Alignment options

sinus19

sinus19

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Hey guys.

first off.... The beast just hit 100k Miles :(:bawling:... Bought it with 72k miles though and rebuild the motor at 78k nothing but good memories and a few wins under its belt with me :D.
So anywho, I will be doing the 100k Maintenance essentials. (already has all new clutch and hydraulics, new motor, tires and new spider gears with outer wheel seals.) Next on the list is the front end. The steering is quite sloppy and loose. So im going to be doing front end. Bought New outer Tie Rod ends, Lower Ball joints, Upper Control Arms, ALL new bushings (power steering rack, sway bars front and back, leaf springs and control arms, and new leaf spring bump stops) from Tony. Also got a leveling block :rock:
With that said, I read that our Alignment Specs are different (more aggressive) then regular rams? has anyone gone with a different Alignment Spec for better handling? Also i will be on OEM shocks.
 
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I recently rebuilt my entire front end (over 150K at the time). It still handled fine, drove fine but I started to get a knock when I backed up and applied the brakes. Usually thats a ball joint. In my case it was not but rather the drivers side tie rod end. Hadn't seen those cause that noise before.

Anyways, yes, our SRT's do have a different alignment spec than similar Ram trucks. In the early days most alignment shops didn't know this and attempted to use standard 1500 Ram spec's...truck never drove quite right. I had thought is was the new tires I put on but had a long time road racing buddy direct me to an alignment guy who was "old school" and just used bubble gauges and test rides to set alignments.

Took it over to him and he must have made a 1/2 doz adjustments and test drives before handing me back the keys stating its much better. Sure enough it was MUCH better. I then headed over to another alignment shop who had lastest/greatest laser system and had him measure everything for future reference for me.

I later learned about the different factory spec. Found the spec in the service manual (go figure!) and then compared to what my guy had set it to by feel. Damn if he was basically spot on. Bottomline...follow the factory setting. Be sure the shop knows the settings prior to getting it up on the rack.
 
Chuck B said:
I recently rebuilt my entire front end (over 150K at the time). It still handled fine, drove fine but I started to get a knock when I backed up and applied the brakes. Usually thats a ball joint. In my case it was not but rather the drivers side tie rod end. Hadn't seen those cause that noise before.

Anyways, yes, our SRT's do have a different alignment spec than similar Ram trucks. In the early days most alignment shops didn't know this and attempted to use standard 1500 Ram spec's...truck never drove quite right. I had thought is was the new tires I put on but had a long time road racing buddy direct me to an alignment guy who was "old school" and just used bubble gauges and test rides to set alignments.

Took it over to him and he must have made a 1/2 doz adjustments and test drives before handing me back the keys stating its much better. Sure enough it was MUCH better. I then headed over to another alignment shop who had lastest/greatest laser system and had him measure everything for future reference for me.

I later learned about the different factory spec. Found the spec in the service manual (go figure!) and then compared to what my guy had set it to by feel. Damn if he was basically spot on. Bottomline...follow the factory setting. Be sure the shop knows the settings prior to getting it up on the rack.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I must agree on the pop. thats exactly what is happening with mine as well. When i back up and turn there is a pop. Rather then trying to figure out which ball joint, i bought all of the ball joints and tie rod ends ha.

I will make sure that they now its a Ram SRT10 and not a regular ram 1500.

I was just curious if anyone else had gone a different route for a more sportier handleing besides OEM specs.
 
seethrough said:
If you are lowered you might not have the adjustability in the top A-arm to get to factory specs.
Click to expand...

Front end is stock and will stay stock height. Im only droping the rear to level.
 
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sinus19 said:
I was just curious if anyone else had gone a different route for a more sportier handleing besides OEM specs.
Click to expand...

While I'm no expert in car/truck suspension/setup I am very good in the motorcycle arena. I'll respond the same way I would with a racer coming to me for setup.... What about the truck you don't like? What is it doing/not doing? What are you looking for? How will it be used? Do you care about tread life?

Example:
If you are looking for quicker turn in and with the weight of our truck you'll want to try adding a bit more negative camber. You want to keep that outside tire when weighted flat as possible. Negative...odd tire wear.

You might consider a bit more toe out as well. A bit of toe in aids in straight line stability but throw in some negative camber and a bit of toe out and see what it does. Negative...truck will wonder in a straight line.

We can talk about caster if you want.
 
Chuck B said:
While I'm no expert in car/truck suspension/setup I am very good in the motorcycle arena. I'll respond the same way I would with a racer coming to me for setup.... What about the truck you don't like? What is it doing/not doing? What are you looking for? How will it be used? Do you care about tread life?

Example:
If you are looking for quicker turn in and with the weight of our truck you'll want to try adding a bit more negative camber. You want to keep that outside tire when weighted flat as possible. Negative...odd tire wear.

You might consider a bit more toe out as well. A bit of toe in aids in straight line stability but throw in some negative camber and a bit of toe out and see what it does. Negative...truck will wonder in a straight line.

We can talk about caster if you want.
Click to expand...

I will soon retire the beast from all year round driving to summer only. So i am not all too concern about tread wear.
Now i also dont want to completely go crazy with the specs. I guess what im asking is how much Toe, Camber, and Caster is good enough for a little bit more sporty handling then OEM with out having to sacrifice ball joints and tire tread.
Would i would like to see is a snappier steering and a straighter line when driving on the highway.
 
Chuck B said:
I recently rebuilt my entire front end (over 150K at the time). It still handled fine, drove fine but I started to get a knock when I backed up and applied the brakes. Usually thats a ball joint. In my case it was not but rather the drivers side tie rod end. Hadn't seen those cause that noise before.

Anyways, yes, our SRT's do have a different alignment spec than similar Ram trucks. In the early days most alignment shops didn't know this and attempted to use standard 1500 Ram spec's...truck never drove quite right. I had thought is was the new tires I put on but had a long time road racing buddy direct me to an alignment guy who was "old school" and just used bubble gauges and test rides to set alignments.

Took it over to him and he must have made a 1/2 doz adjustments and test drives before handing me back the keys stating its much better. Sure enough it was MUCH better. I then headed over to another alignment shop who had lastest/greatest laser system and had him measure everything for future reference for me.

I later learned about the different factory spec. Found the spec in the service manual (go figure!) and then compared to what my guy had set it to by feel. Damn if he was basically spot on. Bottomline...follow the factory setting. Be sure the shop knows the settings prior to getting it up on the rack.
Click to expand...

Are you willing to share your final alignment numbers?

Cheers!
 
Even after going to an old school bubble alignment place the truck still jumps on bumps. 1 grand on new shocks doesn't sound fun but I guess I might have to bite the bullet. Have the bumpsteer on also . I set the washers up based on photo of another truck. Alignment guy wouldn't test fit washers to find the best combination so I'm stuck with a guess
 
NukeGM/Ford said:
Yes, 2/3
Click to expand...

oh ok, yea after market shocks sound like the best option in your case. I might do the same way later down the road. I live in Idaho, lots of country rough roads. I kinda prefer my stock ride height up in front ha
 
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