[zY]

I might not have done it if I knew it was going to be this big of a pain in the ass.

Ok, so after looking everywhere for someone to align my recently lowered truck(spindles and blocks), Gateway says they will do it. Now they wake my ass up in the morning calling and telling me my shocks are blown, driveline angles F-ed, blah blah blah. Then they tell me to put some bigger shocks on it or whatever and it's gonna be $157 just to get the damn thing to drive right again. What?! All this from a 2/3 drop? ****ing bull****.

Anyone else have any problems like this when lowering your truck?

 

[Hazard0usIntent]

Sounds like you brought it to the wrong shop.... Before bags my truck was dropped 6-7. I found a shop who had no problem aligning lowered vehicles, they charged more for it but it came out perfect. I'd find another shop for a second opinion. It's only a 2-3 drop, aligning that should not be a problem.

 

[zY]

Yeah, a second opinion is what I'm going to get. It just pisses me off though that I've had the damn thing lowered since Friday and it is still completely out of whack. Nobody in this ******* town knows how to align lowered vehicles. Sigh...

By the way, your truck is pretty phat.

 

[zY]

Second opinion says my spindles might be fvcked cuz my tires are bowed out so much...

Can anyone offer any insight other than to run my truck off in a ditch?

 

[Twin-10s]

who's spindles are they? belltech,djm
i remember some one saying belltech had a bad batch of spindles go out. not sure if there is any truth to it though.

 

[Kalgor]

yeah you gotta find a shop that have people working there that they themselves have lowered vehicles as well

i finally found one and it came out just fine

 

[rhenry01]

I just got off the phone with belltech and and they said that no bad batches have gone out since a batch had a minor problem with the ball joint bore, that was three years ago. Sounds like the guy doesn't know what he is talking about!

 

[stippy32]

umm ive always gone to the dealership for my alingments, 4 inch drop and they dont care at all, comes out great and only costs 39 dollars

 

[zY]

Yep, they're belltech spindles alright. So I guess we can rule that out. This guy was just guessing cuz he said spindles weren't supposed to make it bow like that. He does have a lowered vehicle(S-10 slammed on 22s), but I'm thinking he's wrong here.

I jacked it up and looked and my shocks ARE leaking a little bit. Hmm...wonder how that happened?

It still rides fine. Maybe I should just tell them to align it without replacing the shocks.

 

[zY]

umm ive always gone to the dealership for my alingments, 4 inch drop and they dont care at all, comes out great and only costs 39 dollars

Doesn't lowering void the warranty?

 

[whosxtreme]

lets see....how did you install the spindles...I just did mine a couple weeks ago and this is what I did...jack up truck,insert jackstand, take off wheel, take off caliper, take off dust shield, undo castle nut on spindle, take off rotor, seperate tie rod end, seperate ball joints, take out spindle and do the reverse...there is actually a guy on xtremeowners.com I believe who had bad spindles from belltech just recently so maybe belltech is pulling your chain....callthem again and get someone different....if you did it like I had described it should be fine....so I am saying it is the spindle....

 

[low-blazer]

I doubt you've got bad spindles...and he's full of crap if he says spindles won't make it "bow" like that...when I put my spindles in, I had so much positive camber, my front wheels looked like this \-----/ I could barely drive the damn thing, actually scraped up the outter lip of one of my weels taking a corner...and it only took the les schwab shop down the street from my house about 45 min. to align it. Dropping a the front end can do funny things...you just need to find a good shop to align it.

 

[low-blazer]

Doesn't lowering void the warranty?

Sorta, but most dealerships will still align it for you. Go to a Chevy dealer, they'll be able to do it. Paying for an alignment isn't a warranty thing, just regular service, lowered or not.

 

[zY]

...when I put my spindles in, I had so much positive camber, my front wheels looked like this \-----/ I could barely drive the damn thing

Whew! I thought I was the only one. Except mine look like this:

/----\

It literally sounds like I'm peeling out just driving down the road. It's embarrassing!
Seriously, I've worn the hell out of my tires, and I've hardly driven the damn thing. Luckily, I'm still running stock rims and tires.

I'm taking it to a place tomorrow that looked at it and said they would align it. I'll keep y'all updated. BTW, anyone know how I could have f-ed my shocks?

Thanks

 

[rhenry01]

OK...Quick alignment till you can get to a good shop.

1. Put truck on stands at all 4 corners

2. Position the steering wheel in the neutral position

3. take a string and tape it to the back side of the back wheel at the 9 o'clock position (all the way rearward) and pull the string around the rear 9 o'clock part of the wheel and stretch it up to the front tire. The string should just touch the 3 o'clock position of the rear wheel. This establishes a plane by which you can crank on the tie rod end to align the front wheel.

4. Adjust the tie rod ends

5. repeat on the other side of the truck.

This should stop the squeeling, but it does not mean that the truck is safe to drive..... Just be careful!

If ya need pictures let me know and I'll try to take some tomorrow!!

 

[IntenseMtrsprts7]

ya chevy's are kinda wierd, they usually almost always have a little positive camber before theyre lowered, but i dunno why it would after u lower it, i also dont understand what the hell would cause negative camber if u just have spindles, i have 3 coils cut out on the front of my s10 and its camber isnt that bad...

 

[Mike]

Do what "rhenry01" did. I did that on my truck and it handles like a sports car.
I work @ a chevy dealership, and one of the service guys said that if you do lower your vehicle, it doesn't ness. void your warrenty. If you do stuff that is reversable (i.e.: Bolt-in) you can keep your warrenty. As soon as you do something unreversable, your Suspension/Frame, warrenty is void. But wont ness. void the whole vehicle warrenty. Just ask a service manager. Thats what I did.

 

[Tite383TPIs10]

Did you put drop shocks on it???? Keeping stock shocks with a 3" drop may hose your shocks.

 

[zY]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm now lined up and driving straight again. Got a place to do it for $39.

I've still got the stock shocks. As of now, I'm gonna keep them. I haven't noticed any difference in the way it rides.

Thanks

 

[low-blazer]

Glad you got it straightened out and you should be fine with the stock shocks.