Hey Guys,
I just put a 6 inch skyjacker lift in and while the alignment feels pretty good it should be aligned professionally.
I called a few shops and they said they cannot align lifted trucks.
I got another place that said they can and it will be $90 unless the camber is way off and that i will need "bushing" $180 a side installed.
Sounds a bit high. What do you think?

 

My local Ford dealership did my alignment for $59.99. They said my driver's side camber bushing was bad and it would be another $120 to replace it and then re-do the alignment. So essentially $60 a side to put the bushing in. So those prices do seem a little steep. As for not being "able", I'm not sure if that's true or that they just don't want to do it. My truck was on the alignment rack for an hour and a half while the other cars were only on it for 20 minutes. My truck has a 4 inch lift by the way.

 

Thanks Evan. Yea I got the vibe from them that they did not want to really mess with it.
pfft some mechanics. if its not easy then we are not doing it. that or we are going to bang you on it.

 

Yeah I was the first vehicle in in the morning at 8 am for new tires and alignment and it took them 45 minutes to mount and balance the tires then an hour and a half to do the alignment. There was a car behind me with an appointment at 9 to be on the alignment rack. It wasn't on until 10:15. I caused quite the backup so I could see why they might want to avoid a challenge like that. Luckily the dealership I go to doesn't care what the job is, they will do it. Same place rebuilt my engine 8 years ago. Guess you just have to find the right place. I'm going to check what the labor rate is on an alignment is just to see how much longer it took that it should. I'm curious.

 

A lot of shops, from what I've seen, don't like touching lifted trucks because they're afraid that if they mess anything up and you roll the truck, they might be liable because the alignment is still slightly off or something. The Ford dealership I used to work at would do lifted trucks but one of the best mechanics would look the entire truck over before it would go on the rack, and if something was wrong with the lift it wasn't getting aligned.

 

funny, my local Ford dealership did it for $356

 

They did the same for mine. They checked every part of the suspension before doing it. Any loose bolt got tightened and every joint/bushing was checked. Luckily all mine needed was a camber bushing, which I still need to get replaced. Its at .8* of camber out if I remember correctly where as the other side it .2*. I have only put 1,500 mile on the truck since I got the tires, which still look brand new, and I have had them rotated already. Don't have $120 to throw at a bushing right now. School is expensive...

 

Holy crap dude...

 

That's more than half my bill for tires, mounting and balancing and alignment when I got it done... Back to the original poster: I would suggest looking around some more for a cheaper price. That seems a little steep. However if all you find is prices that are higher than that, I guess either bite the bullet since it has to be done or buy and install the camber bushings yourself. Not sure how to set them properly though so its up to you.

 

Labor rates vary by area. That seems higher than average. When I used to do them about 4 years ago, IIRC, the alignment was $60 or so, + .8hrs/ side for camber bushings. Total would be 60+(1.6x75)=$180, plus parts.

 

rates are $100 an hour here, no word of a lie.

 

Come to Connecticut! Labor rates here even for good independent shops are in the low to mid $90 range and dealerships charge around $105 and up.

 

Wow, I guess I didn't even think about that it would vary across the country. Labor rates here are usually between $50 and $60 in independent shops, and about $80 in dealerships where I am in WI.

 

Mine was $400 when i had it done done....

 

labor rates here in jersey are between 80 and 120 per hour.
with that said, the shop i use for front end alignment charges $60, no matter what vehicle it is. if it fits on the 15,000 lb lift it costs $60 to do the alignment with any parts needed to do the job properly added to the cost.
and camber bushings are $21 at napa.