IRS cradle: How to tell if it's "squared" or properly aligned?

rvlyssup said:

As for cradles being off, the bad ones are pretty obvious. I also really believe that driveline vibration issues are caused and in some cases greatly amplified on some cars out there due to misaligned cradles from the factory.

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Good point, and my experience supports that. Don't know if it proves it.

My slight vibration over 80 MPH was eliminated after installing the alignment pins, even without a wheel alignment. Thought it was tire balance and I just ignored it because at the time I never much got over 70 mph and usually spent more time at 30 mph in traffic. I mean the vibrations can come from tons of places and my experience doesn't necessarily mean that aligning the IRS is the solution for all, but it helped me. Could very well have been that my simply unbolting and bolting in the IRS did something to solve it and the pins had nothing to do with it. I don't know... but I'll take it. I have no doubt the BMR lockout would have had the same "unexpected" benefit on my car.

To color this point, my cradle seemed to be out of alignment toward the driver's side such that when I put on 20" wheels with 315 tires, the driver side was flushed differently with the fender than the passenger side. The tire only rubbed on he driver side (which could be due to my weight but it was visually obvious. Pissed me off, actually. I never "checked alignment" (specifically camber between sides) to see if that was just the issue, though. Anyway, I went the Steeda route and the alignment pins fixed that entirely. BMR lockout would have done the same thing. Now my wheels/tires look the same on both sides under the fender.

Now if only there was a real solution to shutting up the noisy driveline, I'd be golden. #mt82andtorsenproblems

We did my CB005 kit at the same time as lowering springs and lowered one side of the IRS at a time. Mine looked to line up near perfect stock, so the braces went on effortlessly. I'd say if you're super concerned with it get the steeda pins and run the back half but I don't think it's necessary really. The CB005 is my favorite, and easiest, mod I've done to my car.

Chad11491 said:

The CB005 is my favorite, and easiest, mod I've done to my car.

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:first:

Thanks!

rvlyssup said:

AFAIK, CB005 isn't designed to perfectly center the cradle due in part to compensate for factory specs being inconsistent. Is it however close to perfect on a broad sense. Mine was pretty much aligned from the factory, installing the kit took out any doubts everything back there was square. I did however add half of the STEEDA alignment kit (back half only) & while I was installing it, I still had to nudge the cradle just a small bit for one of the rear bolts to go in effortlessly.

As for cradles being off, the bad ones are pretty obvious. I also really believe that driveline vibration issues are caused and in some cases greatly amplified on some cars out there due to misaligned cradles from the factory.

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We will have a kit available late next week to work with CB005 customers.

Talking to the Steeda Techs it takes only about 30 mins to install our Steeda IRS alignment kit. as mentioned in this thread it definitely locks the IRS sub frame in place once and for all.

SteedaTech said:

We will have a kit available late next week to work with CB005 customers.

Talking to the Steeda Techs it takes only about 30 mins to install our Steeda IRS alignment kit. as mentioned in this thread it definitely locks the IRS sub frame in place once and for all.

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Please keep in mind. The CB005 you guys have, may be the old design.

If you want to send me a pic of it, I can let you know whether or not that is the case. You want to make sure, for certain, that you use the height of the new design....or you will release a part that does not work right.

The other company that makes them says they may do the same...but I cringe when loading the bolt threads on their aluminum when fitment is tight. For that reason, I prefer your Delrin pieces.

SteedaTech said:

We will have a kit available late next week to work with CB005 customers.

Talking to the Steeda Techs it takes only about 30 mins to install our Steeda IRS alignment kit. as mentioned in this thread it definitely locks the IRS sub frame in place once and for all.

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Cool stuff...

I'm going to delay my CB005 installation to be able to install the whole thing in a day.

I like seeng vendors work together to help us users have a superior product [MENTION=25806]SteedaTech[/MENTION] [MENTION=9985]BMR Tech[/MENTION]. Great work

keltymd said:

I like seeng vendors work together to help us users have a superior product [MENTION=25806]SteedaTech[/MENTION] [MENTION=9985]BMR Tech[/MENTION]. Great work

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I was thinking the same thing.( I have parts from both)

In the IRS cradle their are 2 aligning holes that align to the unibody. One is round the other is oval. You could use a .800 diameter pin on both sides to align the cradle to the car. These two holes are at the rear portion of the cradle by the two large blue bolts that fasten it to the car.

This pic is the passenger side subframe

This is the passenger side IRS cradle

Driver side IRS cradle

Driver side sub frame.
If you use a .800 diameter dowel in both holes that will align the IRS cradle to the car. Then when you do your four wheel alignment you're good to go. I like to string my cars. And I believe it's more accurate then a 4 wheel alignment rack job from the corner shops. Stringing it will center everything off the center of the car. I also like to put my body weight into the drivers seat and align the car since we're driving with us in it. Just have a friend or weights in the driver seat as you do it.

BMR Tech said:

The CB005 centers the cradle up front very well.

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Nuff said. 1st time I put this on I knew it is a solid part. I will say it again........best mod on this car for the $$$. Reason is the IRS is so sloppy. This part should of been on the car when I bought it.

[MENTION=7033]Voodoo[/MENTION] great pics. I was looking for mine today and ran out of time at the office.

To touch on that, and a comment I think you had stated the other day about aftermarket companies and their tolerances, I have found that some of these cars have inserts that are not centered within the chassis. As a matter of fact, due to that, we redesigned our Delrin and Poly bushing kits. They used to have a standard bolt sleeve, but when installed on some cars that had inserts off center, the sleeve would not fully contact the body and it would slightly deform the metal when torquing to spec. We eliminated the sleeves with the Delrin kit and went with a huge diameter sleeve on the poly kit, to compensate for this cars with off set inserts.

My point is, on one of our cars, using the holes you mention made it almost impossible to thread the bolts.

BMR Tech said:

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To add, sometimes being 100% can work against you. With our CB005, you have a small amount of tolerance that you can use to your advantage when performing and alignment and positioning the wheels within the body of the car.

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I think my GT was built on a Friday. The bolts were fairly off center from the factory. Took a fair amount of prying to get all four bolts back in with the CB005 all installed and keep the bolts nice and perpendicular so-as not to cross thread them. I don't think it would be possible to loosen them and move the cradle to any other position than the one it is in now. Was kind of surprised when I took it in for an alignment and the tech told me it was pretty much all within spec, but I let him fine tune it and get all the numbers nominal.