegmnt586]

Hi Roy,

I can not say for sure, but you can feel slight cupping with your hand running it over the tire. If you have cupping...not a good sigh and I would suggest you realign the truck and have the tires shaved at a tire shop to eliminate the cupping if this is the case.

Yes, I would recommend driving on the new wheels and tires to get a feel if there is a marked difference in vehicle handling/vibrations. The thing is that the wear is so slight it might be quite a few miles before you realize things are not right. I think you need a shop that can work with you and maybe they have a few tricks up their sleeves to get you within spec. Other folks have raised their vehicle and published their alignment specs and it appears most can get with in spec. Not sure why you have not had the same result. I rarely comment on lifting Rangers as I have no experience with non OEM mods on the current Ranger. My jaw dropped at the 4° nunber!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Best,
Phil Schilke

Gotcha. Thanks for all the advice, Phil. Much appreciated.

 

[RngrRegmnt586]

So I put my new wheels and tires on and I'm still getting the vibration around 70mph. It's hard to explain but it's a very high frequency vibration. I honestly don't know what it could be. I haven't touched the rear height so that should eliminate the rear pinion angle concern? Does the front driveshaft carrier need to be lowered?

 

[SOHK_Alumni]

So I put my new wheels and tires on and I'm still getting the vibration around 70mph. It's hard to explain but it's a very high frequency vibration. I honestly don't know what it could be. I haven't touched the rear height so that should eliminate the rear pinion angle concern? Does the front driveshaft carrier need to be lowered?

One concern a fair number of us have is the rear driveshaft itself. The u-joints appear to be 15° out of phase and the balance weights are scattered all over the shafts.

Design wackiness? Manufacturing flaw? QA issues with lowest bid supplier? Don't know, but I'm going to pull mine and get it rebuilt to common practice specs.

Come to think of it, I need to crawl under the wife's FX4 and check the front shaft for obvious issues.

 

[aeroshots]

Eibach set at 2.25 lift. Before and after alignment numbers. I'm not an alignment guy. Does this look correct? Everything green and black is good to go?

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Eibach set at 2.25 lift. Before and after alignment numbers. I'm not an alignment guy. Does this look correct? Everything green and black is good to go?

Hi Aeroshots,

I take it the before numbers were as installed before alignment, Correct? Your after numbers look good!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[aeroshots]

Hi Aeroshots,

I take it the before numbers were as installed before alignment, Correct? Your after numbers look good!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Yes. Numbers indicate after new struts. Thanks

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