alignment issue, what did i bend?

[6.2]

Alright, so when i got my new tires slapped on a few months ago i also had the truck aligned. They got it within spec, but just barely on the driver side front. they had it adjusted all the way positive, and it was barely within spec.

there were no issues aligning it last year earlier.
im pretty sure i bent something, but i honestly cant see anything out of the ordinary between the passenger side and driver side.

I need to figure this out asap so i dont kill my basically new tires in a few months. i could get camber bolts to allow furhter adjustment, but if it came out of alignment in only a month or two somethings up.

i want to fix the issue properly rather than just hide it with camber bolts.


so, my question to you ranger guru's is what do you think i could have bent. i have a bit of negative camber. as in, top of the tire sits further in than the bottom.

any way to check for bent items without just eyeballing it?
im guessing its either a lower control arm or upper? but they both look fine to me. Knuckle maybe? but again, looks fine from side to side and the passenger side tire is fine.


i drive this thing way harder than any stock truck should be driven, so im almost positive i bent something just dont know what. any help would be appreciated. ill try and snap some decent pictures later and see if that helps

 

[6.2]

Don't know if these are any help. But pics.

Driver side. (Off camber side)

Passenger side. (Good side)

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[gw33gp]

I had the same thing happen to mine and it could not be aligned to spec without having a camber kit installed on both sides. I think the suspension components just wear enough to cause this to happen. You could probably install all new suspension components and bring it bring it back but a camber kit is less expensive.

I had the camber kit installed at around 140K miles. Now at over 166K miles I am starting to get symptoms that I will need to replace the original ball joints and possibly bushings in the next 10K miles or so. I would guess that may eliminate the need for the camber kit but it is nice to know it is there if needed.

I had an 89 STX Ranger that needed a camber kit installation at around 120K miles. That continued to work well without replacing any suspension components until I sold it with almost 200K miles on it. It is still going with the original suspension components with around 250K miles on it.

 

[6.2]

Well the ball joints are fine and all that. I have a camber kit on the way. Dealer that aligned it said they wouldn't help. No idea why they would say that lol.

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[Road Angels]

cocked

Looks like the lower ball joint isnt as parallel as the other side, its sitting out, if the ball joints have more than 100k they are worn out, unless you replaced them already, mine at 86k looked good and measured good with a drop test but when I pulled the front end down for some other work the ball joint shaft had beaten the the hole oblong, and you maybe like a lot of guys who have had to crank up the drivers side T bar to compensate for lean, things you cant see are the control arm bolt( bent )and the bushing on the arm up in the frame, but Iam only going by the pics witch we all know can distort what you see

 

[6.2]

Ball joints were replaced about 30k miles ago. But again. I do abuse the hell out of it. But they don't seem to have any play in em.

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[brokemechanic3000]

A printout from the alignment would help a lot here. Just guessing that the ride height wasn't checked and just the camber/caster and toe were checked.

 

[6.2]

They played around with the torsion bars to get it in spec. Didn't get an read out. Was done maybe 5-7k miles ago. Bout two months.

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[adsm08]

You bent the knuckle.

That was my first instinct when first I read the thread, but didn't have time to post a reply.

Look at the top of the knuckle by the upper arm in each picture. See how the tire is almost rubbing in the side that has a camber issue? These knuckles are ridiculously easy to bend.

I have seen one bend from as little as a bad wheel bearing. Now, this was a catastrophically bad wheel bearing. Like CV nut was the only thing keeping the wheel with the vehicle kind of bad wheel bearing.

 

[6.2]

Could be the angle of the pic. I just noticed they're a tad different. But its probably the knuckle now that you mention it. I'll take a closer look. Thanks.

Surprised it took me this long to actually do some damage lol.

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[brokemechanic3000]

You bent the knuckle.

That was my first instinct when first I read the thread, but didn't have time to post a reply.

Look at the top of the knuckle by the upper arm in each picture. See how the tire is almost rubbing in the side that has a camber issue? These knuckles are ridiculously easy to bend.

I have seen one bend from as little as a bad wheel bearing. Now, this was a catastrophically bad wheel bearing. Like CV nut was the only thing keeping the wheel with the vehicle kind of bad wheel bearing.

I thought the same thing when I saw the lower part of the knuckle where the opening for the balljoint is. It looks bent there.

 

[adsm08]

I thought the same thing when I saw the lower part of the knuckle where the opening for the balljoint is. It looks bent there.

I thought so as well, but it is usually hard to see when they bend there and so I chalked that up to the angle of the photo.

The best test of a bent knuckle in the car is to look at the space between the top of the tire and the neck for the upper ball joint.

If you have it out (like at the junk yard) just lay it on something, it should lay fairly flat.

 

[6.2]

I'll take some measurements tomorrow and post my findings.

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[kimcrwbr1]

Take it to someone that specializes in front end work any frame and axle and get a free safety check. They will tell you what it needs. I will let them do the alignment normally cost more but worth the expertice.

 

[6.2]

Dunno if they do that here.

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