need suggestions

[Mud Buggy]

im having an odd problem i have never encountered before. sometimes my truck sits like this in the front / \ i have only noticed this when i back into a parking space. any other time the wheels are straight (very close to 90* at least) i do know that im not in perfect alignment since i did it myself, but i don't believe my alignment job is the problem. i also know its not the wheel bearings...i already checked that

any suggestions will be appreciated

 

[Yellowsplash]

Your toe on the alignment is out....go get it professionally done.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i think hes saying the camber is out, not the toe.

do you have a drop pitman arm with that lift? if not, perhaps its a small amount of bumpsteer your seeing due to parking on an unlevel surface....

 

[dogboy]

I think that you have too much tow in. When you drive down the road, the tires want to come together on the bottom, which keeps them like this | |, but when you back into a barkiing spot, then they are wanting to be driven apart, causing the bottoms of the tires to be forced apart.


I'd take it to a pro to have it aligned, or just try the alignment again yourself.

I did my own alignment, and it has been fine for the year and a half I've been driving it. Steers well, goes straight, no wierd tire wear, nothing.

 

[canyoncritter]

ethier you have your truck toe set a little to far in, or you have something in the front end that is worn out of lose and allowing the truck to toe in.



keep setting the toe in a little at a time and drive 10 ft fwd then 10 feet back till the truck is no longer lifting or squawting.

to far toe in, the truck will sqwat like yours is doing now.....

to far toe out the truck will raise up when you go forward and camber out the other way.

 

[Mud Buggy]

i do have a drop pitman arm. how much toe-in should i have?? i used the tape measure method, and got it down to 1/8" (was hoping to get it to 1/16"). the truck rides and drives fine. i even got the steering wheel straight this time, unlike the first couple of times i aligned it this way. there is no odd tire wear either, unlike before i performed my alignment.

something up front could be worn, but i wouldn't know what it would be. the ball joints are fairly new and new wheelbearings.

thanks for the suggestions

 

[Yellowsplash]

Specs should be:

CASTER
Minimum: +2.0°
Maximum: +6.0°
Split: 1.0° ± +0.4° (+0.6° to +1.4°)

CAMBER
Optimum: ±Range +0.25° ± +0.5° (-0.25° to +0.75°)
Split: 0.0° ± +0.4°(-0.4° to +0.4°)

TOE
(in degrees)
Total: +0.06° ± +0.25° (-0.19° to +0.31°)
(in inches)
Total: +0.03" ± +0.12" (-0.09" to +0.15")

 

[4x4junkie]

Make sure the suspension is fully settled when checking things (no bind between the tires).
Put a steel plate on some metal dowels under one front tire (like a movable alignment plate, sortof) and a piece of wood, etc. under the other tire, so the TTB suspension settles down all the way. Alternatively you can try rolling the truck back & forth 10-20 feet a couple times to settle it.

Be aware tires sometimes can have up to 1/4" or so variation (wobble), so you might want to recheck your measurements with the tires 180° opposite, then average between the two if you're going by tape measure.

 

[Mud Buggy]

i use 2 jacks under the coil springs and just get the tires off the floor enough to move them. i measure front and back side (after i lower the truck and go back and forth to get the wheels straightened) and get the difference which in this case was 1/8" which might be slightly more than the specs posted here earlier 1/8" = .125 i believe (no calca-cheater handy) i think i'll just try to get the toe down to 1/16" this weekend and see if the problem persists. i'll post back here then

thanks for the suggestions and specs

 

[Will]

You can't pick the truck up there for an alignment--though alignment shops often do. It has to be aligned on it's tires with the suspension settled. If you pick it up and set it down it will be resting on the outside edges.

I set mine like this--the jack stands keep it at the same hieght as the tires and support the weight in the same spot. Measure the coils to make sure it's settled.

 

[86ford]

jack up each ttb arm individually and try push/pull the wheel top and bottom. i have had problems with the spindle nuts having the little pin on the inner nut sheared off so the nuts back off and allow the tires to throw the camber way off.

86

 

[4x4junkie]

Agreed, you can't jack it up under the coils, the weight absolutely MUST be on the tires while aligning it.

I set mine like this--the jack stands keep it at the same hieght as the tires and support the weight in the same spot. Measure the coils to make sure it's settled.

That might work OK with stock rims, but not if you have wheels with a non-stock offset.

 

[Will]

Good point.

 

[Mud Buggy]

jack up each ttb arm individually and try push/pull the wheel top and bottom. i have had problems with the spindle nuts having the little pin on the inner nut sheared off so the nuts back off and allow the tires to throw the camber way off.

86

i checked that first... i have the same problem with the spindle nuts

i'll have to try your idea to alignment Will... i need to get one of those magnetic protractors like you have.