Perch mod and alignment

[pirate air]

@ cage1993^^ Yeah the labor rate is way high.

 

[Squatting Dog]

That was including alignment shims, cams, bolts, etc... Maybe he will throw in a good ole boy discount..

-Greg

 

[matt33]

Does seem a little on the high side. We charge 364.50 with alignment cams!

Do you need cams or any additional parts for the middle perch? I have an appointment to have the perch mod done on 3/17/12 and I'd like to make sure the shop has everything they need.

 

[NickPic83]

the mid perch shouldnt need anything else. i heard the top perch may need cams and some other hardware.

 

[pirate air]

Do you need cams or any additional parts for the middle perch? I have an appointment to have the perch mod done on 3/17/12 and I'd like to make sure the shop has everything they need.

I'd put alignment cams in if it were mine, even going to just the second perch. You can still make camber and caster adjustments without the cams, but its not the proper way to do it. The cams also help keep the lower control arms from moving out of place when off roading hard, at least that's been my experience.

 

[matt33]

I'd put alignment cams in if it were mine, even going to just the second perch. You can still make camber and caster adjustments without the cams, but its not the proper way to do it. The cams also help keep the lower control arms from moving out of place when off roading hard, at least that's been my experience.

I appreciate your input. I'm interested in learning more about proper alignment/adjustment. Do you know where I could buy these cams? Are there any specific cams that you recommend?

I don't know the first thing about alignments, but when I had a Jeep, a lot of guys with lifted Jeeps ******* that cam bolts sometimes lost their adjustment when wheeled hard. They used adj control arms instead, but that was with a solid front axle setup.

 

[pirate air]

I appreciate your input. I'm interested in learning more about proper alignment/adjustment. Do you know where I could buy these cams? Are there any specific cams that you recommend?

I don't know the first thing about alignments, but when I had a Jeep, a lot of guys with lifted Jeeps ******* that cam bolts sometimes lost their adjustment when wheeled hard. They used adj control arms instead, but that was with a solid front axle setup.

Ford has a cam kit available but I don't have the part number handy (I could look it up tomorrow). The company I prefer and use on my truck is called Specialty Products Company. I believe its the same company SDHQ is using. Your local alignment shop should also be able to get specialty products company products. The Raptor takes the standard f150 kit, I can also look up that part number.

In order to adjust camber/caster on the raptor, the lower control arms have to be moved/adjusted, at the chassis end. To do this you loosen the lower control arm bolts and movement is allowed by slots in the frame. Without the alignment cams making camber/caster adjustments has to be done with the weight off the control arm/tire being adjusted. Because as soon as you loosen the control arm bolts, the weight of the truck forces the control arm out/away from the chassis. There's no way to force the arm back to the right spot without taking the weight off the arm by raising the truck/weight off the tire. The problem with this is the control arms at full droop, when you tighten the control arm bolts then set the truck back down the bushings are now pre loaded which causes wear. The way the cams are designed you can move the arms while most of the weight is still on the arm/tire. You still need to lift the truck up a little but not till full droop like before. This makes it easier on the bushings.

I know what cams you're talking about on the jeeps. I think a lot of the problem with that is the metal is too thin. Sometimes on those I'll make adjustments and everything just wants to bend rather than move. You're getting a lot more metal with the Raptor and bolts twice the size. Even with this I was knocking my alignment out fairly often but these were after pretty hard hits. The cam kit does a good job locking everything in place. I've had very little movement since installing mine some 17000 ish miles ago. Some vendors/people think they lock the arms in too good and you risk doing more damage to the frame. But hell, if youre driving the truck hard enough to potentially rip a control arm off you should anticipate some serious damage happening.

 

[rhino]

Most of the vendors on here carry the cams, also most competent alignment shops that work on 4wd vehicles can order them for the same or next day. I agree with the post above that you should use cams whether you can get it in spec without them or not. It is a small price to pay to do it correctly the first time vs ruining a set of tires when the alignment doesn't hold.

 

[cage1993]

alignment cams? I know little to nothing about alignment, thanks for the explanation above, but now I'm worried. Traded my 2010 5.4 for a 2012 today and I had the 2010 on the middle perch. I was going to do the same on the new one, but am worried about this cam deal. It was my understanding that Ford had originally designed and tested for the truck to be released on this middle perch, but DOT nixed that based on stock bumper height requirements. But, what i am understanding from your post, it doesn't matter wether you move the perch or not, if you need an alignment for any reason, the correct way to do it is using the cams as there will be preloaded tension simply from drooping the suspesion for any alignment? Am i getting this correct? thanks in advance

 

[Squatting Dog]

So, what is the word about limiting straps on front when going to top perch? Pros/cons? Neccessary? Overkill?

-Greg