The front passenger wheel sat about half an inch closer to the cabin than the driver side. At lock it kissed the rear edge of the fender. Upper control arm was cracked from the hit. Mount bracket was bent. Frame was fine.

Replaced the arm first. Detroit Muscle special, 46 bucks. The chain stores wanted 250 to 300. I had other plans for that 200.

Then the mount.

Plan A was the giant oak in the backyard. Wrap a chain around it, anchor the truck, pull. Slept on it. Woke up imagining the headline. Tree falls, house loses. Hard pass.

Plan B was eccentrics. Counter-rotate the upper control arm bolts, claw back the half inch. Cheaper, faster, sketchier. Tried it. Got a quarter inch back. Better. Not enough. The wheel still kissed the fender, just less.

Plan C came in the morning, with coffee. A shorter, thicker palm tree on the side of the house. Strong enough to take a measured pull, not strong enough to take the whole truck down if something snapped. Wrapped a chain. Set solid stands under the frame, no jack balancing this time. Pulled the bumper for clearance. Dropped the upper arm, the spring, the shock. Reinstalled the arm bolts with the caster adjusters in place, snug but not tight. Hooked the chain to the front pivot bolt.

Five millimeters at a time. Two coffees. Three chains. Watched the mount walk back into spec.

Rush is a bad advisor. I would rather spend two days easing metal back than one hour making a new problem and a date with the junkyard welder.

The front landed true. The rear took another pass. Geometry woke up. One hitch left, the stock upper arm couldn't quite reach the new pivot position, so the wheel didn't sit perfectly vertical. Almost. Ordered longer arms made for lowered trucks. They run about an inch longer.

Side note. I noticed the front sat about an inch low while I was measuring. Nine years under a 6.2 will tire a spring. New springs and shocks went on the order list too.

The bent mount cost me a week and a half. Could have welded in a junkyard piece in an afternoon. I know that. I did it the long way on purpose. The next episode is why.