upper control arm shims

Anybody know the exact amount of shims that need to be between the base of upper arm an frame for alignement purposes?

That really depends man, it depends on your truck, how your ball joints are wearing, and how much drop or lift you have added if any.

What is your camber like?

Unfortunately, no. The number of shims is actually different from truck to truck. One way to get things close is to create a 90 degree form out of 2x4's that you can set next to the tire. Put the truck at ride height and keep adding / removing shims until the tire is standing straight up (Camber adjustment). That is a starting point. You will also notice that a different amount of shims can be put on the front bolt vs the rear bolt and still have the tire standing straight up. The reason for this adjustment is to adjust the "Caster" or how far the upper ball joint sits "behind" or "towards the rear of the truck" in relation to the lower ball joint.

Both the passenger and drivers side "Caster" should be close to the same.

Once you have the above done, then adjust the tie rod ends so that both front tires are parallel to each other. Now it should be safe to take to an alignment shop and have things fine tuned for proper alignment.

Great write up Linn!

yeah that's worth a sticky in suspension tech

Thanks Linn I really appreciate you giving me that information it really helps me out. That was a really good write up and has a lot of valuable information for me.

No problem - got a crash course in alignment dynamics from my brother (ASE Certified Master Mechanic) a few years ago and I guess some of it stuck. If you run into anything else alignment related, let me know and I will try to help.