Tutorial on how to align your Ranger at home after installing a leveling kit

[Jt15601]

Hey guys, I made this video tutorial on how to align your ranger at home (camber and toe) after installing a leveling kit. I understand that some people aren't comfortable without spending a couple hundred bucks on an alignment job from a professional shop, but if you are comfortable enough to do the leveling kit yourself, you will have no issues pulling this off. It's definitely more advisable IMO to do it this way rather than have a 19 y/o kid do it at whatever budget chain tire shop is near you. (Stay away from Firestone).

Here's the video:

Sponsored

 

[Pinepig]

Good vid man. I've been using the string method for years ( similar ). This will definitely help some folks out.

 

[JaysOnTheEDGE]

I absolutely hate getting alignments done, they are never done right the first time and they always mess up my steering wheel angle.

 

[AutobotXJ]

Great job! I already took my truck twice for an alignment because the steering wheel was crooked and it’s still not fixed. I did my own alignment on my straight axle XJ but didn’t have a clue how to do it on an independent suspension. Now I do! Thanks!

 

[NvrFinished]

Yep. I do a 4 wheel camber and toe alignment with a string setup on my Mustang every time I setup for the track and when I get back. It has saved me a few thousand dollars or more over the years.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Yep. I do a 4 wheel camber and toe alignment with a string setup on my Mustang every time I setup for the track and when I get back. It has saved me a few thousand dollars or more over the years.

Hi Shea,

Yep...did the same on my race car. What is missing here is Caster....Not addressed...

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

 

[Jt15601]

i didnt need an alignment, but i watched it anyway for learning things
shut it off after the pronunciation of camber irked me.

I do have somewhat of a Pittsburgh accent even tho i haven't lived there in years. I apologize.

 

[Jt15601]

Hi Shea,

Yep...did the same on my race car. What is missing here is Caster....Not addressed...

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

In hindsight, I should've been more specific in the video... Without using aftermarket control arms, you're pretty much stuck with whatever caster you already have because keeping the camber in spec while also setting the caster in spec doesn't work because of the limits of the adjustment on the factory set up, since you have to add positive camber to make any adjustments to caster. I wasn't even able to hit the spec on camber on my passenger side with camber maxed out, adjusting caster would only make it more out of spec. However, as long as you make the same adjustments to the front and rear control arm bolts it will not drastically change the current caster setting you had going into it. Caster doesn't effect tire wear nearly as much as the other settings unless you're doing like full lock donuts or something.

 

[bradsayz]

good instructions, thanks for the vid.

 

[jss81258]

Not that I really care, but the "a" in caster and camber are pronounced like "as" or "am". Well, unless you pronounce "as" like "ace" or "am" like "aim". I didn't think caster or camber pronunciation changed whether you are north or south.

Anyways, I can't remember the year models, but earlier Rangers had an adjustable for caster right side upper control arm. In later years, that was discontinued and both upper arms were fixed, but the lower control arms were always adjustable like the current Ranger. Like the current Ranger, the lower control arm adjustment was a bit limited.

I don't know if they make them for the current Ranger, but you could get lower bolts that had more cam so that there was more adjustment in them. If offered for the current Ranger, this might help to align to correct camber and caster without buying new control arms.

 

[Jt15601]

Not that I really care, but the "a" in caster and camber are pronounced like "as" or "am". Well, unless you pronounce "as" like "ace" or "am" like "aim". I didn't think caster or camber pronunciation changed whether you are north or south.

Thats just how everyone around where I'm from says those things. If you talk to any mechanic around Pittsburgh that's about how youre going to hear it said. Man, you guys would hate to hear me say things like "radiator" "town/down" and a lot words that end in "ower" haha.

 

[jss81258]

Thats just how everyone around where I'm from says those things. If you talk to any mechanic around Pittsburgh that's about how youre going to hear it said. Man, you guys would hate to hear me say things like "radiator" "town/down" and a lot words that end in "ower" haha.

I wasn't raggin' on you or anything. Just pointing out what a lot of us are used to hearing.

I used to work with a really nice lady from Georgia. She pronounced "otter" as "udder". I had no clue what she was talking about until she said "You know, those swimmy things". We had some really interesting (confusing?) conversations.

 

[Jt15601]

please do a video on that LOL.

I apologize for being nitpicky on pronunciation.

If you watch some of my other videos on my channel you might catch some more of the stupid ways that I talk. Some of the videos are just for fun and not full on tutorials.

 

[dtech]

If you watch some of my other videos on my channel you might catch some more of the stupid ways that I talk. Some of the videos are just for fun and not full on tutorials.

I lived in Pittsburgh in the 90s for 4 yrs, when I 1st ordered a sandwich at a restaurant and requested whole wheat bread I was told "Pittsburgh is a white bread town" . So I learned to eat white bread, pierogies but couldn't bring myself to drink Iron City beer.

 

[JimJa]

As an aside, my experience and advice with alignment shops. Take you vehicle to a shop that ONLY does alignments, not a shop that alignment is secondary to its primary business. And as demonstrated by Jacob, you do not need a $12,000 machine to align your vehicle.

Had a 1984 Audi Quattro 4-wheel alignment at the Audi dealer in Norfolk, VA. They said they needed 1/2 day to set up their machine (BS) and another 1/2 day to do the alignment (more BS). $125, expensive at the time. Drove cross country and destroyed the tires. I was a very unhappy camper. New tires and took it to the best alignment shop I could find in San Diego. They did a 4-wheel alignment in less than an hour, charged me $56 and I never had to have it aligned again in 140K miles.

My advice is, after you get a couple of thousand miles and your suspension has time to "settle," take it to a good shop and have it checked. Its worth your peace of mind and the knowledge your vehicle is correct - its worth the money in tires alone.

Sponsored