ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Technical Discussion - Performance / Modify => Topic started by: dellstoptracker on May 11, 2010, 08:16:50 PM
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So I posted earlier on my 90 geo tracker about having highway issues driving. I can barely keep on road above 55 with ruts. I have a 4.5 inch rocky road outfitter ome lift. I replaced tie rod ends and wheel bearings since both were in bad shape but that didnt help. Im aligned and it still is not really freeway worthy. Everyone mentions this widening mod but im not really ready to do any big projects on a dd for a while. I talked to a couple guys with 3 inch lifts on there trackers and they say they drive fine. Any other ideas I can look at? Can the ome strut mounting be changed to help castor angles? If anyone has pictures or ideas I would appreciate it!
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Whenever you lift any vehicle, the suspension geometry is going to change, higher the lift, more radical the change. Sometimes the suspension can be adjusted to compensate, but in the case of our Trackicks, only the toe and camber are adjustable. The castor is fixed and can only be changed by doing something like the widening you mentioned. Or
I think the Calmini and other " hard " lifts, the ones that actually give you re-engineered suspension components like control arms, actually take into account the change in castor necessary to compensate for a higher center of gravity, larger tires, and a fairly unstable short wheelbase, and add castor. Castor is what gives more stability at speed. That and wheelbase. You can get a bit more of both which will add to your highway stability by either buying the " hard " suspension kit, or doing the widening mods.
Or, you can try another alignment shop that knows about modified suspensions. I had to ask around, before I found an old hot rodder who can apperently align just about anything, and he really got mine to handle nice. But it sure ain't no longwheelbase pickup, especially in the wind.
Did they ( alignment shop ) Check your steering box and linkage for the correct amount of play?
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No not that I remember it was firestone which is useless for special alignment favors. I will probably just ditch the one inch spacers and see if it helps a bit. Its to freaking bad you cant buy the calmini arms by themselves. Why wouldnt they sell stuff seperately? Every jeep company I have ever dealt with has no problem doing that.
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im still kinda new to this camber thing since its not really a issue with sold axle rigs. I dont believe I have a camber kit from what I have seen online to whats on my rig but the alignment shop never seemed to mention it to me. Could this be another factor causing my issues possibly?
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Camber can be adjusted to a limited extent through the use of camber adjuster bolts.
Here are a few links that I found at Ack's FAQ (see link in signature, below) using the search string camber:
http://www.acksfaq.com/camberbolts.htm (http://www.acksfaq.com/camberbolts.htm)
http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/content/topic,45319.0.html (http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/content/topic,45319.0.html)
and my favorite
http://www.iapdirect.com/pictures/EZCam1.wmv (http://www.iapdirect.com/pictures/EZCam1.wmv)
I hope that this helps!
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You really need to find another alignment shop familar with lifted vehicles. OF Course it needs a camber adjustment, that will make it handle like crap, and camber affects toe, which affects steering. FInd another shop, with experience.
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X2 on what bentparts sez!
If that sounds like a contradiction to my post, consider this:
Would you like to take your truck to a garage knowing something about what the problem is and be able to tell if the mechanic is a BS artist looking for someone to make his Bass boat payment?
or
Would you be willling to go ahead and make that Bass Boat payment and still end up with a crappy-driving truck?
In defence of alignment shops: Vehicles with modified suspensions can cause a financial liability on the part of the shop if the suspension fails and the owner sues. Because of this, many shops wil not work on vehicles that have modified, nonstandard suspensions even though there are tools, components and techniques available. The investment in training and overhead along with the liability costs is greater than the amount of business this kind of service work would generate. If you do look for another place to work on your truck, look for one that has offroading or modified suspension experience/capabilities.
As they say at Faber College: "Knowledge is Good".
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The OME lift is a 1.5" lift and the changes in camber are corrected for in the strut mounting hole positioning. RR then add 1" of lift with spacers which will then push the camber out again. The camber is not designed to be adjustable so many alignment shops will leave it as is, you do need to fit the camber correction bolts.
What tyres and tyre pressures are you running? wide tyres can cause all sorts of problems on Track/Kicks, particularly if the tyres are overinflated.
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Rhinoman is correct, my 11.50's really cause my rig to " self steer " occasionally. Worth it though for the traction in the deep sand.
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I had to ask around, before I found an old hot rodder who can apperently align just about anything, and he really got mine to handle nice. But it sure ain't no longwheelbase pickup, especially in the wind.
Did they ( alignment shop ) Check your steering box and linkage for the correct amount of play?
You live in south/central Jersey don't you? My buddie told me about an older hot rodder person that aligned his newer lowered Jetta for him after a few failed alignment shops (had to stack boards to get it onto the rack) and now it handles great!
Next time I'm at his place I should get my tracker aligned. I'm getting wear on the inside of my front tires.
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im running yokohama geolander at 30x 11.50 tires right now at at like 33-35 psi. What you would ordinarly put in a new tire. I will lower it a bit just to what happens and order up some camber bolts shortly. Maybe until then I will just ditch the spacers since I dont really need them for this tire size.
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33 to 35 lbs!|removethispart|@?!?!? No wonder it handles like crap! Try dropping your tire pressures to around 23/25 front and 19/ 21 rear. Your way too high IMO. Probably still need an alignment though.
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i got the camber bolts for specialty products for 15 bucks thru work. i will ge tit realigned with those this weekend and see what happens.
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well firestone pretty much told me f off with the camber bolts. I said I would install them they would just have to set up my camber properly and they said they wouldnt touch it unless they unstalled it with a two hour shop rate. HAHA. Does anyone know about a local nw guy here running a company called tnt diversified. Not sure if he does alignments but seems fairly knowledgeable on sidekicks.
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If your in the NW just take it into Les Schwab. They will install them for you and align it no problem, even give you a warranty.
Not sure what the warranty on a front end alignment covers...
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Air Down Yet?
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sure did! Still wanders in the freeway ruts but not nearly as bad and I can recover so I dont look like a drunk driver. It rides much better as well. I was wondering why ome stuff rode so bad but I take it back now.
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Yeah, it's a common misconception that tires need to be aired up to the sidewall reccomendation, Especially when we go oversized. The stock recommended pressure on Trackicks is only 23 lbs, and with big stiff truck tires you can often go lower than that.
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Airing the tires up to sidewall gets really annoying when you switch to the light truck tires to get the stronger sidewalls. :)
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drives real good now after camber adjustment. Wanders a little but not enough to really be bothersome. 65 mph is okay on the freeway now!
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great...we all got the same issues and i am glad yours is semi solved. Thumbs up to this forum for being a means for all of us to connect on issues that happen to the vehicles we love!