See my new topic on building a set of simple toe gauge plates.

 

Ross, there's no reason they couldn't set the toe if you gave them the spec. Toe specs on just about everything are similar anyway. Zero to 1/8 toe in will be OK on just about any vehicle, and any good shop should know that. You've found a shop where the techs don't have the basic knowledge of caster, camber and toe, and don't know what to do if the computer doesn't tell them. What's worse is they don't care. In my business I deal with this type of ignorance all the time. See, now you got me started?
My advice to you is set it yourself. I rough it in with a tape measure on a tread block. Then I place a piece of tape, centered on each tire tread, at the rear of the tire and place a mark on both. Measure between the marks. Roll the truck forward until the tape is at the front of the tread and measure between the marks again. The difference is the toe, either in or out. I have a nice trammel bar I made for measureing the marks, making this a one man job. If you have a helper, two guys and a tape measure will do fine. Tell Bobby there's beer involved and he'll be right over.

 

I guess you got what you paid for.

Just kidding. That is usually the way it works, paying for something only to find someone could have done it for free or loaned you what you needed to do it yourself.

 

People who use computer alignment are kinda like tax preparers. If they are good you make out, if not you are at a loss. We still have an old caster/camber gauge and also have an old toe gauge with the bar and adjustable fingers to adjust for any front end. I also have a good friend who lined up front ends at his job for about forever with all the old stuff and he still does alignment at his house with the old stuff. It is all about angles. No matter how you get the angles ,if they are right it is good. Being old has some advantages but not many.

 

I went to a mom and pop tire shop to get the wheels/tires on my 52 balanced thinking that they'll be able to do it because they're not part of a corporate chain, but I was told that they don't know how to blance wheels with bias ply tires.

 

I have to say that we still have it pretty lucky around here. Most of the mechanics around here still have a brain above their shoulders and aren't scared to death of working on a vehicle that doesn't have a plug for a computer diagnostic tool. I think it has a lot to do with peer pressure in a small town. Joe Mechanic up the road knows that the word will get out if he says something stupid like "Our computer doesn't go back that far..." and he will be the laughing stock among his peers. The absolute saddest case of this that I've ever heard was possibly mentioned here a few months ago, but I can't exactly remember where I read the story. Some guy was traveling with his vintage Ford truck and stopped at a Ford dealership because something broke, and he didn't have a clue where else to go. All of the "technicians" in the building apparently flocked around his truck and offered to help with great enthusiasm. Then management came out and said they weren't allowed to work on something that old..... yada yada. That's almost like telling your grandpa that he can't eat at the supper table in the house that he built.

This kind of mentality doesn't just apply to auto repair. The next time you go to a doctor's office, ask them to check your blood pressure manually (not with that stupid machine that seemingly always adds an extra 20 points to the reading). Watch how many panicked and irritated looks you get from the staff.

 

I forget who said it, but the quote goes "Common sense is not so common anymore"

Applies to OP's alignment difficulties quite well. Toe-in is toe-in, the car does not matter. The actual setting may have to tell the guy doing the work, but setting toe-in should not be so difficult.

 

I went by an experienced tire/wheel/alignment shop today. Was quoted $230 to balance four wheels and do the alignment on my 52. They'd need the alignment specs to enter into the alignment computer system. He doesn't provide the wedges, so I'd have to buy them before taking the truck to him.

Speaking of alignment specs, does anyone have them? I'm sure Ford provided a chart of somesort.

Thanks.

 

No offense guy, but ARE YOU SERIOUS??? Who is this guy, Jay Leno's chief mechanic or the set-up engineer for the Ferrari F-1 team? IMHO 30.00 a tire is an expensive balance job x 4 = 120.00 that leaves 110.00 to set the toe and the caster. The camber is not adjustable unless you bend the axle, and unless it has been in an accident it likely is reasonably fine for the street as is (I bet he wants more or bows out if the axle needs bending). The caster can be checked with a 30.00 digital angle gauge and you are already paying for the shims. Again, unless you have installed lowering springs it's likely the caster is satisfactory. If you have changed the springs, or are planning long/high speed trips, add a set of shims for good measure, it definitely won't hurt anything and will make the steering more stable. The toe is easily set with a nail and a string or with the homemade toe plates I posted yesterday. These trucks were extremely simple and the design is insensitive to a range of variances in the front end alignment, and were made to resist getting knocked out of alignment unlike the lightweight stamped parts in the IFS of today's vehicles. Even the dealers seldom ever did an alignment except because of an accident, and even then they were likely to do a test drive and if the truck didn't pull heavily or jump all over the road they were likely to leave it alone. An alignment on the beam axle is highly overrated (and evidently highly overpriced in CA). Remember in 1950 the closest thing to a computer was a slide rule or an abacus, and it would have been far more likely to find a pair of panties than an angle gauge in a mechanic's tool box back then.

By the way you can buy a simple but perfectly serviceable bubble balancer on ebay for <60.00. It's the way almost all tires were balanced well into the late 1980s.

 

Here they are. Remember that the specs are for bias tires, I don't remember if yours are. I'm actually surprised how little toe-in it calls for.

I tend to agree that the guy is pricing in uncertainties. Forget about shims, just have him measure all the variables, set the toe-in, deal with the caster and camber later if needed.

 

Thanks AX and Ross. I was just looking around for general prices. A friend just bought a commercial balancing machine. I'll take my wheels to him and that'll be free. I'm also around shops enough to likely get someone to align my truck as a "favor" to me.

 

You must remember the historical context in the 1940's-50's when these specs were set:
All tires were unbelted bias ply. Most were hand built rather than machine made, tread squirm was the rule rather than the exception. Rubber had been a rationed commodity and was still expensive, so tire life was a high priority. Tires were made of mostly natural rubber and soft. Comfort and handling were not a priority, or even expected. Roads were mostly unpaved, poor to non existent. Average speed was <20 MPH, max 40. Trucks were work vehicles, trips were very short.
For today's driving on long lasting belted tires, bias or radials, high speeds on smooth paved roads, for long distances, we want a vehicle that doesn't require constant steering corrections.
I'd suggest using more toe-in than factory spec, something in the 1/8" total toe-in for around town driving, up to 1/4" for expressway and distance driving. I'd also add the smallest caster shim.

Note the very wide ranges for caster, camber.

 

Ax thank toe in gauge of yours sounds great , I believe I'll make a set when I get back to work after holidays . Sure wish I had known about them when I was working on Mack oilfeild trucks 30 years ago .

 

I've been playing with my toe-in after installing new tie-rod ends. Started at almost 3/8" (just where it ended up after install), dropped to a 1/4", then an 1/8", now am at 3/32" (as little as I can read with my tool). It's amazing how much easier it rolls on the garage floor with minimal toe-in. Had it up to 60 and no discernable difference in wander or following ruts with the low toe-in, plenty stable. I had a pretty strong side-wind and no problem.

 

Sounds like it is ready for a trip east?