1997 K2500 Front Camber Spec?

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Hipster

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SLA behaviour has nothing to do with their recommendations. The front of these trucks have poor geometry. Any time you take a corner they lose negative camber. Have you ever seen one with a wheel cranked in the parking lot? They lay over with tons of positive camber. This is a result of having way more KPI than caster. The KPI doesn't really begin to steal the camber though until the wheel is good and cranked. With more caster, you can gain negative camber initially, but since these trucks only run 2-4 degrees of caster they don't stand a chance. If you understand how suspension works, you'll realize GM's spec is retarded and seems aimed more at keeping the tire companies in business.

The Sla suspension increases negative camber when the front end rises so it makes perfect sense to use the factory numbers if you hitch up tongue weight or toss in a load on a regular basis. If you normally run around with 500 lbs of tools in your truck they should be in there when it goes for an alignment.

Track numbers work good for a track car, not so much for a truck that works under a multitude of uses.
 

Supercharged111

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Since I don't drive around in circles all the time I'm not too concerned about what happens in the parking lot.
I get plenty of tire life out of my 3 trucks, all wear even and for a long time. They are all aligned to spec.
Since the camber changes when the suspension compresses on SLA suspension it has a lot to do with drivability and tire wear, so if your torsion bars aren't adjusted evenly or are cranked up to add lift it will mess with everything.
Set yours to whatever you like, but I'll leave mine alone.

That's great that your tires are wearing even, but tell me which way does camber change when the suspension compresses? You seem to be blowing off all the facts that I've posted. The parking lot example was just that, an example. I don't expect anyone to kill tires in a parking lot.
 

Supercharged111

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The Sla suspension increases negative camber when the front end rises so it makes perfect sense to use the factory numbers if you hitch up tongue weight or toss in a load on a regular basis. If you normally run around with 500 lbs of tools in your truck they should be in there when it goes for an alignment.

Track numbers work good for a track car, not so much for a truck that works under a multitude of uses.

Damn, you snuck this in right before my post so now my last post is gonna look dumb. I will say though that any track car running only -.5* of camber is going to destroy tires, -.5 is not an aggressive amount of camber. I run -3* in my Camaro. What you bring up is part of why I suspected OP should start with 0 camber, but it brings up a question of my own: did the 2500 trucks get different specs in anticipation of being loaded more often?
 

Hipster

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Awesome CKVortec. Thank you. Yup, agreed, not a Caddy. I just want to get it as good as I can. And I will.

Yeah, the pull to the right - with a noticeable crown on a 2 lane road it is a pull, 2 seconds and we're heading for the ditch. On a flat road or straddling the center if there is a crown, letting go the wheel for a couple of seconds and it is a drift - heading toward the shoulder.

I think the 0.0 camber will be good (rarely ever carry a load in her anymore - 99% empty these days), so not much suspension compression. The caster I think I'll get the right side 0.2 more than the left. I will accept whatever result this gives. It will surely be better than what I've had for 11 years.

She is a daily driver now while my clutch leg heals, never was before until 4 years ago when she became the daily driver in winter.

Cheers,
Glenn
I agree with what Ck is saying about compensating for road crown and for a long time that's how it was done. A lot has to do with personal preference and what roads you normally travel but just to give an example, some roads have the slow lane graded towards the right shoulder and the fast lane graded towards the center median. If you compensated the for the crown in the slow lane you will have created the same pull/drift/steering effort to keep it out of the median when you hit the fast lane and why a lot of times get set up with the same specs side to side for a more neutral feel these days.
 

slovcan

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I agree with what Ck is saying about compensating for road crown and for a long time that's how it was done. A lot has to do with personal preference and what roads you normally travel but just to give an example, some roads have the slow lane graded towards the right shoulder and the fast lane graded towards the center median. If you compensated the for the crown in the slow lane you will have created the same pull/drift/steering effort to keep it out of the median when you hit the fast lane and why a lot of times get set up with the same specs side to side for a more neutral feel these days.

Thank you Hipster. Yes, I understand exactly what you mean. In my case virtually all future driving will be 2-lane or slow lane. We live in a rural area now and a possible upcoming move will be the same or even more so.

Cheers,
Glenn
 

Hipster

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Damn, you snuck this in right before my post so now my last post is gonna look dumb. I will say though that any track car running only -.5* of camber is going to destroy tires, -.5 is not an aggressive amount of camber. I run -3* in my Camaro. What you bring up is part of why I suspected OP should start with 0 camber, but it brings up a question of my own: did the 2500 trucks get different specs in anticipation of being loaded more often?

I hear ya, I've put together several old Mopars with torsion bar suspension designed for bias ply's and like 1 degree of caster. In stock form they handle like a boat. Offset bushings might get you to 3-3.5 before being able to get any negative camber becomes an issue. Aftermarket UCA's are about the only solution.
 

slovcan

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Update:

So, got the knockouts all knocked out - had to pay for this since I still only have one fully functional leg. Still, an hour and a half and job done. I took it back to the alignment shop yesterday and asked him to do his best to set it 0.0 camber, 2.3 left caster, 2.5 right caster, 0.13 toe-in on each side.

He couldn't get it exactly, but did get Close Enough For Rock 'n' Roll. It is now at -0.1 camber both sides, 2.5 left caster, 2.3 right caster (yes, I know that's backwards, but it and the camber tweaked a tiny bit when tightened so that was as good as it gets), 0.14 left toe-in and 0.10 right toe-in.

You know what? She drives like a million bucks! Best she's been in the 11 years I've had her. Steering wheel is straight, does not pull (caster even on both sides would likely be as good) and I have 4 finger steering for the first time (thumbs & forefingers) when on straight or gently sweeping curvy roads. I bet she drives better now than the day she was bought new.

Now over to the brake forum for more fun.

Thank you all.

Cheers,
Glenn
 
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