Alignment issue

[Seanthemechanic]

So I’m having an issue with my truck here and it’s driving me insane. I have the normal Chevy lean to the left but my right front wheel sits farther out than the left. I took the truck to get an alignment and the guy told me his machine said to measure the frame. My truck has never been in an accident. He sets the camber to spec and the toe and the steering wheel is off to the left and the right front tire is sticking out and rubbing my fender. If I negative camber that wheel doesn’t rub. My bed is also a little crooked. It’s lined up perfectly with the cab on the passenger side and it’s got a gap on the drivers side and sticks out from the cab a little bit. Truck is dropped 5/7 with Belltech spindles up front and springs. Rear is notched and flipped with a leaf taken out of each and I installed helpers a while back. This is driving me nuts. What’s causing that tire on the right front to be sticking out so far?


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[Supercharged111]

Have you owned the truck since day 1? Could very well be a bent frame. Do you have the little pieces knocked out of the frame to give you the full range of adjustment to camber and caster?

 

[skylark]

Is the body shifted on the frame?

 

[kennythewelder]

If your steering wheel is not centered, then the tech did not set the toe correctly. Also if the tires are sitting crocked ( leaning in or out) then the camber is not set correctly ether. I fought with my 97 for a long time because the places I was going was full of idiots. I even went to 4 different shops, and still idiots. I finallt found a shop with a tech who has been doing front end work for over 35 years. He puts mt truck on the rack, and finds bad upper control arm bushings. I said no, there no way. I had 4 other shops check the truck. He said come here and look. He grabbed a pry bar, and sure enough, I could see the play in the bushings as He moved the tire. I shook my head, and said, why in the hell could =n't the other 4 shops I went to find this? He said IDK, but thats is why your eating up tires. Point is, you need to find a shop with a tech that knows these trucks, and is familiar with working on trucks with a drop.

 

[Seanthemechanic]

I at first thought maybe the cab shifted on the frame but I’m starting to believe that this guy has no idea how to align a car and especially a lowered truck. He probably does a set the toe and let it go kind of scenario. I’m going to also guess that the regular lean is causing the right front tire to look too far out. I’m going to find a good alignment guy that knows these lowered trucks. See if I can find one


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[Supercharged111]

When the top of the tire sticks out past the fender, it's usually an indication of positive camber. Contrary to its name, positive camber is bad. You want a smidge of negative camber. I had to knock out the little inserts to get any sort of negative camber from my truck.

 

[Hipster]

My bed is also a little crooked. It’s lined up perfectly with the cab on the passenger side and it’s got a gap on the drivers side and sticks out from the cab a little bit. Truck is dropped 5/7 with Belltech spindles up front and springs. Rear is notched and flipped with a leaf taken out of each and I installed helpers a while back. This is driving me nuts. What’s causing that tire on the right front to be sticking out so far?


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There a bit of room to slide the cab and bed around but not a tremendous amount for things to be all jacked up out of kilter.

It doesn't take much to waffle one of these frames up in a wreck. With the panel issues I'd be inclined to believe the last alignment guy.

For the frame you can take length and x measurements with a tape measure and a helper, but height measurements are not accurate unless done on a level surface and unless you have frame specs you can only tell if both sides are the same and not if they are actually where they need to be. It will give you an idea.

You have any pictures you can post. The beside/door gaps and that show the bed twisted or up in the air. It would give a little indication of what's going on. Hood to fender, fender to door gaps straight? If the frame is bent no amounts of alignments will get it right.
Each one of these shops should have give you a printout with the before and after specs. You have the numbers? Caster, camber, toe, sai, setback?

 

[Hipster]

Measure the frame length and x. I usually x measure starting under the cab then move to each end. If it's square then you can measure from the lower control arm ball joint zerk to a frame hole that the same on both sides. This will give an idea on if the control arm or mount is bent. The foundation is straight then move up. The uppers move so that measurement is the caster/camber measurements on your alignment sheet. Basically your looking for the same number for each side on comparative measurements.

 

[Seanthemechanic]

Here’s some pictures. I had a guy align the truck a while back and he did a great job and the truck was perfect. I don’t know where he went but I found a guy that’s really good that comes recommended by a buddy of mine that has a 5/7 drop truck like mine so I’ll be going to him and see what the deal is.

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[Hipster]

If it was good at one point should be able to get it back. Things do look moved around a bit.

Make sure to get the spec sheet