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4-wheel alignment on a Gen II after 32" tires and 3&quo

7K views 25 replies 9 participants last post by  Rodeo814 
#1 ·
Hey everyone, I'm looking at picking up a '99 Rodeo, currently sporting 30/9.5/R15's on stock wheels, and it needs 3 new tires. So I'm thinking about throwing on some 3"-lift Old Man EMU coils and cranking up the front torsion bars to get 3" out of the front. I'll want to mount some new 32" tires on some Rockcrawler wheels, and I want to know what needs to be done to prepare the truck for a 4-wheel alignment after all of this.

Is there anything that needs to be done to the front steering/suspension, or anything that needs to be done to the rear suspension in order to dial in a good alignment with this setup?

I do plan on putting Superwinch manual hubs on to save the CV joints, and know that I need brake like extensions for the rear, but is there anything else that I need to do??

I tried searching keywords "alingment" and "lift alignment" in this forum but can't find any relative posts regarding this in the plethora of irrelevant search results I get haha.

Thanks in advance!
 
#2 ·
HD tie rods are good when adding bigger rubber (more tire to resist you means more steering system stress), and a balljoint flip +1/4" spacers, add 1.5" diff drop brackets and you're set for the deepest IFS lift we can get.

~psguardian

EDIT: didn't mean to qoute
 
#3 ·
Hey thanks for the reply! HD tie rods will be no problem to get then, what is a ball-joint flip though? And what are these 1/4" spacers that you speak of, where do they go, and what do they do??

What about these differential drop brackets? What are those?
 
#4 ·
First, there are no HD tie rods for '98+ rodeos. We have rack & pinion steering. Much different set up.

Second, you will need to trim the fenders to fit 32's and aftermarket wheels even with 3" lift. 2nd gen rodeos have the smallest wheel openings. Do a search on here for "fender trim" with my user name and you will see pics of how much trimming is needed.

Third, you shouldnt have to do anything special for an alignment after lifting and putting 32's on. I've done 3 2nd gen rodeo lifts and none of ours needed a ball joint flip or spacers. Just take it to a shop that specializes in alignments, even better if they do a lot of lifted 4wds.

These are the 3 I've done lifts on without anything special for alignment..


 
#5 ·
Thanks a bunch for your reply Gizmo. Yeah I found the thread where you posted some pics of your fender trimming. So is it just the rear portion of the front fenders that need the trimming? Or doe the front portion of the rear fenders generally need trimming too?

Good to know that nothing else needs to be modified for a proper alignment. I'm kind of surprised that the camber can be set correctly without even drilling out welds on the strut towers or anything. That's great to know!
 
#7 ·
Okay that should be easy enough. Yeah I do plan on running BFG A/T's.... what is "KOS" though? Thanks again!
 
#8 ·
KO is just the designation of the a/t tire most ppl buy for offroad. BFG has a few different a/t tires.

Long Trail T/A



Rugged Trail T/A



All Terrain T/A KO (hard to see but it says KO after the T/A)



The tread on the KO's is really wide so the rears will rub. I used a hammer to pound the edge around the rear wheel wells which helped some. Ended up getting some rear bump stop blocks to lower the bump stops to keep them from stuffing all the way and rubbing.



Full stuff...

 
#10 ·
Ahhh gotcha. Yeah I definitely will be going for the KO series, which is what's already on the truck.... just not tall enough nor wide enough :)

You seem to know your way around these trucks a little, haha, any idea what brand bumper guard this is, or where to get it? I've tried searching around for it for a few days and can't find anyone selling it.



jwood1016 said:
dont forget to get yourself a set of manual hubs 8) or your cv's will be gone in a week
Oh yeah, I've already read about that and it's definitely on my shopping list ;)
 
#12 ·
I PM'ed Cronk this morning but I was just a little too late :(

Any idea where else to find one? Thanks!
 
#14 ·
You dont have to but it will certainly help. It helps even on non lifted gen 1.5 and 2nd gen rodeos. With the shift on the fly system they used drive flanges on the front instead of auto or manual hubs. The flanges act like hubs that are always locked in 4wd. So the cv shafts are always turning, even when in 2wd. Puting manual hubs on saves unneeded wear on them. When lifted the cv is at a steeper angle so they wear even more.

I can tell when my hubs are locked in. Mileage drops a little bit and the front end pushes a lot more in sharp turns.

Oh yeah, this only applies up to around mid '02. They completly changed the design in later '02-04 and those you arent able to put manual hubs on.
 
#16 ·
#17 ·
First, there are no HD tie rods for '98+ rodeos. We have rack & pinion steering. Much different set up.

Second, you will need to trim the fenders to fit 32's and aftermarket wheels even with 3" lift. 2nd gen rodeos have the smallest wheel openings. Do a search on here for "fender trim" with my user name and you will see pics of how much trimming is needed.

Third, you shouldnt have to do anything special for an alignment after lifting and putting 32's on. I've done 3 2nd gen rodeo lifts and none of ours needed a ball joint flip or spacers. Just take it to a shop that specializes in alignments, even better if they do a lot of lifted 4wds.
What did you do to stop the upper control arm hitting the fuel tank on flex?? I Have 2" lifted coils and 30mm coil spacers with standard 245/65/16 rubber
 
#18 ·
There are a few things you can do. You can make a custom 3 link suspension (similar to the trooper) like bigpoppax2 did. You can make new upper link mounts and weld them to the axle moving the upper links up higher like Bansil did (this also gets rid of the wheel hop). You can get bent upper links to clear the tank (Dallas at stinkyfab.com sells them and Joe Darlington might too). Or, you can do like most of us and just live with the limited flex. I havent done anything to mine and just live with the flex that I have. Since I still have the factory rear anti sway bar hooked up, it limits the flex more then anything. I would like to move them up like bansil did but dont have the tools/place to do it.
 
#19 ·
Gizmo42 said:
The tread on the KO's is really wide so the rears will rub. I used a hammer to pound the edge around the rear wheel wells which helped some. Ended up getting some rear bump stop blocks to lower the bump stops to keep them from stuffing all the way and rubbing.
Where did you find those bump stop blocks?? I was considering maybe coil spring bags (we call them "drag bags" in racing when used for keeping the rear-end from squatting while launching from a stop) with just a little bit of air in them in order to keep the tires from getting too deep into the wheel well. Any opinions on using bags versus bump stop lowering blocks??

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/d...=P1135867996W43b3f85c7ab9e&gan=1&apwidj5NxUIy
 
#20 ·
Ruby Trooper gave them to me. They were left over from his old lift before he did a SAS and he never used them. They are just sections of 2" square tubing with holes drilled through both sides. Just need another set of nuts and bolts to attach the bumpstop to it after bolting it to the frame. The hardest part is tightening the bolts to the frame inside of the tubing.
 
#21 ·
Gizmo42 said:
Ruby Trooper gave them to me. They were left over from his old lift before he did a SAS and he never used them. They are just sections of 2" square tubing with holes drilled through both sides. Just need another set of nuts and bolts to attach the bumpstop to it after bolting it to the frame. The hardest part is tightening the bolts to the frame inside of the tubing.
Haha yeah I can imagine that. I think I may just get myself a pair of this air bags for the rear and install them once I order and go to install the EMU coil springs. Should I expect a crappy ride using OEM-quality shocks for the time being? The suspension feels good now, the shocks don't seem worn, but I'm not sure what to expect with everything sitting 3" higher.

I'll later fork up the cash for adjustable nitrogen shocks, sway bars, bushings, etc.-- I just want to order the wheels, tires, rear springs, coil spring air bags, brake line extender thing, and manual hubs so I can just get it up higher ASAP.
 
#22 ·
Mine felt a little tippy after lifting with monroe sensa trac shocks and stock wheels/tires. Got much better when I replaced the shocks with rancho 9000's. Wider wheels and tires and replacing the worn out sway bar bushings made a huge difference. Feels really stable now, even with the heavy steel rimmed spare tire on the roof.
 
#23 ·
psguardian said:
HD tie rods are good when adding bigger rubber (more tire to resist you means more steering system stress), and a balljoint flip +1/4" spacers, add 1.5" diff drop brackets and you're set for the deepest IFS lift we can get.

~psguardian

EDIT: didn't mean to qoute
i did everything but the 1.5 diff drop,i am doing that next year when i install front aussie locker. 8) neo
 
#24 ·
Gizmo42 said:
Got much better when I replaced the shocks with rancho 9000's.
Hey Giz,
Don't mean to hijack the thread, but could you tell me which rancho 9000's fit your rig, and would they also fit my 2000 Amigo?
Thank You
 
#25 ·
For 1.5-3" lift...
RS999136 or RS999214 for the front (I prefer the 136's, just have to trim the bottom bushings to fit)
RS999179 for the rear

Stock height...
RS999214 front
RS999186 rear

Same shocks for amigo or rodeo.

Oh yeah, for the rear shocks also get some 1/2" cut washers. Put 2 on each side before putting the shock on the lower mount, and 1 each side after. Found out with the design of the d44 shock mounts the 99179 will rub on the mount and eventually rub through. The 2 washers will space it far enough to prevent rubbing. might need 3 each side with the newer 999179 shocks. I believe the shock body is slightly larger diameter then the old style
 
#26 ·
The tread on the KO's is really wide so the rears will rub. I used a hammer to pound the edge around the rear wheel wells which helped some. Ended up getting some rear bump stop blocks to lower the bump stops to keep them from stuffing all the way and rubbing.

Where did you get your rear bump stop blocks?

Got my indy kit coming in two weeks.
 
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