Look how they massacred my boy...Now what to do about it?

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jjester6000

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Looking for input from you fine folks if you're willing to make it through this block of background info:

Front end on my 98' k1500 burb felt odd a couple weeks after I had an alignment done by one of the local chains. It seemed loose in a straight line and somewhat unpredictable around corners requiring steering corrections to keep a smooth arc.

Pulled the tires to have a look and noticed marks on the UCA mounts that appeared as if the bolts and eccentric washers had been shifting around. Got a wrench on one and with scary little effort the nut backed off....try another...same thing. Proceed to pull all bolts, washers and nuts off and see this:
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All the inner adjustment slots (closest to the shock mounts) appear to be wallowed out vertically while the outer ones (front and rear most) appeared fine. My first thought was the loose bolts had worn into the slots but the bolts had no signs of damage and the outboard slots were fine. Looking closer I see that these appear to have been intentionally cut into with either a burr, file, or grinding stone as there are clear divots and grind marks. I also see that knock out tabs are not fully removed on the deformed slots. They are partially ground back but not to the half shear witness mark.

This confuses the heck out of me as when I brought the truck in for the alignment, I had just replaced the upper UCAs and tires and did not see any of the damage/grind marks that I do now.
After they got it on the rack they let me know that they were not able to make adjustments without removing the tabs which I expected and said was fine (I had reinstalled the UCAs with the adjustable hardware). They had it for a few hours before I got a call back saying they were done but couldn't get both caster and camber within spec. I came in, talked with the tech and looked at the post alignment results. Best they could do was +0.6 camber on both sides, and +1 deg caster on the left, and +1.6 deg on the right. Claimed it was on par for this gen of truck and and could be something having to do with the new UCAs. Left it at 'that's just as good as it gets' and should be fine to go down the road. I wasn't happy but was in a time crunch to get on the road so had to settle for it. That was a mistake.

I haven't called the shop back yet but expect to get the run around so am leaving that to the back burner for tonight. I will be letting them know though, as this kind of hacking + not torquing down the bolts is a major safety issue.
Question now is what to do about getting these back into shape?

I am thinking about cleaning them up, grinding down to clean base metal, building the material back with weld (have a TIG machine available) and grinding/filing it back to the proper slot dims.
Other thought was to punch the right size slots into scab plates to weld on outside the damaged holes but I don't think the eccentric washers would sit up against the sheet metal flange to properly locate and brace things. Nor would I get expect to get a proper pinch on the UCA bushings, so I guess that idea is out :-/.

Any other ideas to patch up this job? All input welcome.
The up/down of the knock outs shouldn't affect anything.
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I had to torch mine out, and they're ugly, but the truck is perfectly aligned, and it drives perfectly since the bolts don't move around when tight.
 

RevRun

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The up/down of the knock outs shouldn't affect anything.
You must be registered for see images attach

I had to torch mine out, and they're ugly, but the truck is perfectly aligned, and it drives perfectly since the bolts don't move around when tight.
I agree but the alignment shops here won't jostle the alignment bolts enough to get them unstuck if the flats catch in the vertical gouges. They just consider that the limit of the adjustment. They say they don't do 'hardware replacement' which means they don't even bother backing the nut far enough off the bolt to see what's going on. It seems crazy to me that this job always requires 'Sr. techs' as others have never had to adjust more than toe angle.

Done with the shops here and trying to find a reasonably straightforward way to align things myself. It's more fun this way anyways . Suggestions welcome!

In other news she's been on the road as my daily for the last couple months with minimal issues. New brake booster and master has her stopping well again. Just need to psych myself up for tackling the AC...leaks everywhere.
 
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