Thanks thanks thanks guys! Im as into the build as you guys are! So as promised, here is some more content. I don't know about you guys, but as far as alignment is concerned, for me it has always been as case of me dropping off my car or truck and coming back when it was all done. I really had no clue how they got everything lined back up after slamming the suspension way down below what stock was. I decided that this time I would stick around and ask questions, take photos and really get a good understanding for how it works. In the past I have used a shop about 30 miles from my house that was quick, and cheap... and over time I figured out that this was not the key to getting a good job. This time I called around and came across North Coast Alignment and lucky me, they were 5 minutes from the house! During my first phone call I talked to Sean, the owner and found out that he is also a C10 owner and when I mentioned that my truck was really low, he answered, no problem! That sold me. Im sure we have all been to an alignment place with our lowered trucks and got nothing but dirty looks and a very high estimate on the job. I was determined not to go through that again and Sean said they could dial Gumby in for me so off I went.
When we first finished the truck at Teds, we had done a basic plumb-bob alignment to get it close so I could drive it home and get it aligned shortly after. I honestly felt like we were close as it tracked fairly straight, steering wheel was only slightly off etc. When I got to North Coast I had Sean come take a look and we talked shop for a while.
I asked Sean if I could hang out in the back and take photos and basically bother his tech Brock while he worked on Gumby so I could see what goes into a "real" alignment and he said, no problem. Awesome! So off we went to the rack and Brock got my truck loaded.
Brock and I had a conversation about the parts on the truck and the process of getting the truck to really go straight. Brock is a wealth of knowledge about alignments and he has been doing it for more than 7 years so I felt really comfortable letting him take on the job. First order of business was to get the laser boards on the wheels once the truck was up in the air on the lift
There is one board per wheel and these bounce back the laser light that is flashed from the machine mounted to the wall. Its a really trick piece of machinery and watching it work was really interesting.
