They haven't put It on the rack yet. Turns out my appointment was for 3:30 tomorrow, not today. They said $200 would be the total for the high end. Is it worth it to get my camber and caster adjusted? Should I care?

 

Congrats on getting the job done! The TTB setup is a bit of a pain to align, but I would expect them to check/adjust the camber and caster for that price.

Camber and caster are good things to adjust. Camber will help your tires wear evenly and improve handling, and caster will control how your pickup tracks down the road and how the steering centers.

 

Hey buddy! Did you enjoy watching me bust my knuckles?!

Thanks, took me two afternoons, one morning and an hour of my afternoon but I guess I got it done.

I'll probably just let them align the whole thing. My trucks tires were wearing awful, so I figure my camber is way off.

 

Of course I did! .

Camber will not wear your tires nearly as quickly as having excessive toe in or toe out.

 

If they get it aligned well it'll drive really nice. Bonus is these trucks hold alignments well if you're not crazy off road. If you are charged $200 do not accept anything like crooked steering wheel, a pull to one side, etc. If its done right I could see shelling out the money. And yes, incorrect toe will roast tires faster than anything, bad camber not nearly as much, caster has no appreciable effect on tire wear but does effect handling.

 

The shop that I'm going to has, and I quote, The top of the line alignment machines" so I expect a printout with the specs and all of that, correct? If it's not within factory specs, no reason I should be paying $200+, correct?

 

Just found this! Thought y'all might enjoy.


Well...my true feelings are this... ;P

All station wagons deserve that suspension design...
It suits the man/woman who enjoys tire rotation,
likes a little adventure when navigating a road that isn't perfectly smooth...
Enjoys the word "HUH?!" and the term "Your kidding, right?!" when at the alignment shop.
It is truly a man's man suspension as no other design in the world would
require a different toe setting for each 5 gallons of gas burned...
You have to be the type that enjoys the fact that it never has proper
caster/camber/toe regardless of what you do...
And the crowning touch; when BS'ing at the mall about the rig's prowess, the
TTB owner is the ONLY ONE that can brag, "It has adjustable toe and stuff as you drive!"
And finally, you have to be the sort that finds pleasure in non-conformist activity,
and can smile knowing that no matter where you are driving, and even at times sitting still...
your alignment and which way the wheels are pointing is only correct 15% of the time.

NoRM

 

I think they all claim that. Has more to do with the operator having a little pride in his/her work. But yes, should have a printout, and it'll probably be done well. I've just heard a lot of stories about shops doing half azzed alignments on these things so just be firm if something isn't right.

I suspect being in MT, where these old trucks don't rot to non-existance like in the salt belt, there are still tech's that know what they're doing aligning them.

 

Whats it like in Laramie? I almost went to UWy and sometimes regret going to UMT.

I love my old Montana trucks.

Where can I find the factory alignment specs?

 

Just got a call, they said there's some slop in my gearbox (that's a given)... They said the toe before they got it on the rack was 4 inches off... In other words, not even measurable in degrees, lol. Then they said they got my camber within point-seven degrees of each other. I'm assuming that's not much and it's fine to drive? Charge came out to $59.95

 

Here's the spec sheet. No idea how to read it. They didn't say I did my tie rod ends wrong or anything so I guess I did it right! Yay!

 

This thing drives about 10x better now that I did the tie rods and got an alignment.

This thing is TOO GOOD for me. The MPGs went up ALOT since I got the new tie rods and alignment... Like, alot.

I always smell my clutch, that's probably because I'm garbage at driving a manual. Should I stop trying to downshift in order to save my clutch?

The only other major issue which isn't even major, is that my cruise control will surge slightly on the highway, but is fine when I manually control the gas. Ideas?

 

Cost of alignment, front end tools, parts, tire mounting/disposal and a lot of busted knuckles $301.99

Updated total: $2245.41.

A lot more reasonable than with the quote for the other shop to do the work.

 

Glad to hear it drives better. The alignment must have been off a good amount for the mileage to go up!

Don't know on the downshifting, I'm a mediocre manual trans operator at best..

 

It must have been off a ton. It seems to have more power, and I'm getting way further on a tank then I did before.

I am too, apparently...Though this is my first manual..