What did the alignment guy do??

[Twiggly2]

I recently upgraded my SR5 suspension to the OW 2.0 Kit with light racing UCA's and threw on some 285/70/17 Duratracs on stock rims. When I finished putting all the new suspension on I put the wheels with the bigger tires back on and it all fit nicely. Took it for a drive and I found no evidence of tire rubbing, didn't hear any rubbing and couldn't see any rubbing. So after a week I took it to the closest alignment shop (50 miles away) and had the "front end specialist" do his thing. When I picked it back up he told me the front end was pretty far out of whack but he got it all fixed up. This weekend I took it on an 800 mile road trip and I have serious front driver side tire rubbing when backing up and cranking the wheel right, and also a loud squeaking in the front end. So I crawled under and found that the swaybar on the front drivers side is now rubbing on the front coilover. When I bolted the swaybar back on after I put the suspension on, it wasn't even close to the Coilovers. Any ideas what this alignment guy may have done to get the swaybar to rub on the springs? Anyone know if that is going to cause significant damage to the spring?


On the bright side it steers nicely again.

 

[harper7]

I recently upgraded my SR5 suspension to the OW 2.0 Kit with light racing UCA's and threw on some 285/70/17 Duratracs on stock rims. When I finished putting all the new suspension on I put the wheels with the bigger tires back on and it all fit nicely. Took it for a drive and I found no evidence of tire rubbing, didn't hear any rubbing and couldn't see any rubbing. So after a week I took it to the closest alignment shop (50 miles away) and had the "front end specialist" do his thing. When I picked it back up he told me the front end was pretty far out of whack but he got it all fixed up. This weekend I took it on an 800 mile road trip and I have serious front driver side tire rubbing when backing up and cranking the wheel right, and also a loud squeaking in the front end. So I crawled under and found that the swaybar on the front drivers side is now rubbing on the front coilover. When I bolted the swaybar back on after I put the suspension on, it wasn't even close to the Coilovers. Any ideas what this alignment guy may have done to get the swaybar to rub on the springs? Anyone know if that is going to cause significant damage to the spring?


On the bright side it steers nicely again.

Do you have a swaybar relocation kit on? Sounds like you'll need one.It relocates the bar about a half inch or so forward.
Where all is the serious rubbing at as it should leave tell tale marks?
What did they originally set the LR UCA's to as they have 3 settings. Should be 0 to start.
What is your specs set to on your alignment ,mainly caster(they should have given you a printout)
Metal to metal contact with spring to sway bar is never a good thing .

 

[Overland Warehouse]

I recently upgraded my SR5 suspension to the OW 2.0 Kit with light racing UCA's and threw on some 285/70/17 Duratracs on stock rims. When I finished putting all the new suspension on I put the wheels with the bigger tires back on and it all fit nicely. Took it for a drive and I found no evidence of tire rubbing, didn't hear any rubbing and couldn't see any rubbing. So after a week I took it to the closest alignment shop (50 miles away) and had the "front end specialist" do his thing. When I picked it back up he told me the front end was pretty far out of whack but he got it all fixed up. This weekend I took it on an 800 mile road trip and I have serious front driver side tire rubbing when backing up and cranking the wheel right, and also a loud squeaking in the front end. So I crawled under and found that the swaybar on the front drivers side is now rubbing on the front coilover. When I bolted the swaybar back on after I put the suspension on, it wasn't even close to the Coilovers. Any ideas what this alignment guy may have done to get the swaybar to rub on the springs? Anyone know if that is going to cause significant damage to the spring?


On the bright side it steers nicely again.

Normally to get more caster they move the lower arm forward when doing an alignment. However they should not have to move it that much forward with the LR UCAs. As said above check where the LR UCAs was set at first. The alignment guy can likely back off on moving the arms forward which will clear the swaybar and also minimize rubbing.

 

[Twiggly2]

I'm fairly certain I got the LR UCA's set at 0 when I put them on. I took the instructions on how to adjust them to the alignment guy but he told me he didn't have to mess with the UCA's. No print out of the specs either, just handed me the bill and then went back into the shop.

 

[Overland Warehouse]

On the LR arms you can set them to 0, which provides more caster. However the arms also push the top of the spindle more outward, which affects the camber.

I would suggest to keep the caster in the 0 position, but move the balljoint assembly in by a 1/4" at the top. Thsi will require the alignment guy to more the bottom in by 1/4" as well for the camber to be correct. This should create the clearance needed for the swaybar and still provide similar alignment settings.