Alingment issues with Icon UCA and ICON coilovers, Tie Rods Bottomed out

Quick run down. Installed a set of 2.5 CDC Icon Coilovers along with some Icon Uniball UCA.

Ran the set up for a while no issues but noticed some bad inner tire wear so took it back thinking I mush have hit something and messed it up. I am good friends with the manager of the shop. That did the alignment.

We threw it back on the rack to check it out. Looks like the issue seems to be in the adjustment portion.

We can't get the truck to the recommended 0 degrees of camber without having the toe go way out. Then when bringing the toe in we ran in to the tie rods being bottomed out. So no more toe adjustment.

I have a call in to Icon to see if they have ever had this issue. Haven't gotten a call back yet. I will update with what they say.

My first thought was I need to lift the truck more (preload the coilovers). We mimicked that by using the air jack on the rack to lift the front of the truck a little to see if anything got better. It didn't. So for now I have a 1.5 or so of negative camber in the front to allow me to have the toe in good shape to protect my tires for now.

Has anyone ran in to this? Do I need to cut down the inner tie rods? Is something off that I am missing?

Thanks

 

We install these all the time and have never had any issues. Let me see if I can find an alignment sheet to a similar truck to give you some numbers. How much lift are you running? What size tires?

 

sub'd

 

Can you post a picture of your alignment cams? I know someone with the same setup, and it aligns and works perfect.

 

Been trying to figure out what does that mean?

 

@jberry813 knows his shit. He might have some insight also.

 

Subscribed to the thread

 

Got it. Thanks.

 

Subbed

 

Funny thing Jose..........I never knew what it meant either. Now I do.

 

So talked with Icon guys for a few yesterday. Looks like they recommend lifting the front a little. I guess if the front is not lifted enough you will run in to this issue. I had the coilovers installed at the height they were shipped as.

I will grab a pick of the settings as well. No point in ignoring helpful advice.

Thanks guys.

 

So still fighting this. I have upgraded to total chaos cab tabs since I had a cam tab fold over on me during the alignment.

What specs should a 3" lifted truck go for? I am having bad tire wear on the fronts. The outer edges are feathering pretty bad. truck drives fine. Just bad tire wear.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

I've had these issues at the shop before and I usually end up swapping them to Camburgs. Icons are a very nice uca but I've had to swap a few due to alignment issues. Don't seem to have quite the right amount of adjustment for a 3+ inch lift on 35's, usually caster suffers. I do em on bilstein 5100 and fox 2.0 and never have a issue. Then again that's on 305/55/20 or 285/65/18 tires.

With your issue I've had to shorten the tie rods to get the alignment perfect and tracking correctly

 

Super helpful info Tommy! Thanks

 

No problem boss!

 

It is hard to find a good alignment, so I do it myself. This is what ended up working best for me.

Camber L -0.1 R -0.1
Caster L 3.9 R 4.1
Toe 1/8 toe in

This will be almost no irregular wear, but the outside edge will always have a little more wear, it is a by product of making it drive straight.

 

Alignment specs will vary vehicle to vehicle because they aren't all the same. Might be ballpark, but not exact.

 

Sub'd

 

That's what I am leaning towards. But that's an expensive swap with out knowing if its going to solve it.

See the camber is always an issue. Its always negative. Almost a degree I believe. I honestly think the Icon arms are the issue never had this issue with stock arms and the spacer lift that was on it before.

That's true. But there has to be a preferred spec to aim for. What is that spec? You can't just say make it drive straight and call that the spec.


Thanks for all the input guys. The truck drivers great its just starting to feather the tires pretty bad.

 

This is exactly what you want

Camber - 0.0 degrees, I go -0.1 because tire wear is more important than feel.

Caster - at 3" lift with big tires I like 3+ degrees with .3 degrees more on the right, i.e. L 3.0 R 3.3. Your arms control this number, stock allows 2 degrees, it would be ok, but not have good manners.

Toe - .07 per side for total of .14

 

Following!

 

So I am having the same issue. I added Camburg Uniball uca. I know they add a lot of caster but still should be able to align in spec and drive normal right?

I got the numbers close but Caster is still high with the tie rods maxed out! Plus it just doesn’t feel right when turning full lock. Drives nice besides the steering wheel feeling like it’s going to rip out of my hands when turning.

My next move was going to be trim down the tie rod ends but seeing what else I can find before doing that.

Here are my final numbers. Lowest The shop could get the caster.


Full lock at normal ride hight also is too damn close to the coil. Why would Camburg make arms with this much Caster!?

 

sell them. buy some TC. You are not the only one who had issues with this particular UCA.
You could try another shop for alignments first though.

 

IMO this is completely normal for Camburg UCA and I think 6* is a little too much, again just my opinion. I'm having similar issues but the other side of the coin, not enough caster and poor camber #s with Icon. I'm switching to MCM UCAs when Matt gets some more made. You should be able to get proper camber and about 4* of caster with his UCAs.

 

Subbed for future reference

 

I have camburg uniballs too with similar numbers but it drives great only my tires rub the uca, at full lock, because of my tire width and wheel specs.

-.6 degrees camber on both sides with 6.7 degrees of caster and .07 degrees toe each side..

Camber purposefully makes their arms have aggressive caster and slightly negative camber for more aggressive driving and to combat outter tire wear common with tires with big lugs. Mine tracks straight aside from road crown and has good steering feel.

Getting new wheels in June, hopefully, that should be perfect with my setup.

 

I've read about swapping tie rods side for side to get more clearance at the shock perch?

 

@joonbug and I have the same UCAs and similar #s. I'm running coachbuilder tie rod ends and still can't get the camber right. -1.3* is the best they can get.