tie rod adjustment

[scrapper]

I'm am done putting a 4" lift on the front of my truck so I replaced all the tie rods. I was trying to adjust the toe in but one side was way out of adjustment even after the adjustment bottomed out. I can put them in the middle of the adjustments on both sides and move the pit-man arm over a bit or is that a bad idea? I must have done something wrong?I really need to get it back on the road, it is my DD. I did count the threads and put them back where they were.Steering wheel is centered. Any idea what I can do?Everything is not completely tight but I am trying to get some idea if it will fit. It doesn't seem like it will without moving the pit-man arm a inch or so to the passenger side?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I believe that what you need to do is back off the one with no more adjustment and add the same amount of turns to the opposite side. That will keep your steering wheel centered and leave you some adjustment to fix the toe-in.

Richard

 

[scrapper]

I think the pit-man arm will be offset to one side, so the steering wheel stays centered.Will that be a problem?It seems to be okay on the other side? I can try turning both of them though.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

This isn't something I do a lot of but if memory serves....
The steering wheel cannot be adjusted on the column because their is a flat on the spline - only one way to put on the steering wheel. So adjusting the wheel is done by adjusting both tierods. If all the adjustment is gone on one tierod, then some adjustment has to be transfered from the other tierod. That's done by counting turns as one side is adjusted to the minus and adding the same amount onto the other side. I don't remember if there is a flat on the pitman arm so that may be able to be adjusted one spline over.
Basically the toe is set and then the wheel is centered after.

 

[scrapper]

Okay was thinking about that and will try again today after work.I was doing it a little different, trying to match the wheels up to the pitman arm. Thanks for the quick reply. I understand what your saying now.

 

[scrapper]

The drivers side tie rod bottoms out before the toe end can be set. This is the problem. Any idea if I did something wrong?I was wondering if I put the right side tie rod on the drivers side?The other side seems okay.

 

[ab_slack]

When it "bottoms out" do you mean that the tie-rod end actually hits the steering arm or drag link under the adjustment sleeve and there are threads left on both sides of the sleeve? Or are you just running out of threads? If running out of threads, is it on one side of the sleeve or both sides? If it is on one side perhaps the sleeve isn't centered properly on the gap?

Other thought, what kind of lift did you put in? I am assuming a suspension lift of some sort. Did this involve replacing the pitman arm with an extended one?

I went thru replacing the tie-rod ends on my BII, I don't know how similar that 87 is to your 94. I know at some point they changed up things so this may not be relevant. In fact my first comment may not be relevant.

If this is like my BII, if you have a suspension lift the steering gear is higher than before. If the original pitman arm is used it means the steering arm and drag link are at a steeper angle which is going to make the wheels point more towards each other. Because the steering arm is shorter than the drag link I would expect the driver's side to be more significantly affected. But since that would pull the tires in, I wouldn't expect a bottom out problem but rather an inability to go far enough out.

I don't know what is typical to deal with this when doing a lift. I seen drop down pitman arms used that extend the arm down to keep the steering arm and drag link angles about the same. Now if one of those drop down arms is used and it drops down too far I could see the opposite problem result.

 

[scrapper]

I got a pro comp just the front. I still have to raise the back. I measured from the ground to the bottom of the fenders and the back is 3" lower than the front. I put a fa400 pitman arm on. I noticed was the drivers side could not be turned in because the tie rod end was screwed up against the drag link end? maybe inner tie rod? To get the other side close the tie rod was unscrewed a lot. I think I can adjust it to where they are close in the middle of the threads but tires will be turned to the left. The steering wheel will be off if I do that. I think I will have to turn the steering wheel counter clock wise? one revolution then set the steering wheel to middle? I tried turning the steering both ways there are 2 revolutions to the right and about 4 to the left. It would raise the right side of the truck up in the air a little if I turned it about 6 times to the the left. I am wondering where the stop is located? I think it may be missing. I guess I am not sure if I can turn the wheels to the left with the adjusting sleeves to adjust them? Then to center the wheel, do I still have to take the pitman arm off? I have never messed with a front end before and from what I have read it seems to be more confusing . I was told that I could also turn the pitman arm a small amount one way or the other to help center the wheels? I have been sick all week, but am going to try to go back out tomorrow and work on it some more. I have adjustable bushings for the caster and camber. I also have a angle indicator, cheap one from ebay. The tires are sticking out quite a bit at the bottom.

 

[black_demon69]

did you replace eccentric at top ball joints to give more adjustment to camber (if memory serves stock gives + or - .5 degree you may need more adjustment and can get new after market eccentrics that have + or - 2 degrees or more) also note that camber does affect toe. best advice is to get it aligned providing ball joints are good. then steering wheel and tires will be straight...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Could you get pics? of where you are trying to adjust tie rods, also from the front of the truck eye level with pitman arm.
have you seen these articles;

http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2008/steering_tech.htm
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Alignment.shtml

 

[scrapper]

http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq289/scrapper1961/94 ford ranger/001.jpg
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq289/scrapper1961/94 ford ranger/002.jpg
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq289/scrapper1961/94 ford ranger/0652.jpg
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq289/scrapper1961/94 ford ranger/0662.jpg
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq289/scrapper1961/94 ford ranger/005.jpg
http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq289/scrapper1961/94 ford ranger/006.jpg

 

[scrapper]

I did not try to correct the camber yet was trying to get the tie rods worked out. I will give it a go in the morning. The camber should be easy I have moog adjustable bushings. I did find a rear lift blocks so I'm going to put those on first then try to set the camber, then the toe in out. I did read the first link you posted and have watched several u-tube videos, read a couple other forums about alignment. I thing that is causing me grief is why is it turning 6 turns one way and only 2 turns the other way, and it lifts the front of the truck up.

 

[lvwill]

I just went through basically the same thing.. you need to start over. Remove the drag link from the pitmanvarm and then make sure that the pitman arm is centered.. turn the steering wheel all the way to the left the count the turns to the right. Turn it back to the left 1/2 the total turns... This will center the steering box and pitman arm. Then you can start adjusting the tierod ends with the wheels straight until you can get it to attach to the pitman arm

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I used the little square box with a mountain inside at the top of the reply box and pasted the "img" link from your photobucket account;

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

One of the problems with aligning the tib and ttb suspension is "jacking" especially when changing alignments. You need to make sure that the front isn't bound up. You can do that by rolling the truck forward and back 10 feet or use some dowels inbetween two plates of steel under one wheel. the dowels should be parallel with the frame. Wood [1x4 or?] an equal amount of thickness of the dowels and plate should be under the other tire.

It also looks like your pitman arm drop isn't enough but that could also be the front "jacking"