Rear tires/axle misaligned -- a congenital defect or poor bodywork?

[ZEUS]

Grant, keep in mind, after you lift your VX your axle will shift a little more to the right due to what I stated before. It might be negligible. You might want to double check the clearance between your drivers side tire and the frame and what not. I might even suggest flexing your VX out to see how close the tires come to rubbing when one side is compressed into the wheel well. A simple fix might be to cut the panhard bar in two and sleeve it with a larger diameter tube to lengthen it. <shrug> I would suggest replacing it though, because maybe the tracking issues you had before weren't just from your tires, but were worsened by the axle being slightly askew. Lifting it might also worsen your tracking problem and increase the risk of an accident. This is all just speculation of course but I think it is something to think about. Keep us posted!

[CSTYLES]

I just did my lift with the help of a couple friends and noticed the same thing, the rear axle has shifted about 2 inches to the right. I've read posts on the Calmini track bar extension and was wondering if that would fix the problem.

OR could I just have someone fab-up an adjustable track bars for me? The $340 for stock one ought to buy a heavy duty custom track bar. Stinkbug is selling the custom lower links for about that.

I took the VX to get an alignment after the lift and they "fixed" my front end alignment by cranking the torsion bars back down. This was after I explained that the reason I needed an alignment was that the truck is now lifted and sitting on bigger tires. I don't want to say where I took it, I'm a little embarrassed (Merchant's).

[MrCrowley]

CSTYLES, thats just funny. To fix your alignment, they lowered your truck?

[CSTYLES]

It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

I asked them if they could work on lifted vehicles, they said no problem. The guy was too busy looking at a computer monitor to realize that he was completely frustrating my purpose. Needless to say I didn't pay for a thing, just had him put it back and drove home. Kind of made marking the bolt and counting out each turn on the t-bars pointless. I now have no frame of reference. I read that the height should be 37.5" from the ground to the highest point on the cladding for each wheel well. I am between 37" and 38" all around (wasn't a level surface where I measured last night). I guess I should have the suspension all figured out before I take it to a shop that actually knows how to align the front end...

[tom4bren]

CSTYLES,

If your ever down around Fredericksburg, there is a great front end shop just down the road from me. They wouldn't touch the CV repair job for me but aligned the front end after & did a great job. They also did a great job on my TLC after a 'friend' accidentally took it 4 wheeling through a drainage ditch & FUBAR'd the alignment. Let me know if you're interested in contacting them.

[CSTYLES]

Thanks Tom, I got the info. I always forget to check the PM folder

My concern is that the truck starts to wobble at 30mph, so I would not want to drive at highway speeds. The tire shop did adjust the tow for me, but for the camber and caster there are shims involved right?

My question to anyone who has done an alignment on their lifted truck, what parts do I need? I don't want any surprises when I do get it to the shop, I would like to reduce my overall wait time.

For the rear axle, I'm looking for an adjustable track bar or a drop bracket (besides the Calmini one) to correct the "shift." I imagine it will have to be a custom job.

[tom4bren]

Sorry to resurrect a long dead thread but ...

Our Proton has the Calmini lift on the rear & the axle is centered. I was considering having a freind fab up the panhard rod bracket that is on mine & isn't on CSTYLES. If it fixes his alignment problem, I'll see how much he would charge to make more. Thoughts?

BTW - indications are that Calmini does not sell the brackets seperately - only the entire lift kit.

Tom