A little wander since Lift, Locker, and New Tires

[BWGuy]

Has anyone else experienced something like this:

When stock, the EXT felt perfectly stable regardless of road quality.

I put the 3" front 2" rear lift on, and didn't really notice much degradation of the ride quality or loss of stability.

Then I put in the PowerTrax No Slip, and it seemed as though the rear end started trying to steer the truck a little bit.

Then I replaced the rear 245/65/17s with 265/70/17 Guard Dogs, and now the truck is downright swervy when I run through the shallow ruts that the local log trucks make in our hot Mississippi roads. When I first had the tires mounted, I though maybe the shop hadn't aired them up much, so I put about 40 psi in them when I got home, but there's still a good bit of wander from the rear.

Has anybody else had similar experiences and been able to do anything to improve the situation?

[DirtyBacon04]

did you get an alignment after the lift?

[BWGuy]

did you get an alignment after the lift?

Am I going to be flogged if I admit that I haven't yet?

[BWGuy]

did you get an alignment after the lift?

Right after the lift, I was watching for irregular tire wear, noise, handling differences, etc., and didn't really notice any, so I opted not to get the alignment until after I got the bigger tires.

I'm still waiting on my 1.5 inch spacers so I can mount the other two Guard Dogs on the front. Reckon I should have the shop do an alignment at the same time they mount those?

[DirtyBacon04]

Well, in theory, tire size changes won't affect alignment a whole lot, if at all. But any changes in ride height, via suspension, will affect alignment significantly. I would invest in the Firestone Lifetime Alignment plan. $170 one time, free alignments for life of the vehicle. Pays for itself after the 3rd alignment.

I'm still waiting on my 1.5 inch spacers so I can mount the other two Guard Dogs on the front.

Wait, are you saying you have different size tires on front and rear?

[BWGuy]

Well, in theory, tire size changes won't affect alignment a whole lot, if at all. But any changes in ride height, via suspension, will affect alignment significantly. I would invest in the Firestone Lifetime Alignment plan. $170 one time, free alignments for life of the vehicle. Pays for itself after the 3rd alignment.

I'm still waiting on my 1.5 inch spacers so I can mount the other two Guard Dogs on the front.

Wait, are you saying you have different size tires on front and rear?

I do. No 4-wheeling with the unequal setup, and it's only been for a couple of weeks while the bank account recovers from various other expenses. Shame of it is the front two tires arrived yesterday, but it will still be Tuesday before the spacers get here so I can put them on.

Do you think the 29-ish vs. 32" difference might account for a good bit of the issue?

As far as why not do the alignment right after the lift, I wasn't sure that putting the spacers on the front wouldn't change the spring compression/ride height a tad since the "leverage" of the tires against the suspension would increase a bit. I don't know how much difference 1.5 inches makes, but I can imagine if you went nuts, you could space your wheels out so far that your truck would sag to the ground.

[DirtyBacon04]

I'd say the unequal set up would be the cause of your problem. At least a contributing factor with not having an alignment. JD or Roadie could probably break down the mechanical forces at work in some weird formula that only they understand.

[BWGuy]

I was hoping that was the case... that having the rear as much higher than the front as it is right now might be upsetting things a bit as far as the truck wanting to go in a straight line.

Imagining the absurd extreme of this where the truck is basically standing on its nose and the front edges of the front tires, I'd think there'd be a very strong tendency for the wheels to flop either to the right or left rather than staying straight.

Hopefully I'll get the Dogs mounted on the front on Tuesday and be able to report a much improved handling situation.

Thanks.

[v7guy]

get 4 tires of the same size on it and get it aligned, make sure you get a printout with the alignment on it. Then if things are still off we'll go from there.
With the combo you got, it could be any one of the things you mentioned, or all of them. Until you make an effort to get it right you should expect it to be wrong.

[dvanbramer88]

Until you make an effort to get it right you should expect it to be wrong.

Bingo.

[HARDTRAILZ]

It needs duct tape........

[DirtyBacon04]

and/or WD-40

[BWGuy]

get 4 tires of the same size on it and get it aligned, make sure you get a printout with the alignment on it. Then if things are still off we'll go from there.
With the combo you got, it could be any one of the things you mentioned, or all of them. Until you make an effort to get it right you should expect it to be wrong.

Well, the spacers came in a day early, so I went ahead and got the Dogs on the front. The drive home from the tire shop felt good, but the pavement 'tween here and there is not very rutted, so the real test will be the ride to work tomorrow.

Now that I have the fronts spaced, I like the stance so much better that I've ordered another set for the rear... hopefully one more step back towards wife-friendly stability at the new altitude.

In time, all appropriate adjustments and/or repairs will be done to remedy or mitigate this issue... I was just trying to see what others' experiences might have been if they had done some or all of the same mods in similar order.

As I drive my truck past probably a dozen or more TBs and Envoys on literally every trip to anywhere around here and NEVER see any others that are lifted or fitted with mud tires, it occurs to me that the whole group of us is a pretty tiny minority though. So thanks again to you guys for being the pioneers and being willing to share.

[v7guy]

make sure you get it aligned, you'll wreck the tires pretty quick if you don't, doesn't matter if it feels ok or not

[djthumper]

As I drive my truck past probably a dozen or more TBs and Envoys on literally every trip to anywhere around here and NEVER see any others that are lifted or fitted with mud tires, it occurs to me that the whole group of us is a pretty tiny minority though. So thanks again to you guys for being the pioneers and being willing to share.

If you filled out your location we would know where here is...

[BWGuy]

As I drive my truck past probably a dozen or more TBs and Envoys on literally every trip to anywhere around here and NEVER see any others that are lifted or fitted with mud tires, it occurs to me that the whole group of us is a pretty tiny minority though. So thanks again to you guys for being the pioneers and being willing to share.

If you filled out your location we would know where here is...

I'm sorry... I thought I'd done that. Maybe I did for the other TB/Envoy forum but didn't when I moved to this one. Anyway, I'm in Oxford, Mississippi.

Today's drive to work was a very pleasant improvement from yesterday's. With Dogs all around, the tendency to wander in the ruts seems to have been 90 to 100% eliminated. I'll know for sure when I drag my boat to Enid lake again, as there are some really good ruts on the way there.

Here's a pic of the truck with the new tires. I love the basic black and white.

The EXT with new tires all around.

[ErikSS]

make sure you get it aligned, you'll wreck the tires pretty quick if you don't, doesn't matter if it feels ok or not

Especially with retreads...

[navigator]

when you get a chance, flip your city/state.
It will allow folks to search the member list and sort by location and then all those from MS will be grouped together.