Alignment Knockouts

[Barra]

Not a diesel question per-se....I had the 'burban in for an alignment yesterday and was told it had to have 'knockouts' done. What in heck are these? Besides outrageously expensive, that is.

Thanks!
B

[lupey6.5]

the factory frame brackets for the upper control arms in the front have slots instead of just round holes for the pivot bolt that goes through the arm. from the factory most trucks have a round hole washer tack welded over this slot "pre-setting" the camber. as the years go by or the front torsion bars wear out or are adjusted for more height, it becomes neccessary to remove(knock out) the tack welded washers in prep for the new eccentric washers that allow the alignment shop to adjust the camber to lean out or in. the parts from gm about $30 its mainly labor. ask them to loosen one of the upper control arms to be sure that it doesn't already have these installed. years of rust and mud made mine look welded but when i loosened the bolts to do mine the washer would turn. i had an alignment shop think mine needed doing too when it didn't.

[Marty Lau]

Yeah another of GM's engineering idea's. Been there done it. You must of taken it to good shop I took my truck to be "aglined" couple times no big deal. Last year I took it to a Full time alginemnt and frame shop and I got the knockout lesson. There are these knock outs in the front end that allow proper adjustment. The first time a full blown alginemnt is done they need to remove them. The guy that did mine told me he charges $40 do remove them and he charged me $60 because "this was the first Diesel I done WOW what a PIA took me alomst 2 hours to do".
The guy had showed me a part of GM front end he kept just to show the knock outs on.

[damork]

16ga SxS

Some places try everything - I can't believe that a shop would try soaking someone extra just because the fuel you burn is diesel. The knockouts are not any different on a gas model. I went through the same process over a year ago.

Same thing happens with oil changes at quick lube shops. I was told that if I had my oil changed it was extra for a 4x4 AND a diesel even if I supplied the filter and oil. Let's see - drain plug and filter, what else am I missing here? I got so frustrated trying to find a place to change my oil while living away from my own shop that I just bought a drain pan and changed it myself in a parking lot.

[scotts]

The knock outs are easy to do. I did them on my parents Tahoe with a Dremel and lots of cut off wheels. That took about 2 hours for both sides. I did my truck about a week later but I bought an air chisel. Then it took 30 min for both sides. I also used air tools for everything.