[Sparty]

OK...here's the deal.

04 Sport
2" coil lift, 1" BL, 1" MML, 32" BFG AT

My tires were wearing irregualry, and the toe-in trick didn't work.

I took it to Sears (have alwyas been good to me) and they indicated the rear axle was off center. (not left to right, but cockeyed). Imagine taking your hands like the touchdown signal to represent the wheels and **** them both to the right - that's what it looks like as I'm told.

On the rear end, the "Thrust Angle" has a specified range of -0.25" - 0.25". Mine was/is at 0.29/0.30 inch.

He said that I'd likely have to take it to a body shop that has a frame-straightener to get this fixed.

Truthfully, I have no idea.

-My questions are,

-Is this something that I need to worry about?

-What exactly do you think this is going on?

-I don't know how this happened...I'm assuming off-roading.

-Does this have anything to do with me lifting it?

-Is this something that this guy is BSing me about?

-Can I just leave it? Is this something that will cause excessive wear - on tires or suspension components?

-How exactly can I get this fixed, and how much am I looking at?


Thanks all....I'm in the dark about this one.

[Jerry Bransford]

Is there a reason your frame could be bent? Do you have aftermarket control arms? You could use upper and lower adjustable-length control arms in the rear to correct the thrust angle.

[Jerky bump]

Personally, I wouldn't assume that you are at fault on the rear end being not straight ahead. The control arm brackets could have been welded a little off right from the factory. The bracket may have been built a little out of spec. Weld splatter gets all over tooling and if it's not cleaned, or some clamp doesn't do it's job- Voila -bad alignment.

[Sparty]

Originally Posted by Jerry Bransford

Is there a reason your frame could be bent? Do you have aftermarket control arms? You could use upper and lower adjustable-length control arms in the rear to correct the thrust angle.

No reason that I can think of. Anything hairy has been at low speeds, and I"ve never been in an accident.

Thanks for the idea of the upper/lower adjustables.

[Sparty]

Originally Posted by Jerky bump

Personally, I wouldn't assume that you are at fault on the rear end being not straight ahead. The control arm brackets could have been welded a little off right from the factory. The bracket may have been built a little out of spec. Weld splatter gets all over tooling and if it's not cleaned, or some clamp doesn't do it's job- Voila -bad alignment.

Yeah, thanks...that could be it too I guess.

I just don't think I've really gotten into any stickey situations with the rear end.

[Jerky bump]

There should be some pins sticking down from the frame or some type of reference point common to both frame rails. These are for checking the squareness of the frame. Cross-diagonal measuring is the practice- but I don't know the spec's. I suppose a twisted frame would also throw the rear off- but that would be easy to spot.