89 F250, 4wd, 460/7.5

The right front tire leans outward, wearing the tire BADLY.

Yes, an alignment might help of course, but is a particular front-end part worn?
Which part 'could' it be?

This is "camber" correct?

Thanks in advance!

 

does just the top or bottom of the tire lean out? i'm gonna say the ball joints are bad

 

When or if you go get an allignment, I'm sure the shop would check for worn or bad parts. Some shops won't do an allignment unless the suspension is all good and tires in good shape as well. Start poking around under the truck for anything loose or out of place in the front suspension components. Have someone turn the wheel all the way left and then right while you observe.

 

Most alignment shops will do an inspection for around 20 bucks. I just had my '93 checked. I paid them for the inspection then bought all the parts and installed them myself and saved a couple of hundred. Then I took it back for an alignment.

 

The top of the tire leans outward.

 

99.9% of the time, the tires lean inward, not outward, when you have sagging springs, worn out ball joints, or anything else wrong with the front end.

Has it been apart recently? Anything unusual happen to the truck? What's the history of it? Has it been abused?

 

Bought it a few months ago. Standard usage, nothing out of the ordinary (trips to get straw, poultry to slaughter house, etc).

Have been tinkering with it. Only front end work I've done is new tie rod ends. They were quite worn out. Steering is still quite loose, I'll be checking/adjusting the steering box soon.

In the process of oil pan, rear seal, headers, Cat, cat-back exhaust.

I'll attack this front-end issue when this big project is over. I'm just planning ahead at this point for the front end. It probably wouldn't hurt to do the ball joints though, not sure when the last time they were done/checked.

 

Ball Joints, but the whole front end on them trucks wern't the best. Replace tie rods and ends.

 

You must be in the parts business. Generally I'd suggest checking individual parts for problems before replacing them all.

 

To check ball joints jack up the front end and grab the tire on the top and bottom and wiggle ( not side to side but top to bottom). If the tire wiggles then it is the ball joints. Does the truck drive ok? Don't know why anyone would pay 20 bucks for inspection just go get a front alignment most places I've gone will not do a alignment if there is a bad part and they will tell you for free what part is bad. But it is not hard to see what front end part is bad just do alittle checking. It helps to have a second person for checking the tie rods and etc since wiggling the tire and looking is difficult.

 

00bucker, I said in a post before yours: "...I've done the tie rods..." and the tie rods wouldn't affect the camber, they effect toe-in/out.

 

Sounds like a bent suspension part, or the last guy to do the ball joints put that side together wrong and the camber shim is backwords.

 

Yeah Conanski, I'm leaning towards a good ol' fashioned ball joint inspection at this point. I've been trying to find info on those shims. Does a new set of ball joints come with the shims (this will be my first truck ball joint experiance)?

I guess I should plan on doing both sides since only God knows the last time they were done/looked at.

Maybe I should concentrate on my oil pan job from hell first.

 

My '88 had that issue.

Bearings were worn out.

 

No, the alignment cams do not come with the ball joints. You must buy them separate for around $15.00 each at my Napa store. They also vary in degrees of correction, ranging from 1/4 degree to 3 degrees or so.