I'll be putting a 4.5" skyjacker on my truck this week. A buddy of mine works at a place we can take my truck and do the allignment our selves. The only problem is I need those shim things that go on the top of the steering knuckle on the axles that change the amount of camber/caster you can adjust. Does anyone know what there called? where to buy them? And perhaps what one I need for the 4.5" lift? How they work at all? I'm more or less in the dark about them other then it changes max movement and I need it.
thanks
~chris

 

You should not need anythign that goes on top of the knuckle. You can adjust your caster with your cam bolts on the lower control arms.

 

Everything should be adjusted with the 4link. while youa re lifting the truck, put a new Trac Bar on there. I have not dine mine yet, but the mannerisms on the road are not great with a trac bar that is going out.

BTW, I LOVE my skyjacker kit. The only problem I have is the link bolts keep loosening up on me.

DIma

 

The SJ kit again....

I can speak with authority on this one, I've been through every alignment woe you can go through with the SJ kit.

First off, if you haven't installed the SJ kit yet, take it back to where you got it and get your money back. I found out the hard way. Then call David Turbyfill at DT/Profab and get his suspension kit. It will last longer and perform better than the SJ kit. Pretty close to the same price.

First off, I don't believe the 03 track bar conversion will work with a 4.5" lift. Second, if you do install it, I hope you didn't get the flex series kit with the Heim joints in the end. After four years, mine are shot. By this time next week, the rest of the red stuff in my front end will be in the spare parts pile.

I've been through three sets of front tires since I replaced the rears. It's cheaper to let them go and replace two at a time instead of rotating them and replacing all 4 in half the time. I need an alignment 2-3 times a year.

To answer your original question, you are looking for ball joint alignment cams. These go into the upper ball joint to adjust camber (0*) and cross caster. The alignment spec I use is 3.2* left, 3.5* right caster, .3 cross caster. The alignment cam is used to get the .3 of caster into the right wheel, then the alignment cams on the axle bracket are used to swing the axle into 3.2* of caster. In other words, the cam is used to put the extra caster into the right side so you don't have to put a bind on the axle housing to get the proper cross caster.

These are the specs I align my truck to every time the caster shimmy or "death wobble" comes back, and it cures it every time.

 

I've got a skyjacker kit on mine and I love it. Aligned very easily. The track bar is shot on it now, but it's got 76k original miles on it so I guess it was time anyways. No death wobble and really no wandering. Just crappy roads.

 

Ive got the 4.5" skyjacker also and like bigblue I love it. I installed the lift and had it aligned the next day and have not been in for another for 20k now. It drives great and straight, the tires are wearing perfect and its awsome offroad. Maybe bigblue and I just got lucky. There is a few dodges runing around town here with the same kit I have and not one of them has any complaints.

mooseman

 

A post from pavementsucks.com.....

"the only thing bad about the double flex is the heims where out very quick and get sloppy.

when i called Skyjacker if they sell the heims seperate, they were surprised to hear i had gotten 18k miles out of mine.

and when i checked with Summit and 4WP, they were in the $80 each range."


And I wondered why my caster changed every time I got it aligned.....shocks are shot too.

Mooseman, BigBlue, I'm glad you like your SJ kit, I liked mine too for about two years. I've gotten a little older and a lot wiser. There are alternatives out there that provide better function and WAY better long term reliability for roughly the same price. Think T-Rex (KORE) performance at a Skyjacker price.....

 

I don't do a lot of wheeling with my truck. I wanted it for the look and so I can clear 35's on a 16x10 rim with ease. The added off road ability (which has proven itself a couple of times already) is a nice feature. I might be upgrading shocks in the next year or so to see if the bilstein 5100's ride a little better but for now, this kit works for me.

 

I had to pull mine off Heim's failed, swapped out for bars with polyurethane bushings they cracked and split next move is 10 inch Whiplash suspension Lift

 

Other than the harsh ride, control arms loosening themselves and crappy shocks that came with it,
I've been happy with mine for 15,000 miles.


phox

 

Stay away from Whiplash, heard nothing but problems and poor customer service. A lot of guys over on pavementsucks.com are going with a Full Throttle kit, but most of these guys are 1500 gasser kids. Not sure if they even make a kit for the diesel. Go over to pavementsucks.com and do a search on Whiplash. Plenty of reading, kinda like the infamous Dr. P threads.

If you're going that high, you'd be better off working with a reliable fab shop to do it right. 10" of lift puts a tremendous amount of stress on the track bar bracket, steering box, etc. You will also need extended drive lines, maybe even a CV jointed drive line for the front. You will also need to clock the transfer case or you'll never get a front driveline to work. Throw in extended brake lines as well. All your CAD lines will also be too short.

I have some custom suspension components being fabbed right now that will blow your doors off. Probably only good for 6-7" lift max, but I think they will work better than anything else on the market right now. These are third or fourth generation prototypes, so they should work very well.

I'm led to believe that once they hit the market, they will be competitively priced with some of the off the shelf stuff.

 

Have the Skyjacker lift on mine(called it 5" when I bought it) and LOVE IT!!! has about 70,000 on kit and NO PROBS.Adjusted correctly with what they supplied,and hasn't moved.Had it checked this fall and all was still good.
CSH<><