Camber bushings for a stock truck?

[locovaca]

I'm getting ready to POR-15 my I-Beams (as well as a ton of other things). I'm putting all new hardware on the beam and outward. I just got the ball joints out tonight, it looks like I have 0 degree fixed cambers currently. They're rusting to no end, so I want to replace them. Rock Auto has all sorts of ranges for Camber Bushings. What is the lowest range I could go for a 2WD stock Ranger? I have no plans of lifting/lowering in the future, I just want something that gives enough adjustment to get everything lined up, and Rock doesn't seem to sell any fixed bushings.

 

[hondaxr650]

No way to know which bushings you need without taking an alignment measurement to see where it is now. Adjusting the bushings to set camber also screws up your caster and toe-in, so your best bet is to take it to an alignment shop when you're done putting it back together.

 

[locovaca]

No way to know which bushings you need without taking an alignment measurement to see where it is now. Adjusting the bushings to set camber also screws up your caster and toe-in, so your best bet is to take it to an alignment shop when you're done putting it back together.

Right, I understand there's no way to know the exact number, but how did Ford slap every truck with a 0 degree camber bushing at the factory? There's no way for me to buy a -1 to 1 degree bushing and have that cover all of the normal ranges for a completely stock truck?

 

[hondaxr650]

Not really, loco. You could buy a 1 degree bushing that will give you a -1 to+1 degree change from the zero you have now but rotating that bushing to get your camber to where you want it will also move the ball joint forward or back and seriously screw up your caster in the process. Ford didn't put 0 degree bushings in everything, they put in whatever it took to align the truck. I've seen very few 0 degree factory bushings. Almost all of them have some sort of offset for camber and caster.

 

[locovaca]

Hmmm, ok. I mean, I plan on getting this thing professionally aligned anyway, so I'm not trying to do this myself, I'm just trying to get new hardware on there and keep it so it can be aligned. Both of my existing bushings are keyed which is what lead me to believe they were 0 degree, but I suppose they could be simply fixed at some other value (not sure how I'd go about determining what they are now).

 

[hondaxr650]

Probably fixed at some sort of offset. They have numbers stamped on the top surface if you can get through the rust. They'll probably have 2 numbers on them, the first number is the caster.

 

[locovaca]

Thanks for the lesson, I'll take a look tonight