Need HELP w/ alignment!!!

I just sat up at the firestone place for 2 1/2 hours waiting for them to get my truck in for alignment since i just leveled with cognitos. Well after they finally got it in, they said they were going to have to charge me an additional $180 because they have to turn the cam bolts since they supposedly cant get to them because of the shocks! I haven't heard this form all the people on here that have had this done. Is it indeed something that has to be done? I've called the dealership to see how much they charge for alignment, but I wanted to know if it is required to do all this crap from just leveling and adding new shocks.


Thanks in advance!

my buddy worked for firestone...no experiance and just got out of jail...they hired him and he was doing tires,brakes and oil changes solo on his third day. He didn't even know why a car needed oil....enough said about firestone.

I have found from experience that the dealers and places like Goodyear and Firestone are NOT who you want tinkering with your front end.  I've learned (I'm old) that a good Bear Wheel Alignment shop or an independent shop without high volume is the best route to go.  My buddy used to run his hand over the tire tread and tell you within a few degrees whether it's out of camber or toe and what had to be done.  Sometimes when you raise it too much the camber can't be reconciled and a camber kit has to be installed.  A camber kit is nothing more than a graduated shim that slides in behind the yoke to reset the camber beyond factory specs.  Soooooo, if some Troll at firestone who doesn't know diddly about front ends hooks you up and his computer can't read "factory" specs you're out of luck.  Look for an old guy in an old alignment shop and you'll never have problems again.

Don't quote me on this, but if they were trying to make it match the factory
numbers, it isn't going to happen. To get the front end truly aligned, with the
level, I don't think you can match the factory specs.
 
If you go to the Truxxxx site and download their instruction sheet, there are
alignment specs for a H3 that has been lifted to the 24.25 {hub center to
fender lip} measurement. Those are the numbers they should be shooting for.
Shouldn't matter if your lift was accomplished via a t-bar crank or new keys,
those numbers should work.
 
Maybe someone with a Truxxxx lift can chime in and verify this....
 
Do you have any paperwork from the Flintsones to compare?
 
As for the shock issue....Are the boots on the bottom or top of the shocks?
 
Seems like I heard someone say they made a change...Wonder if that was it?
 

I paid $85 for an offroad shop to have it done after they installed my Cognitos and the alignment was flawless.  When I knocked the alignment off a few weeks later I took it to another, more convenient offroad shop and paid $100. Of course, they just drove it three shops down to an alignment shop. I probably could've done that and saved $15.

Basically, take it to a reputable shop that knows what they are doing.

alrock..do you happen to have the #'s from that alignment? My shop for the STI always gives me a printout, that might help out here???

I'm going to look for mine, they were done at the dealer when I first leveled it then again when I got new tires. Hang on, I'll go look for them.

The problem wasn't getting the numbers right, it was getting the alignment done at all. The said they were going to have to charge me an additional $130 to " flip the cam bolts so that they could get to them". They said because of the aftermarket shocks, the cam bolts could not be reached. The dust boot is on top, and it slides down. They said the shock is thicker than factory and thats why they cant get the wrench in. I looked at my factory shocks, and they are actually thicker at the top than the cognitos. I'm wondering if his is true. Has everyone with cognitos had to do this, or have you just taken it in for an alignment and they do it?

Here you go, from the dealer after the TB level:
 
CAMBER:  Left  -1.3    Right  -0.8
CASTER:              2.8             2.4
TOE:                    0.64           0.59
 
CROSS CAMBER:    -0.5
CROSS CASTER:       0.3
CROSS SAI                0.7
TOTAL TOE:              1.23

I will get the numbers off of the one from the new tires in the AM if you can wait, they are in my office.

Goodyear AND Firestone tried to tell me that they couldn't do an alignment for because they don't have the specs to even do an alignment on the H3, that's why I went to dealer the first time.

Hmmmm.........The boot is on top?
 
Here were the ones on my '06
 

Just for grins,....From the Truxx site.
 
Alignment Specifications:
 

Caster Left    1.5 

Caster Right     2.0

Camber Left     0

Camber Right     -1/4

Toe-in     -1/32

Need Camber Kit? No

 

I have no specs, but I figure you don't need those from me by now.

I took my 2008 into a 4 Wheel Parts and had them do the alignment after I did the lift and installed the Cognitos. It took a couple of hours for them to get it right and they didn't mention any access problems. Cost about $100. I'd run away from the Firestone joint. Sounds like they don't have the right tools or know-how.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rhill20

Here you go, from the dealer after the TB level:

CAMBER:  Left  -1.3    Right  -0.8
CASTER:              2.8             2.4
TOE:                    0.64           0.59
 
CROSS CAMBER:    -0.5
CROSS CASTER:       0.3
CROSS SAI                0.7
TOTAL TOE:              1.23

I will get the numbers off of the one from the new tires in the AM if you can wait, they are in my office.

Hi rhill20
I wouldn't be to happy with those specs if your driving on the right hand side of the road, as those specs would work here in Australia due to the camber on our roads, we need to run cross camber/caster to stop the vehicle pulling left. The specs from Truxx above are spot on with the cross caster the correct way. Do you find the vehicle drifts to the right?

Cheers
Paul

quote:

RHILL20:
No, actually it doesn't drift. Just found the specs from the alignment that was done when the new tires were put on

CAMBER: LEFT -0.1    RIGHT  -0.4
CASTER:          3.1               2.7
TOE:              -0.03              -0.04
SAI:              11.7               12.0
INCLUDED ANGLE   LEFT 11.5     RIGHT  11.7


CROSS CAMBER:   0.3
CROSS CASTER    0.4
CROSS SAI:        -0.4
TOTAL TOE:       -0.08

Hmmmm.........The boot is on top?

Here were the ones on my '06




_____________________________
Well i guess the design has changed, because the ones that i put on mine have the boot on the top where the single stud it that go's into shock mount. It seems to me that they could slide the boot down to access the cam bolts. Does anyone have the shocks with the boots on top, and if so have you had the truck aligned?

I checked the part #'s on my shocks, and they are the same as on Trail Duty's website, so the cognitos have in fact been redesigned. The boots are on top of the shocks now instead of the bottoms as shown in pictures on website. I'm heading to dealer tomorrow a.m. to get alignment, so i hope this redesign doesn't indeed pose a problem with the access to cam bolts!

my local  4x4 parts center quoted me 1 hour labor and $175 for the alignment if wanted the leveling kit.  but here in bay area, seems everything costs more, they charge $120 hour for labor !!!

I posted the second set of numbers on page one if you are interested, just FYI

I did a front-end alignment after I adjusted the torsion bars, installed Bilstein/Cognito shocks (with the boots up) and installed larger tires. I stopped by the Goodyear store and they did not impress me at all, besides they wanted $100 to do the job. So I went to the same place that always aligned my pickups and they did the alignment without any problems for $86.95. They said the truck was hardly off at all, even after the torsion bar adjustment and it drives as straight as an arrow.

Thanks for info alphadogg. Ill keep my fingers crossed that everything go's smoothly at dealership. If you got it done, then obviously it can be done, and the guy was full of s#*@ at Firestone.

I took mine to my local dealership today to have my 6-disc radio unlocked and got the front end alignment.  I was able to talk to the tech doing the alignment and told him that since the front had been lifted 2" with the torsion bars and I had put on longer shocks that it "might" be a bit out of spec. He just grinned. All in all, I spent almost 3 hours at the dealership today but got the radio unlocked ($45) and the alignment ($60) plus a car wash. No complaints here.

Did they just go in throught the OBDII port to unlock it?

Got everything aligned today. no probs at all at the dealership. I guess the guy @ Firestone was in fact an idiot.

Gunner,
 
I'm not sure how they unlocked it, but I don't think they pulled the radio back out of the dash. So my guess is they hooked a laptop up to the port. The service person/valet told me that it took them "a bit" to figure it out. Guess they don't have that many people come in swapping radios. Atleast they figured it out within a hours worth of labor. When I first called about doing this a month ago, they wanted $90 to reprogram and for me to leave it all day. When in doubt, call back a week or so later and hope you get someone else.