Well here's the story; I put my Kore leveling kit on and it kicked my steering wheel to about the 2 oclock position so I figured an alignment to clear it up right at about 50-60 bucks. NOT!!!- 5 hours at the alignment shop and $327 later it was done. The rear was cocked sideways from the factory about .25 inches so we/they had to unbolt the rear and line it up. The brackets for the u-bolts actually have slides built in them to adjust it. Anyway after we got that lined up with come alongs, we lined up the front axle which was about a quarter of an inch off with my new Thuren track bar I could have got away without doing this but since they had it on the rack and the computer could line it up perfectly I did it. Anyway all lined up and rolling straight I just never imagined having to go through all this. So far my "cheap" $330 leveling kit has cost me about a grand to get everything right. What a simple project this turned out to be!

 

what did you set the front wheels spec too ? anything to help avoid death wobble ?

 

Mike,
I never had death wobble before and hope I don't now or ever. They set my front to -0.1 Camber, 4.6 Caster and 0.10 Toe. It was all over when I first got there the rear went from -0.23 Left and 0.26 Right to plus and minus 0.01 on both sides. The guys did a great job I just wasn't expecting all this from an alignment job, just shows how well our trucks are assymbled from the factory.

 

when i installed my ball joints- the uppers were the adjustable style- took it to the alignment shop- took the guy 15 minutes to align it. he told me my truck was the simplest and fastest alignment he has done in 15 years

 

$330 for an alignment? wowzers

I had mine aligned today for the tune of $85, alittle pricey but the Ram logo in the center of my steering wheel isn't facing my window when im driving straight anymore.

Why did the rear come out of alignment anyways?

 

That sounds a bit fishy to me....


I lifted my truck myself, drove it to the alignment shop and it was actually really close. The only thing he had to do was set my castor...
I want to say it was in the $80 range, since its a lifted truck.

 

Nate the rear had to be out from the factory since I have never touched it and the ubolts had no sign of movement.

Rj I guess my good news from this is my ball joints were good and don't have to mess with those,....yet.

 

Stacked sounded fishy to me too thats why I went out in the shop and had them show me and even stood by and watched them bring the rear in line. One of the shop guys was having a similar problem with his Ram just not as bad but since we noticed the adjustment room in the u-bolt mounting brackets he is going to do his as well, bet it won't cost him like it did me though.

 

I put a leveling kit on 10k miles ago and never aligned it. Even travels straight with my 20' trailer loaded with 10k lbs!

 

65 dollars to align mine. I had it dead on edge of spec with a tape maeasure in my driveway. They couldnt belive how close i got it.

 

I've seen many, many trucks that had a rear axle that wasn't square to the frame. Many owners would complain of a pull, and too many alignment techs would simply ignore the thrust angle on the rear, quickly align the front wheels, and let the vehicle go without actually fixing the problem.

It appears that you took your vehicle to a shop where they know what they are doing, and while it costs a bit more, the job's getting done right.

 

is there a way to check the thrust angle yourself? where you measure to?

 

Find 2 points on the frame forward of the rear axle that are identical on both rails, then measure from those points on the frame to the rear axle, if they are the same exact distance, your rear axle is straight, try to keep your measuring points as far out as possible, so if it is off just slightly you'll be able to measure it.

 

It's pretty easy to check a truck for out-of-spec thrust angle by following it down the road... even a quarter inch it won't "look" right while driving.

 

If the rear axle is not aligned correctly it looks like the truck is going down the road sideways while traveling forward. Scott