Suburban alignment question

[wildncrazyguy]

Have a newly acquired 1998 Suburban K1500. Had a free alignment check done at AAA using a coupon. Asked tech was everything tight, look good, etc. He said yes. Everything is in spec. Got new tires on the back because they needed it, front are very little wear newish Michelins. Same tires I run on my 1998 K1500 truck. Matched the two in the back to make a "set". I realize they will never really be a set, but I tried. Had a coupon for the local dealership for 69.99 4 wheel alignment. Long story short it was not done as "I have over 2000.00 dollars in front end work needed." "The alignment won't hold even if they do it." They didn't even run the alignment before sheet to see if it was even close. Aholes.

I'm not surprised much that a 17+ year old vehicle may have some wear on what looks to be original suspension parts to me. I wiggled the tires and rods and so forth, but I really didn't see much issue, plus the AAA guy didn't indicate anything amiss. (Surely they would have wanted to make some front end work money) So I took it in to get the alignment. From what I can tell it's setup with more camber (lean) and the original tires that came off the rear showed some outer tire wear. (Assume they had been on the front and were delegated to the rear with the addition of the newish front tires) The tech at the tire place that looked at the newish Michelins on the front said they look great with a little (very little) alignment wear on the outer edges. Suburban drives fine with no pulling that I can tell.

All that said, what I wanted the dam dealership to do is verify the alignment was in specs and to adjust the camber if possible to the minimum spec for better outside shoulder tire wear. Nope. They want to do some front end work for me. I'll reevaluate the front suspension a bit and do some of it myself. But in the meantime...

Is there an easy way for me to bump the camber down a bit? AAA printout indicates LF .6 camber and RF .8 camber, LF 3.3 Caster and RF 3.8 Caster, .12 toe LF and RF for .24 total. This is all fairly good from what I can find, but I'd like to get to the .5 camber that I think this model is best at from what I understand. Can I do this myself assuming the knockouts are done for this truck? I know they were done for my K1500 truck, but who knows what this vehicle has had done in it's life. When I lift the front on a jack I can visually see the camber lean and it looks excessive to me, but what do I know?

If it makes sense, I'd like to turn a couple of wrenches to see if I can get it close and looking for any advice or tricks to do so. I'm just interested in refining he camber some. I think the Suburban is pretty well aligned so I don't want to screw with anything else really. I'm just looking to take some lean off the shoulders of the tires. OR, do I just try and pay another shop to do the deed? (90.00 or so I've found !#%$&&!) My plan was to see if I could tip the RF back a bit and find me another free alignment check somewhere to see if I screwed it bad or not. I'm pretty good at seeing parallel and vertical straightness and so forth, so I could tell if I went way out, plus I'd probably have a level on them anyway to see start and finish points. Thanks.

 

[mustangGT90210]

As a tech, I hate seeing 2 different shops tell 2 different stories about the same alignment/suspension parts. First things first, your camber is not terrible, and with rotations at every oil change will most likely not cause any real wear to those tires. I believe the manufacturer specs are -.5 to +.5 degrees for camber. Caster I don't remember, and your toe is about dead on what GM says these trucks should be at. I just did an alignment on mine the other day, otherwise I may sound rusty lol

Anyways here, I do not advise messing with that alignment on your own. The caster and camber adjustments are located in the bolts holding the upper control arms to the frame. I forget which does what (mine are rusted and non-adjustable now) but basically, one of those eccentric bolts will move caster and camber in the same direction, and the other eccentric will cause caster/camber to move away from each other. That being said, camber adjustments also change your toe measurement. Toe is most often what causes a vehicle to experience a pull, as well as being the absolute fastest way to wear out a tire.

Basically here, pony up the cash and have a shop do an alignment.

BUT! More important than that, get a floor jack, lift up the front of the truck so both wheels are off the ground and then set jack stands under the frame, so the suspension is at full droop. (picture a clock here) Grab at 9 and 3 on the tire and give it a slight shake. If it has any play, you should be able to see what is moving. Then grab it at 12 and 6 and repeat. Side to side play tests the tie rods, idler arm and pitman arm. Your idler/pitman are probably bad lol nature of these trucks. Up and down will test wheel bearings and ball joints.

Hopefully this helps you figure more out!

 

[wildncrazyguy]

Mustang GT... Thanks. I did the front wheel hub bearings last weekend before the new tires. They looked original, plus I had a slight shaking feeling between 65 and 75 with 70 being the worst. I had the same thing recently on my truck and wheel hub bearings seemed to fix it, so took a chance. While not completely gone, seems much better now. Might just be the new tires since they were put on between the hub bearings install and the 70 mph test.

I did have it back on stands today and installed all new shocks. I was getting a beating driving back and forth to work. Roads around here are bad, but I think it has helped a lot. While up in the air I went to both sides and wiggled 9-3. There is some play in the pitman of course, but not real bad. I could never really get a good look at the idler, (any which way I looked I was looking into the sun) but both tie rods seemed pretty good to me. Nothing on the ball joints I could tell, but I won't say there is none yet.

Suburban tracks straight as an arrow, no steering wheel play and I'm not fighting to keep it between the lines. I might just get it to a tire shop down the road from me and see how bad they thing the front end is. If they think it's too much play to set camber to .5 then I'll leave it be for now until I can afford and install the front end stuff. I'm thinking pitman and probably idler could tighten it up quite a bit. We'll see. Then as I see how things go, maybe get into some ball joints.

I do have a question regarding bushings. I've heard they affect the ride quality. Other then upper and lower control arm bushings, what else should I examine? I got a good look at both uppers and lowers today. They look like rubber to me, not sure how to check them for play. There was this other rubber thing beside the shock, not sure what it was and what it does. A big block of rubber pointed down looked like. Any bushings in the rear to speak of? Just leaf springs back there, right? Other than shocks which are all new bilsteins, what else affects the ride quality. While much better after the shock install, there is still some roughness. Thanks.

 

[Keepinitoldskool]

I do have a question regarding bushings. I've heard they affect the ride quality. Other then upper and lower control arm bushings, what else should I examine? I got a good look at both uppers and lowers today. They look like rubber to me, not sure how to check them for play. There was this other rubber thing beside the shock, not sure what it was and what it does. A big block of rubber pointed down looked like. Any bushings in the rear to speak of? Just leaf springs back there, right? Other than shocks which are all new bilsteins, what else affects the ride quality. While much better after the shock install, there is still some roughness. Thanks.

If the bushings are bad it will be visible. They will start to show cracking and will actually start falling out, but one way to check is with it in the air use a long pry bar and wiggle that control arm up and down and just watch to see if the bushing moves with everything else as one or if it has some play in it. That rubber peice pointed downwards is your bump stop. As far as the ride quality it probably wont get much better.

 

[hookedup50]

This is a good short thread. I answered all of the issue I had and sped up the front end repairs of my truck. The shop that failed my front end wanted to replace the ball joints. and I told them they were not bad, just the tie rod ends at minimum by watching what moved when moving tires. Thanks

 

[wildncrazyguy]

So I took it to an alignment shop and got one of those 1 year deals where I can take it back anytime to realign. Plan to take advantage of that at least a couple of times within the year. It wasn't that much out and drives straight as an arrow right now. Pleased so far. We'll see how the tires wear over next few months.

As I was researching my crappy ride, I found that my Suburban was riding on the drivers front bump stop. The passenger side was very close, but not quite touching. I cranked my torsion bars about a turn and it lifted the bump stops off the lower control arms. Took it for a short ride and from what I can tell, much smoother. My concern is I've also read the bump stops are supposed to be riding on the LCA's and provide a progressive cushion. Here's my dilemma:

My 1998 K1500 Z71 have similar front bump stops, but more rounded than pointy as the Suburban's, maybe a 1/2 inch shorter, but I haven't measured them for sure. They ride probably a good inch to 1.5 or so from the LCA's. Truck drives, well like a truck, but since I put new shocks on, am very happy, and no harsh ride. Suburban on the other hand is a smooth ride since the shocks, until I hit a pothole or the many imperfections found in our roads here, then it feels like running over rumble strips. I think with my short test drive the other night it has greatly improved from lifting off the bump stops like the truck sits which drives very good. I have a few roads that I can go to and see for sure. I'm just curious how the bump stops are supposed to be on the Suburban as it came from the factory if anyone knows. Resting on the LCA's or about how far off they should sit?