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Guy at the shop recommended I get them so I did. I think they were $45 per side, so $90. I don't think he screwed me over considering he didn't have any so he went to O'Reileys down the street and bought them. Then he just charged me what he paid out of pocket.
They work for what they are for, holding the arms in place.
Think of it like this:
The slot is say 1" long. Now even though our trucks are made on an assembly line, they aren't perfect. For arguments sake though, pretend the center of the slot is dead center of adjustment. You then have about a half inch of movement either way.
If you install the cam kit, you still only have a half inch of movement either way. It isn't like they give you more room to adjust the lower arm. All they do is lock the arm in place once the adjustment is made. You could argue that they allow for finer adjustment, but that is a function of how they secure the LCA bolt.
My alignment shop wouldn't adjust my truck without them. I installed the specialty product ones and the shop adjusted my alignment to the exact specs that I wanted in 20 minutes. They are worth it.
Cam kits are neither necessary nor beneficial. They only make performing an alignment easier for the technician. Instead of having to make the adjustments by moving the lower control arms in the adjusting slots by manually moving them, the cam kit allows the adjustment to be made by simply rotating the cam bolt (included in the kit) which moves the LCA's in the slots. If the shop wants to charge you more for the added labor (the labor to move the LCA manually) than I'm ok with that. But don't let them tell you it can't be done without a cam kit. Consider this...How are they adjusted at the factory. Yes it's done by a machine, but the machine still just makes the LCA adjustment and then tightens them in the desired place in the slot.
Also...It is a falsehood that cam kits hold the alignment in place better than without. They actually slip MORE. Look at the suspension of any serious, legitimate and knowledgeable off-road racer's truck at Baja. They DO NOT have cam kits. They adjust the LCA's and then tighten the @#$% out of the bolts, as in using a 1" impact wrench.
Last edited by Robin Davis; Jun 27, 2019 at 01:48 PM.
Reason: Edit
Before the aftermarket caught up with adjustable upper arms and lower locking plates, literally every Raptor that played in the dirt had cam kits. The lower arms wouldn't stay in place without them. I don't know why that was, only that it was. I had them on for several trips prepping for the first Rousch Creek event.
When I moved to a dual front setup with an adjustable upper, we welded locking plates onto the frame. Lowers can't move now.
Some alignment shops won't do an alignment without cam kits, some don't like them and want them off. I installed them when I lowered my truck and the Ford dealership mechanic didn't know how to use them and destroyed them trying to rotate a full 360 degrees. Had to go back to stock bolts to get that alignment.
Regarding retention: Some cam kits do nothing to help retention and may in fact hurt it, while other cam kits definitely help retention. The ones that help retention are more expensive and will be listed as heavy duty. They will talk about improved retention in the part description.
