[Blitanicle99]

So I threw on the BB spacers with my stock Upcountry Springs and wow what a difference. I actually like the way it rides now. Much more "Truck" like.

Front was sort of a pain, Spring compressor was definately needed, the rear took me literally 14 minutes for both sides. I timed myself.

It does help to have 15k worth of Matco tools...


Anyway. So I haven't gotten an alignment yet and I am still on stock tires but on the highway it seems to sort of track a little left and right... It was somewhat difficult to run 80 mph in a dead straight line... I had to correct my steering constantly.

Could this be alignment related... or stock tires... Or do I need to get an adjustable track bar...?

Going on a 650 mile trip to FL to hop on a cruise in 4 weeks and don't want to deal with this all the way there and back.


Oh and 38 PSI on the tires... 50% tread on some cheapo rugged terrain tires.

[billzcat1]

Toe only changes very slightly when you do a spacer lift. The tie rod stays the same length but the axle rotates slightly. It's not enough to really worry about alignment, just recenter the steering wheel by adjusting the drag link.

Did you loosen all the control arm bolts (and track bar bolts) and retorque at the new ride height? This is an oft-overlooked part of the process and without doing this, you put a lot more stress on the control arm bushings.

Adjustable track bar is nice, but not strictly necessary. The axle is off-center about 1/2" which could be changing your thrust angle a little. Maybe the off-center axle is picking up ruts in the road a little differently than the rear axle. Or maybe you just have some play in the tie-rod ends. I had a set of awful tires that liked to change directions when you hit a bump. Or maybe the rear control arm bushings or upper ball joint is bad. There's a lot that could be wrong, or a lot of little things that just add up to imprecise steering/tracking at highway speeds.

[Blitanicle99]

Originally Posted by billzcat1

Toe only changes very slightly when you do a spacer lift. The tie rod stays the same length but the axle rotates slightly. It's not enough to really worry about alignment, just recenter the steering wheel by adjusting the drag link.

Did you loosen all the control arm bolts (and track bar bolts) and retorque at the new ride height? This is an oft-overlooked part of the process and without doing this, you put a lot more stress on the control arm bushings.

Adjustable track bar is nice, but not strictly necessary. The axle is off-center about 1/2" which could be changing your thrust angle a little. Maybe the off-center axle is picking up ruts in the road a little differently than the rear axle. Or maybe you just have some play in the tie-rod ends. I had a set of awful tires that liked to change directions when you hit a bump. Or maybe the rear control arm bushings or upper ball joint is bad. There's a lot that could be wrong, or a lot of little things that just add up to imprecise steering/tracking at highway speeds.

I have NTB unlimited 3 year alignment, so I was planning on it anyway, doesn't cost me a dime.

I did not adjust anything with the control arms, but if that seems to help I defiantely will. Most of the write-ups I read did not mention this.

I may throw a set of tie rods on it this week before the alignment... Just want it set and done before FL trip.

[mikeydmikeyd]

did you ever figure out what was wrong?