Hey all,

I'm having some front end alignment issues with my Blazer and could use some insight. Before i bought the vehicle, it was clear that it had been in an impact on the lower left rear corner. I had the frame looked at by 2 reputable shops and both had told me that the frame and rear axle was not bent, warped, or otherwise misaligned.

some information on the vehicle for you, I have a 1996 AWD Blazer, the one with the NP3 transfer case. I've replaced the shocks, front and back. The gearbox, power steering pump, power steering lines, and pulley have also been replaced, and the steering column is perfectly aligned with the steering wheel. I've brought the vehicle to an alignment shop. They kept the vehicle for the day, and when i got it back, they said they aligned it to the best of their ability, but couldn't get it 100% straight for an unknown reason. It pulls to the right enough to force you to hold the wheel slightly left when travelling straight. It is also experiencing heavy wear on the inner and outer edges of both front tires.

For some reason, there are over 40 mechanics within a 15 mile radius of me, but only 5 of them do alignments. Throw in the fact that 3 of them are very shady, one is booked for alignments until December, I am left with the one I had used.

I was messing with the toe alignment to try and get it closer, but no matter how i adjust it, it will not align.

I've decided to buy the tools to do the alignment myself, Just waiting on that to get here so i can more accurately gauge what needs to be adjusted, but i have a feeling this problem isn't going to be resolved simply with more accurate tools.

What could possibly keep this vehicle from being properly aligned?

 

Wear like that is probably a bad toe in/out. Tape a long string to the front/ outside of the front tire on center of the axle and pull it back to the rear tire to check toe.

 

I couldn't get my Blazer aligned by any shop and none of them could tell why. After a couple of years I went to change the bushings on the front anti-sway bar and came to find that the driver side bracket was "pushed" in causing a misalignment of the sway bar, and in turn the front end. I heated up the bracket, used a crow bar to straighten it, then got an alignment with no problems.

So you might want to check out more than just what is done to make adjustments for an alignment. Take a look at any and all part connected to the front end/steering.

 

Unfortunately, this method wont work for 2 reasons. The running boards interfere with the string, and the front and rear tires are not aligned to one another, the front tires stick out further than the rear ( it is supposed to be this way).

 

I've used all manner of measuring tools to see if anything on the front end was damaged or oriented improperly, but everything checks out.

However, upon measuring everything on the rear end, i've come to find that the leaf spring on the drivers side isn't just bent, but torqued to the inside, misaligning the rear axle on both alignment angle and height. It was also pushed to the passenger side by 3/4 of an inch.

My solution is to replace both leaf springs, and the u bolts. While i do this, i'll also be checking the alignment of the leaf brackets, rear shocks and mounts (never buy monroe shocks), and the drivers side wheel bearings.

 

That's a good catch! It can be pretty easy to overlook how the rear-end affects alignment of the front-end.

I hope the replacement goes smoothly for you. Getting those leaf spring bolts out of the bushings can be a real pain and people often end up cutting them off or burning out the old bushings with a torch.

 

Always replace your leaf spring shackles. If a leaf was bent there is no possible way the shackle wasn't. If it was replaced already, the chances of the leafs bending it slightly over time because of excess twist due to a bemt leaf spring is also very high. It's also common for them to rust out anyway so just replace them and the frame bushings. Personally I'd by energy suspension bushings anyway. Just make sure your front bushing in kit fits your leaf springs. All the 4 doors I've had require a half ton truck kit for front bushing along with drilling the frame for a half ton bolt. That doesn't mean you have to replace front with poly bushings just cause you did the back.

 

Does this vehicle have springs or tortion bar suspension? If tortion bar lower/raise till suspension is able to be aligned. Or have the shop set the vehicle back to factory ride height