97 Aerostar. Excessive wear on inner 1" of tire only pass side front. Tire has half thread life from that 1" to outside edge. Drivers side ok. Have put new upper and lower balljoints,bushings upper and lower,rack is tight bearings tight. Had it aligned and is in spec. Nothing bent and hasnt been hit. Could it be camber? Or more toe needed

 

It needs an alignment. If it is camber, thats an alignment issue. I've seen many tire shops not actually get it in spec. They get it what they consider "close enough" but they need to aim for the optimal adjustment. I've seen many tire shops ignore chamber adjustments on Aerostars because they require more work since they have to be shimmed to align the camber, and many shops don't want to mess with that.

 

Definitely an alignment problem. It has either too much negative camber or too much toe-in on that side.

Does the car pull to one side while you're trying to go straight down a level road?

Most "professional" alignment shops go by books that have a broad range in alignment specs. What they set the alignments to can be at either end of the ranges, and would be deemed acceptable. But that could end up being far from optimal for safe driving.

 

That's the head scratcher here. Drives straight no pull. I've ordered a set of front springs as I've just turned 415k thinking there must be some sag. It does hit the bump stops quite a bit. Totally agree that the alignment shops have broad specs and adding shims etc wouldn't be on their fav list of things to do.
I'll get it aligned again at another shop once I get the springs in.

 

Had the same issue with same tire. Two different alignment shops did not solve problem nor did rebuilding suspension components. Finally met a fellow Aerostar owner who happened to be an alignment specialist. He said most alignment shops won't take the time to do anything but set toe in/out. The problem was camber and required several spacer shims to correct. Takes a special wrench (which he had) to reach those hard to get to inner bolts. He also said some shops will try to bend the upper wishbone to correct camber, so be aware and ask how they plan to correct for camber.

(I think my issue arose when I loosened the three big bolts that hold the front cradle to the frame. I was going to drop the entire cradle then changed my mind. I had match marked the pieces but apparently something did not go back exactly right.)

 

I had to remove thos 3 bolts when i did the upper bushes and narked as you did. Maybe over time the mounts have moved. Will keep you posted.

 

I also removed those 3 bolts when changing the upper arm bushings, and I marked the positions of the brackets before as well. But when I pressed the new bushings into the brackets, I realized that I could not get them into the same position as the stock bushings were, so the brackets were not going back to their original locations anyway.

I had Sears do the alignment, and the guy was complaining about how far off the camber was on one side, that he might have to charge me extra to loosen those 3 bolts to the the upper arm to the right place. But I persuaded him that I preferred a slight negative static camber, and got the other side to match so it wouldn't pull to either side. I was surprised at the level of diligence from someone at Sears, but I'm glad he tried his best.

By the way, I assume you followed the directions for torquing those bolts? There are 3 steps that end at some humungous torque number that I don't remember now. And you need to check them twice to make sure that they all stay at the torque you left them at during the previous round.

 

Those three bolts are not the way to adjust the alignment. There are two bolts that hold on the upper arm, and they need to be shimmed. If you do an alignment by the bolts that hold the brackets, they can and will shift over time.

 

No, those 3 subframe bolts are not the normal means for adjusting the alignment. But if you've had to loosen them to remove the upper control arm brackets, such as to replace the bushings, and did not put them back to exactly where they were before, such that it was impossible to set the static camber into the specified range using shims alone, then you are forced to loosen them to reset the positions of the UCA brackets, hopefully so that you can set the static camber to the center of the specified range using just 1 medium shim. Then you torque those 3 bolts to spec, and hope never have to touch them again.

 

I recently went to a local tire shop to get a front wheel alignment. The reason is because after I removed the snow tires this spring, I noticed that they were almost bald on the inside edge on the front tires. BTW, these snow tires were brand new last November. But upon their inspection by the tire shop, they advised me that they could NOT do an alignment because they determined that the inner right tie rod was too loose.

I had inquired to the technician that maybe potential sagging front end suspension springs would result in an excessive negative camber setting. He seemingly reassured me that sagging suspension springs were not a symptom of excessive negative camber. That makes a whole lot of sense to Pinocchio!

They then presented me with an estimate of approximately $400 CAN to replace the right side inner tie rod. The price of the right side inner tie rod part alone was about $70. I noticed the other fellow on the phone asking a part supplier about a retail price, in other words, what should our customers be charged for a part.

Anyway, I told the local tire shop that I had the required parts in my closet, and would replace them myself. The technician questioned me if I knew how to install Tie Rods. I told him a 10 year old can install Tie Rods.

The price of an inner tie rod at RockAuto is currently less then $9 US. This is compared to the $70 CAN that the local tire shop wanted to charge me (plus about $330 in labour).

I have never replaced Tie Rods in any vehicle in the past, but I want to tell people that it is easier then replacing brake pads. In this situation, I have now replaced both the inner and outer tie rods on both sides.

There are plenty of YouTube videos and instructions on the web on how to replace Ford Tie Rods. It is very simple really. Some of the YouTube videos are laughable entertainment.

Some things to remember, don't forget to reuse the smaller sized tie rod boot clamp and don't be in a rush. For the larger sized tie rod boot clamp, I used 11 inch nylon cable ties. The time aloted per side will be about 1.5 hours, totaling 3 hours for replacing both the right and left sides of the inner and outer tie rods.

After removing the wheel, inspect the brake pads for wear! Apply some Releasall, or something similar, to the outer tie rod nuts (both the cotter nut and the adjusting nut that connects to the inner tie rod). Then carefully remove the outer tie rod cotter pin. Be patient with the cotter pin, bend it carefully to align with the hole. At this point in time, it would be a good idea to loosen, and then slightly re-tighten the adjusting nut that connects to the inner tie rod. This will make things easier later on when the tie rod is removed.

After the cotter pin is removed, remove the cotter pinned nut from its outer tie rod. At this point in time, it is up to you on how to proceed to knock out the outer tie rod. I used a Pitman Arm puller. You can also use a hammer our whatever you have.

Time to remove the rack & pinion tie rod boot clamps. You can reuse the small tie rod boot clamp, but not the larger inner tie rod boot clamp (assuming that most people do not have the specialized tool to reinstall them). Pull/Slide the tie rod boot back to expose the inner tie rod connection to the rack & pinion steering unit. You may need to apply some lube or soap to the inner tie rod shank in order to slide the tie rod boot back.

Where the inner tie rod connects to the rack & pinion unit, there is a riveted pin that needs to be removed. I used a narrow chisel and hammer to remove the rivet head. DO NOT CUT THE RIVET PIN. Once the rivet head is removed, the rivet pin can be pulled out using a small pliers tool.

To unscrew and remove the inner tie rod connection to the rack & pinion unit, I used a large adjustable wrench. When the connection is fully unscrewed, the entire inner & outer tie rods can now be removed as one single unit.

Measure the total length of the tie rod unit using a tape measure. Mine were 18" on the left side and 17+7/8" on the right side. Separate the inner tie rod from the outer tie rod by loosing the adjuster nut, and unscrewing the outer tie rod. Remove the rubber boot and the small boot clamp (these will be reinstalled onto the new tie rods).

To install the new tie rods, do the reverse order of removal. The new inner tie rod rivet is installed using a hammer. I applied some lube to the inner tie rod ball joint prior to installation. I also applied some thread locker to the inner tie rod connection. After installation, I applied some ball joint lube to the outer tie rod using a grease gun.

Now I am ready to get that wheel alignment done!

 

nobody has mentioned the Wheel Bearings ? the Inner and Outer wheel bearings...Check the adjusting nut Torque, it may drive straight, but if the bearing adjustment is off....

my '97 had a similar issue, when I got the Service Manual from a member of this forum I noticed there is a Wheel Bearing Adjustment Procedure, so I started with the right-front and by golly the whole assembly was loose.

 

Wheel bearings are frightening. You never know if they are too tight or too loose.

In the old days, before the Archimedes torque wrench, the weight of the wrench determined the cross product, angular momentum, position vector, and the fulcrum of torque.

Back to future technology, tighten the wheel bearing nut while spinning the wheel hub, then back off the nut a 1/4 turn. Tighten the nut tight with your fingers.

 

the Service Manual for 1997 Aerostar states "tighten nut to 25 ft. lb., then back off 1/4 turn while spinning hub backwards, then retighten to 20 ft. lb".

mine was almost ready to come off had it not been for the cotter pin and the guide nut.

 

It would be very difficult to do an alignment with a loose tie rod of wheel bearing. I had to replace my outer tie rod ends a few years ago. I used a separator tool from Harbor Freight (a screw-and claw type, not the pickle fork). I have a 4wd van, so the front wheel bearing is quite different than the 2wd model, and I don't think is adjustable.

Usually excessive inner edge tread wear indicates too much static negative camber, so you want to shim the upper control arms outward a little. But in your case it probably is the loose tie rod ends.

The Aerostar's front suspension has a positive camber curve; ei, the camber goes more positive with suspension compression. This is due to the static angle of the upper control arms pointing down and out, causes understeer, and is really bad for handling. So this would contribute to wearing the outside edges of the tires if the springs sag, or if you make a lot of turns at speed.

 

Thank you xlt4wd90! That's really interesting to know! I thought it was the other way around.