ElvisArronPresley
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you all are talking about a frame straightening / repair / alignment shop right? not a tire place that has an alignment machine?
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best way to level 1986 m1009
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Correct, a Frame straightening/repair/alignment shop, not the tire place.
They will check your frame and see if anything is out of whack. You need to see if anything is wrong or if all is OK with the frame and work from there. Some people can take measurements on the driveway and figure things out, some cannot.
cucvrus
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I have a local shop that is called Garden Spot frame and alignment shop. That is what they do. They are a full service truck garage. I doubt that anyone will diagnose for free. But that would be the easiest way to get the diagnosis if it bothers you that much. Mine was a gate closing issue and they fixed it and everything else. So just an idea. I did not want to just tear into it blindly. they have frame gauges and factory frame measurements. Something I do not have or would it be feasible for me to buy the gauges. Good Luck. Do as you wish.
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If it is 2 inches out of wack, a level concrete slab and a tape measure should be able to determine if its a bad suspension , bent frame or rotted body mounts . I would narrow it down before shelling out money on having it put on a frame machine .
cucvrus
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This is what the untrained eye sees when they don't know what to look for. 
This is what a trained eye sees in the stars and constellations. Some time spending a bit of money for a professional diagnosis is less expensive then just throwing money at an unknown problem. And I think the owner is saying he has tried everything. I am just trying to help. And getting the answer/diagnosis right and correcting it the first time is easier then just shelling out money like you say. It may be an easy fix and it may be a repair that is not feasible or practical. But none the less it would help to hit/diagnose the issue the first time out. But I am a huge fan of tearing things down to the bear frame and rebuilding them from there. And that is about all I am going to say. Do it right the first time. Do or do not. There is no try. 
Skinny
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Exactly!
Why do we have to turn this into space shuttle engineering??? A few pictures would probably work because you can most likely see something odd with the frame, body to frame dimensions, or an axle close to a bumpstop to determine something that far out of whack. If you do have a flat spot to work, a plumb bob and chalk would work too. Snap a few lines on the ground and cross compare dimensions. I want to say even the manuals have frame dimensions. They are also super easy to search for online. We aren't building race cars here IMO.
If you lack all of this sophisticated equipment you can even substitute your own hand. Start jamming it into crevices side to side and see if the gaps are even. If you can fist one side and barely get a knuckle in on the other...you found the area to look at. Of course I typed all of this with a straight face
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Finding 2 inches in a bent frame isn't rocket science , if you can read a tape measure . 30 years ago when this truck was built very few frame racks had lasers , they used a tape measure.View attachment 645035This is what the untrained eye sees when they don't know what to look for. View attachment 645036This is what a trained eye sees in the stars and constellations. Some time spending a bit of money for a professional diagnosis is less expensive then just throwing money at an unknown problem. And I think the owner is saying he has tried everything. I am just trying to help. And getting the answer/diagnosis right and correcting it the first time is easier then just shelling out money like you say. It may be an easy fix and it may be a repair that is not feasible or practical. But none the less it would help to hit/diagnose the issue the first time out. But I am a huge fan of tearing things down to the bear frame and rebuilding them from there. And that is about all I am going to say. Do it right the first time. Do or do not. There is no try.
cucvrus
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I know exactly what you mean. If I would have measure correctly I could have used all front doors instead of the crew cab and Suburban doors. 2 more knuckles and a fist and I could have put a sliding van door on the other side. It will look much better in the 3 color woodland camo. trust me. Camo hides everything. Now today I picked this truck up for donor parts. 
Gotta get my tape measure out and shine it up. Drivers door is damage free. And a brand new diesel engine. Its gotta fit. Tape measure says it's the same. This is just for fun. I was thinking of a Mars explorer for the Isuzu. The truck would make a good lunar rover.
richingalveston
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not trying to take over the thread, I have a slight sag in right rear, I believe it is in the spring, I have new bushings and shakle flip but stock springs.
going down the road, my truck the ass end runs to the left. Alignment is great but not enough miles to know If I am having tread wear problems. Everything is new below frame except rear spings.
my question is how is yours tracking down the road, does the it have a crab to one side. I think my problem for this is more than just the spring sagging, the sag is only 3/8 inch one side to other at frame and a little over 1/2 inch out at the bumper ends.
The sag is barely noticeable but the crab to the drivers side is pretty prominent when driving so I am curious to any frame problems you may encounter that might relate to my problem.
Thanks,
Rich
going down the road, my truck the ass end runs to the left. Alignment is great but not enough miles to know If I am having tread wear problems. Everything is new below frame except rear spings.
my question is how is yours tracking down the road, does the it have a crab to one side. I think my problem for this is more than just the spring sagging, the sag is only 3/8 inch one side to other at frame and a little over 1/2 inch out at the bumper ends.
The sag is barely noticeable but the crab to the drivers side is pretty prominent when driving so I am curious to any frame problems you may encounter that might relate to my problem.
Thanks,
Rich
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Unless you can read and understand a tape measure I would take it to the frame shop and have it checked.
Not much money for that.
They know what to look for and where.
If they find nothing then it's still money well spent.
Beats throwing parts at it and then finding out it was a tweaked frame.
Not much money for that.
They know what to look for and where.
If they find nothing then it's still money well spent.
Beats throwing parts at it and then finding out it was a tweaked frame.
rustystud
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They also used precision built machines that had extremely tight tolerances to check frames. The naked eye cannot see everything and sometimes it can be deceived by angles. "Parallax" comes to mind off hand. Also snapping lines on the concrete is fine if the concrete slab is truly level. I have never seen a truly level concrete slab yet though, have you ? Even our base alignment slab is off and the machine is adjusted to compensate for it. I would take it to the frame shop and make sure everything is OK. At the very least it will give you peace of mind that the frame is fine.
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Well at this point he isn't looking for precision frame straightening he is trying to determine if it is the body dropped , bad springs or the frame but again your the expert.
Have you ever put a laser on any of these slabs ? Apparently you frame machine you refering doesn't have close tolerances on the install . Over the years our company (general contracting but mainly concrete work) has installed many slabs for balancing machines for rebuilding dozer undercarrages and in local auto plants where the tolerances are +/- 1/8 of a inch . These were all a minimum of 10 feet thick with 5/8" rebar welded every 6" in a giant cage lowered in to the hole . These tolerances require covering in burlap and keeping hydrated during the cure process . But a good concrete company will have +/- 1/4" on the average driveway which is close enough to find 2" drop on a frame or rusted body . But I'm no expert just a guy that gets the job done .
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Well then you are the exception with concrete.
I would LOVE to find someone that can pour that precise around here.
Of course driveways and precision machine slabs are two completely different animals.
I still recommend having it checked.
That way if it checks good, then continue looking at the other possibilities.
I would gladly do that before messing with cab bolts.
At least until I had to.
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No I'm not a exception most any company that does any industrial work can do it most power screeds are lazer controlled .
rustystud
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Well our last base was built in 1976 and I don't remember any Lasers then. In todays world your probably right, but I still don't see any driveways built with Lasers. That is quite interesting though about using Lasers to level concrete. My father and uncle where contractors and they would have loved to see something like that.
joshuak
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About laser use during construction, working as a laborer 15 years ago, the use of total leveling stations was common practice in site work/pipe laying around here, with tolerances of about a 1/4" and it was a rough outfit. No cutting edge technology for us.
rustystud
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1/4" is extremely good ! I have poured slabs before and if you use the bull-float to much you can push to much material where you don't want it ! This laser mounted "screed board" sounds interesting though ! I wonder if you can rent them ?
joshuak
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Doing some searching on laser guided concrete screeds, I came across this article, which suggests that the first one was sold in 1987. The only info. I found on accuracy tolerances are 1/8". Which in my uneducated opinion has more to do with the lasers than the screeding equipment, because dozer laser level tolerances are also 1/8".
A quick search reveals that renting the equipment is a possibility, but for most us... ouch$.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=+laser+guided+concrete+screed+rental&t=ffab&ia=web
Agreed on the bull float, good but not prescise. For a DIY project, I would use a roller supported on sturdy forms, easier to level them I suppose.
A quick search reveals that renting the equipment is a possibility, but for most us... ouch$.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=+laser+guided+concrete+screed+rental&t=ffab&ia=web
Agreed on the bull float, good but not prescise. For a DIY project, I would use a roller supported on sturdy forms, easier to level them I suppose.
reaper556
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Wow..only here can we start out with a little lean and get so far off course that were debating concrete slabs and the frame has to be bent and if someone can read a tape measure and spot the big and little dipper.
OP when your ready to do a brake job come back and I'm sure you'll be told to have your engine pulled and torn down along with your transmission for inspection because its just not as simple as your pads and shoes are worn out and its worth the piece of mind instead of just throwing money at a brake job
OP when your ready to do a brake job come back and I'm sure you'll be told to have your engine pulled and torn down along with your transmission for inspection because its just not as simple as your pads and shoes are worn out and its worth the piece of mind instead of just throwing money at a brake job
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That's just ridiculous. A simple brake job would only require all hydraulic components, new hubs, rotors and drums, new gearsets and master axle rebuild kit, lockout hubs, wheelbearings and new tires with a 2017 build code.