Question on Alignment After 2.5" Leveling Kit Install

[Porpoise Hork]

I have a question for anyone who happens to know or have the alignment report for before/after having a 2.5" leveling kit installed. Not sure if it matters on if it's a 2WD or not. How far out was the alignment after installing the leveling kit?


This evening after work is the only opportunity I have to install the kit on my truck for the next couple of weeks, but will not have a chance to get it in for alignment until Friday at the earliest. Just how far out does the kit put the alignment? Is it just the Toe angle that is out, or does the kit throw everything out? Trying to see how bad it is so I know if I can get away with driving it for a day w/o the alignment. Not planning on putting a ton of miles on the truck before the alignment is done or anything,

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[P. A. Schilke]

I have a question for anyone who happens to know or have the alignment report for before/after having a 2.5" leveling kit installed. Not sure if it matters on if it's a 2WD or not. How far out was the alignment after installing the leveling kit?


This evening after work is the only opportunity I have to install the kit on my truck for the next couple of weeks, but will not have a chance to get it in for alignment until Friday at the earliest. Just how far out does the kit put the alignment? Is it just the Toe angle that is out, or does the kit throw everything out? Trying to see how bad it is so I know if I can get away with driving it for a day w/o the alignment. Not planning on putting a ton of miles on the truck before the alignment is done or anything,

Hi PH,

I just saw another post on this topic that showed a post lift install, before alignment and after. It appeared that camber was off significantly as was toe. Caster was not too bad. My take is that toe is relatively easy to set using a kite string method and would recommend at least setting the toe to about 1/8" total or 1/16" per wheel. This should get you to the Friday alignment without much problem.

Toe set using kite string. You need 4 jack stands, two per side. Set each pair forward and reward of the side of the vehicle giving yourself about 3 inches of distance from the center of the rear wheel. The height is the centerline of the wheel. Now measure the string to the rim at the rear of the rear wheel. Then measure the front of the rear wheel rim. Move the front jack stand until both measurements are equal. does not matter the actual dimension, just that they are equal. Now you have one string parallel to the vehicle....Now set the second pair, repeating the process and then check right string to left string at both the front and the back of the vehicle. You might have to refine the process a 2nd time, but setup is actually quite quick. Now with the front wheels straight ahead. Measure the rear and front rim edge and set it to a difference of 1/16" toe-in for both right and left front wheels. Your toe should be close enough using this method. I set toe on several cars this way, including my race car and my Class A RV. May sound a bit complicated, but it is really fast and simple...

You can also make a crude trammel bar which I did for my RV on a Freightliner chassis. Toe was way off and cost me a pair of very expensive tires.. I did this on the road in Iowa and then string method when I was home in the RV garage.

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

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the input. I had completely forgotten about the old string method for backyard alignments.

LOL..

You know it's probably been 25 or so years since I have done one that way and it was on an old hopped up mid 70's Dodge Aspen sleeper with a cammed and stroked 360 V8 in it. The guy just wanted it close and the wheel straight since it was a weekend play toy. Why he chose a Dodge Aspen for that was always a mystery, but man that car was a beast. He always joked that the speedo and fuel gauge would race each other when he drove it.

 

[quangdog]

I installed my 2.5" leveling kit on Sunday, had it aligned on Monday. The shop said pretty much everything was pretty far out... and it really felt funny to drive. I did have to go to work before the alignment could be done, so I put about 6-7 total miles on it post-lift before it was aligned. Did not seem to cause any noticeable uneven wear on the tires, it was just really funky to drive. I can share my measurements this evening when I'm back home.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the input. I had completely forgotten about the old string method for backyard alignments.

LOL..

You know it's probably been 25 or so years since I have done one that way and it was on an old hopped up mid 70's Dodge Aspen sleeper with a cammed and stroked 360 V8 in it. The guy just wanted it close and the wheel straight since it was a weekend play toy. Why he chose a Dodge Aspen for that was always a mystery, but man that car was a beast. He always joked that the speedo and fuel gauge would race each other when he drove it.

Hi PH,

Aspen? Sheesh

WRT alignment, you may have some caster split and the associated pull to the left or right, but should not hurt anything for a day or too... Just hang on to it.

We used caster split on ovals when I was the team engineer for a Nascar Truck team. Driver complained about no turn in and the green horn Crew chief was all about forward bite. So I directed him to give us about 2° caster split and put a round of bite more in the right rear. Driver was quite happy but not satisfied with the straight line as had to hang onto the wheel. I told him to live with it as he was almost 2½ seconds faster. He got used to the straight line nervousness in a real hurry.... ?


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

 

[quangdog]

We used caster split on ovals when I was the team engineer for a Nascar Truck team. Driver complained about no turn in and the green horn Crew chief was all about forward bite. So I directed him to give us about 2° caster split and put a round of bite more in the right rear. Driver was quite happy but not satisfied with the straight line as had to hang onto the wheel. I told him to live with it as he was almost 2½ seconds faster. He got used to the straight line nervousness in a real hurry.... ?

Please don't ever stop sharing your war stories, Phil. ?

 

[NvrFinished]

The string method works great! I set up the alignment for my 2016 Mustang this way when I go to the track. I have camber plates up front and with my homemade camber gauge and my string setup, I can set camber and toe for both front and rear. When I get back home, I spend about an hour to bring it back to street specs. It has saved me all kinds of money.

 

[NickTheEnforcer]

my align was not far out but headlights too high now and folks keep flashing their brights at me. I found the instructions on how to lower, just have not done it yet. just an FYI to yo all out there. glad I did the front level kit.

 

[quangdog]

my align was not far out but headlights too high now and folks keep flashing their brights at me. I found the instructions on how to lower, just have not done it yet. just an FYI to yo all out there. glad I did the front level kit.

Oh yeah - I slapped a few pieces of masking tape on my garage door with the truck parked about 30' down my driveway to mark the height of the headlights before I installed the lift, then once it was installed I adjusted the aim to match those marks.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I actually will be able to drop it off for the alignment first thing in the morning so won't need to worry much about it.

Hi PH,

Aspen? Sheesh

WRT alignment, you may have some caster split and the associated pull to the left or right, but should not hurt anything for a day or too... Just hang on to it.

We used caster split on ovals when I was the team engineer for a Nascar Truck team. Driver complained about no turn in and the green horn Crew chief was all about forward bite. So I directed him to give us about 2° caster split and put a round of bite more in the right rear. Driver was quite happy but not satisfied with the straight line as had to hang onto the wheel. I told him to live with it as he was almost 2½ seconds faster. He got used to the straight line nervousness in a real hurry.... ?


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

Lol.

Yeah.. An Aspen..

Never could get a good reason out of him why he chose to build up one of those. All he would say was "eh. Cause I like it I guess." We always figured he had a thing for Iacocca or something his being 1/2 Italian, 1/2 Greek and 100% nuts and all.

I'd stop complaining too if I picked up 2 1/2 with just a tweak to the castor.

Oh yeah - I slapped a few pieces of masking tape on my garage door with the truck parked about 30' down my driveway to mark the height of the headlights before I installed the lift, then once it was installed I adjusted the aim to match those marks.

Lol I was planning on doing just that to make sure they are aimed right.

 

[aeroshots]

I have a question for anyone who happens to know or have the alignment report for before/after having a 2.5" leveling kit installed. Not sure if it matters on if it's a 2WD or not. How far out was the alignment after installing the leveling kit?


This evening after work is the only opportunity I have to install the kit on my truck for the next couple of weeks, but will not have a chance to get it in for alignment until Friday at the earliest. Just how far out does the kit put the alignment? Is it just the Toe angle that is out, or does the kit throw everything out? Trying to see how bad it is so I know if I can get away with driving it for a day w/o the alignment. Not planning on putting a ton of miles on the truck before the alignment is done or anything,

Here you go. I installed eibach struts set at 2.25 lift. Yours should be close.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Perfect, thank you sir.

 

[808matt]

Put 4000 miles since installing my leveling kit and have yet to do an alignment. This way my tires wear down and im forced to buy KO2s

 

[aeroshots]

Put 4000 miles since installing my leveling kit and have yet to do an alignment. This way my tires wear down and im forced to buy KO2s

Just remember to rotate them so they all wear out sooner and together. ?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Installed the leveling kit Wed evening and got it re-aligned yesterday and surprisingly it wasn't too far out. And it looks SOOO much better now. The install took just about an hour for both sides and was surprisingly straight forward compared to working my old GTI. That thing.. Ugh. It would take a good 45-60 min. just to get one strut out.

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