mainer311 Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 Buy a cheap inclinometer on Amazon, and then cut a nice flat piece of wood, etc. that only touches the bead on the rim. I’ve dialed in camber that way. Works great. 1 Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 20 minutes ago, mainer311 said: Buy a cheap inclinometer on Amazon, and then cut a nice flat piece of wood, etc. that only touches the bead on the rim. I’ve dialed in camber that way. Works great. I did all that already.... I figure for $25 I'll have a better indication about how good or bad I have been doing..... I expect my current adjustment to be correct but I'd like to be sure.... 1 Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted March 25 Author Report Share Posted March 25 Not bad for $50 tires.... (each) 5 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 They look great... On 3/23/2024 at 9:12 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said: A friend of mine told me he buys name brand tires off Amazon. I haven't yet checked the viability of that solution, but it sounds like he's saving tons. Tires have a build date on them. 6 years is the general expiry rule... 4020 first two numbers is the week produced and the last two are the year. how-to-read-tire-date-code.avif 1 Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted March 26 Author Report Share Posted March 26 8 hours ago, datzenmike said: They look great... Tires have a build date on them. 6 years is the general expiry rule... 4020 first two numbers is the week produced and the last two are the year. how-to-read-tire-date-code.avif 18.9 kB · 0 downloads You had me nervous for a minute about date codes.... checked them and they are only about 9 month old.... also saw they are made in Vietnam.... probably why the are 50 each..... 1 Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 On 5/18/2022 at 7:23 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said: I cut the patches first, then scribe them onto the body panel. Isn't metal replacement fun??? On 5/18/2022 at 8:20 AM, Crashtd420 said: I used tape, you can actually see them stuck to the tailgate... Once I shape the replacement piece I do scribe the edge and fine tune the fitment... I always seem to cut the hole too big, so this way has worked for me so far.. And no it sucks... You ever read a thing after you've done a thing? Next patch gets done this way lol. Banging metal is pretty fun, but it isn't easy. On 3/23/2024 at 9:12 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said: A friend of mine told me he buys name brand tires off Amazon. I haven't yet checked the viability of that solution, but it sounds like he's saving tons. I do this. I picked up a used tire machine from the local used tire place and an old school bubble balancer. There was one 35" for the Jeep that UPS lost but they covered it. Not sure how you loose one one of those? Nice work on the 521 so far Crash. 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted March 26 Author Report Share Posted March 26 1 hour ago, ]2eDeYe said: Nice work on the 521 so far Crash. 🙂 Appreciate it.... been seeing all the likes.... you're finally caught up.... Someday it might be finished but atleast it's daily driver ready.... 1 Quote Link to comment
Stoffregen Motorsports Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 I don't buy the whole age thing. I've had sets of tires 7, 10, 20 years old that are just fine. And I don't mean the tread is full, I mean they are soft and pliable with no cracks. If you keep tires from drying out, they last a very long time. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 Oh I agree. I've had V Dub dune buggies with tires from Argentina made by Hitler. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
Stoffregen Motorsports Posted March 27 Report Share Posted March 27 I have noticed a ton of new tire brands hitting the market lately. Obviously these are new brands to sell cheap tires because of the obscene prices of name brand tires these days. In the past I would shy away from off brand tires because there always seems to be some major glitch, like they don't balance easily, or are out of round or tread separates after a couple years, but I'm willing to bet some of these new brands are actually produced at the same plants as the major brands. Tire and bacon prices are good earmarks of the economy. Bacon is a commodity and tires largely come from overseas. When I built my 1957 Land Rover, back in 2002, the 34x9.50-15 Intercos cost $145 each, then they jumped up to $225-$240 each and stayed there for a long time. Two years ago the price skyrocketed to $560 each, and just yesterday I notice the price had come back down to $390-$420 each. This graph is nearly identical to the behavior of the economy over the past two decades. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 27 Report Share Posted March 27 What the market will bear. Quote Link to comment
mainer311 Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 Yeah, I was looking at 33” (R20) all terrains recently and almost fainted when I saw the prices. 1 Quote Link to comment
demo243 Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 On 3/27/2024 at 12:57 PM, Stoffregen Motorsports said: I have noticed a ton of new tire brands hitting the market lately. Obviously these are new brands to sell cheap tires because of the obscene prices of name brand tires these days. In the past I would shy away from off brand tires because there always seems to be some major glitch, like they don't balance easily, or are out of round or tread separates after a couple years, but I'm willing to bet some of these new brands are actually produced at the same plants as the major brands. Tire and bacon prices are good earmarks of the economy. Bacon is a commodity and tires largely come from overseas. When I built my 1957 Land Rover, back in 2002, the 34x9.50-15 Intercos cost $145 each, then they jumped up to $225-$240 each and stayed there for a long time. Two years ago the price skyrocketed to $560 each, and just yesterday I notice the price had come back down to $390-$420 each. This graph is nearly identical to the behavior of the economy over the past two decades. They all come from the same few factories anyway… I still am partial to some of the name brands though- running Falkens on all three right now (Tacoma, 510, and Z) as they seem to have a good bang for your buck with their performance tires- but I do recall finding in my research that many of the Sumitomo tires are essentially the same as their Falken counterparts since they are made in the same factory. My most recent purchase was a set of Kumho ecstas “all season” and they seem pretty sticky- haven’t had a chance to drive on them yet though…. It seems many of the actual manufacturers are trying to get in on the consumer direct game with their own “brands” 1 Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted March 28 Author Report Share Posted March 28 Well so far so good with the ones I got..... they actually balanced better than the Yokohama I had on it before... I noticed a smaller weight, and they even did it on the inside vs the outside like it was before..... Alignment Check Saturday and if all good then I'll probably order a second set for the rear.... The only semi issue was the paying through ebay for the install... I had to use my 2012 frontier on the paperwork.... the system wouldn't go back far enough and didn't like the older Vin... 2 Quote Link to comment
thisismatt Posted March 30 Report Share Posted March 30 Of course there are variables to tire life, but it's a good thing to look at when thinking about buying used tires/wheels. Tires on my 521 are like 20 years old 😅 Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted March 30 Author Report Share Posted March 30 (edited) Well I got good info from the alignment.... Of course nothing was in spec.... A little too much negative camber but only .7 and 1.... The toe in was bad was at 1.5 degrees what ever that translates to..... I'm gonna take compassion measurements next so I calculate the necessary adjustments..... Edited March 31 by Crashtd420 Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted March 30 Author Report Share Posted March 30 (edited) Well I must have really screwed the toe adjustment up before.... not sure how but i did..... Definitely what caused the wear... I have made some corrections there and should be a lot closer to spec.... I did run into an issue... driving back from the alignment I heard something hit the inner fender well... sure enough I lost the weight off the wheel... now i need to run back there next week and they said they would rebalance it for me.... Need to come up with a better way to verify camber.... I can't seem to get repeatable numbers.... Edited March 31 by Crashtd420 Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted March 31 Author Report Share Posted March 31 So one question for my sanity.... Does adjusting toe effect the camber? And the other way... Will an adjustment to camber effect the toe reading? Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 31 Report Share Posted March 31 Yes, I think so. My '73 620 FSM shows the camber being set first, though it does not say this. Camber can affect toe but toe can't affect camber. Set or confirm the camber first, then set the toe. 1 Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted March 31 Author Report Share Posted March 31 2 hours ago, datzenmike said: Yes, I think so. My '73 620 FSM shows the camber being set first, though it does not say this. Camber can affect toe but toe can't affect camber. Set or confirm the camber first, then set the toe. That makes some sense because i did make adjustments to my camber before and never rechecked the toe.... That should be why is was so off..... Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted March 31 Author Report Share Posted March 31 I ended up pulling a couple shims out of the camber adjustment on each side.... Once I get the 1 tire rebalanced I'll get the truck back on the ground and see what I have for camber.. then recheck and adjust the toe one last time.. 1 Quote Link to comment
Stoffregen Motorsports Posted April 1 Report Share Posted April 1 On 3/30/2024 at 5:13 PM, Crashtd420 said: Will an adjustment to camber effect the toe reading? This is called bump steer. The best way to see for yourself is to put the truck up on stands, remove the spring or torsion bar and cycle the suspension. Measure the toe at different points during the cycle to see if it changes. I don't love heim joints on any street driven car or truck, but if the bump steer is really bad, you can replace the tie rod ends with heims and space them as close to or as far away from the steering arm to help correct bump steer. Some guys will heat and bend the steering arm, but you have to know about metallurgy and heat treating to keep the strength in the steel. 1 Quote Link to comment
Crashtd420 Posted April 1 Author Report Share Posted April 1 18 minutes ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said: This is called bump steer. The best way to see for yourself is to put the truck up on stands, remove the spring or torsion bar and cycle the suspension. Measure the toe at different points during the cycle to see if it changes. I don't love heim joints on any street driven car or truck, but if the bump steer is really bad, you can replace the tie rod ends with heims and space them as close to or as far away from the steering arm to help correct bump steer. Some guys will heat and bend the steering arm, but you have to know about metallurgy and heat treating to keep the strength in the steel. That sounds like work..... 1 1 Quote Link to comment
mainer311 Posted April 1 Report Share Posted April 1 I can tell you on these trucks that the UCA’s are shorter than the LCA’s, such that the wheels gain negative camber when suspension compresses. Most vehicles are like this. Since the knuckle then also tips in, but the tie-rods stay the same length, toe does change. That’s why alignment needs to be fixed when the truck gets lowered. 2 Quote Link to comment
Stoffregen Motorsports Posted April 2 Report Share Posted April 2 I'm trying to picture the control arms in my head. If they are flat on the bottom arm, and pointing down towards the middle on the upper arm, seems like lowering the tie rod would compensate for bump steer. 1 Quote Link to comment
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