Right Front Wheel set back in wheel well!

[strapon]

Hi, I just bought this truck and noticed the right front tire was not centered in the wheel well. It's quite a bit further back than the drivers side, at least an inch or 2. I was wondering if this is normal or should both sides be about the same? I don't think the truck's been in any major accidents and it drives good and goes down the road straight. I looked under it and noticed the passenger side pivot point was not square with the axle beam. It also looks like the pivot mount on the cross member might be bent. If in fact is is bent it looks like it will be difficult to repair. I'd like to know if anyone has any ideas or have had this problem also. I attached pics for reference. Look to me that if it was square and bent straight it would move the wheel ahead. Thanks

 

[trail B2]

It doesn't look right I would look at a similar year truck on the street.I would look at the inside of the tires and see if there worn that would make it toed out.

 

[Nhaz]

If the wheel is pushed back the radius arm bushing could be gone or damaged. Or the arm could be bent. The bracket the radius arm is bolted too could also be bent.

on that pivot there is a bushing in there that will flex like that. but I don't think it should stay that way.

 

[strapon]

I took a look at a friends Bronco II and the pivot bracket and axle beam are perfectly square to one another. The axle beam on my truck is at almost perfectly 90 degrees and the pivot is at about 80 degrees. If I could figure out a way to move the pivot back to it's original location I'm sure it will put the tire back in the correct location. In order for me to have the room to bend it back or fabricate a new one I'll probably have to remove the entire front suspension. The radius arms look good and all the bushings are in great shape. The truck still drives really good. Looks to me that he hit sometime with the front tire and the part that gave way was the pivot bracket because the axle beam has a lot of leverage when pushed from the outer end.

 

[Nhaz]

The radius arm determines how far back that wheel sits. If its bent or the bracket the arm bolts too is bent, that will show up as that pivot angle you see in those pictures.

The TTB itself could also be bent or twisted. The weak point where you should be able to see this is at the point where the axle shaft enters the beam.

If the TTB is bent or twisted I would be looking for other damage, namely back at the radius arm, since you have to hit it rather hard to bend that.

 

[strapon]

I'm going to try to move the passenger side axle beam pivot bracket back where it should be. I think its going to take some heat and my portapower. I'll let you know how it goes. I've attached pics for reference. The passenger side is about 1.5" back further than the drivers side.

 

[Nhaz]

The passenger side TTB axle pivot bracket Should be held on by 4 rivets. I have personally popped two lose on mine and had to replace with bolts in the process I bent the axle quite a bit. But I didn't bend the pivot bracket.

Even then the tire didn't sit like that. From the first pic's the pivot bracket looks fine but the axle looks like its sitting at a angle in the pivot. Which suggests to me that the pivot isn't the problem.

I would be seriously looking into what the radius arm is doing how its bolted on and Its bracket. Since you really can't push that wheel back without killing that arm, its bushing or the radius arm bracket. a badly installed bushing could possibly also do this.

 

[Yellowsplash]

Has to be Radius arm and/or bushings...

 

[bcost882]

yea you might wanna check out the bushings and replace them, cause it looks like the bracket is straight but the beam is twisted a bit

 

[strapon]

I'll need to look at another Ranger and take a closer look at it's pivot bracket for reference. The axle beam looks like it was replaced and the radius arm may have been replaced also. All the bushings look good and nothing (other than the pivot bracket) looks bent, broken, or cracked. Thanks

 

[strapon]

It would help me a lot if I could get someone to check the angle of the drivers side axle beam pivot bracket and the passenger side axle beam pivot bracket and see if they are both at the same angle. My Driver side is almost exactly 90degrees and the passenger side is only at about 78degrees. I think they should be about the same. If they are same on another rig then I'll know for sure that mine is bent. Thanks

 

[RangerSkate28]

I have this same problem on my 2000 and havent been able to figure it out? could the bushing problem be the same on mine?

Normal side

Not centered side

You can tell my looking at the back of the fender and how much closer it is on the passenger side.

drives fine like "srapon's"

 

[shane96ranger]

I don't think the truck's been in any major accidents

I'm not Matlock or Columbo, but looking at the dent in your passenger side fender, I'd say a tire got shoved back into that in an accident. That would certainly explain why your brackets are bent to hell.

 

[strapon]

I bent the passenger side pivot bracket back closer to where it should be and it moved the wheel ahead about .5" but that's not enough. I'm going to do some additional measuring and try to figure out what else is tweaked. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.