I started to notice some feathering on my tires so I took my truck into the local tire factory that is supposed to be good at aligning these trucks. I was thinking that the ball joints had finally gone but they said they were still good. They said that the alignment was good other than the caster was out a little bit and that the shocks were bad and most likely causing the feathering. The shocks were bad and I replaced them but the feathering is starting to get worse. I jacked up the front end and checked the ball joints and they still seem good, which is surprising since they still look like the original ball joints (no grease zerks on them) and the truck has a lift and 200,000 miles).

The part that bugs me is that the alignment tech claimed he couldn't adjust the caster on it even though it has what appears to be 2 degree caster shims and the extended radius arms for the lift has the alignment cams on them specifically for caster adjustments. I think the tech was just to lazy to actually break the rust free on the ball joints and adjust everything.

I also noticed that the alignment cams on the drop brackets for the axle beams are a little messed up from the last alignment shop (Les Schwab). The axle cams have off center washers on either side of the bracket and it looks like they didn't loosen one enough and hit it with an air chisel to turn it and put some scars/gashes on one edge of it and the washer on the front of the axle is turned different than its companion washer in the back side. Both cams are like this. I will have to post some pics of it.

Really pisses me off when shops claim to know what they are doing and really have no idea. When ever I bring up the alignment cams on the axles and radius arms I almost always get a blank stare from the alignment tech like what are those? It's not like these are rare trucks, there are lots of them driving around here, you would think that they would be able to align them pretty easily. Especially since the lift has more alignment adjustments on it than the stock truck does!

That's my alignment rant; I am just tired of slowly having my new tires get ruined due to stupid alignment techs that are to lazy to do their jobs right.

 

Completely agree with you. When I bought new tires, I had them aligned there and just for giggles, I took it to "MY" alignment guy. He said this is no where near correct. I said why is that, it wad just aligned... Long story short, it was aligned correctly by a true mechanic, at a completely different shop!

 

Those techs at the average tire shop don't see enough of these old suspensions to be any good at them. The schools and OEMS don't teach this stuff. The guys that were good with them are old *******s like me and are retired.

Find a heavy duty truck alignment and frame shop to do your work. They will likely be able to help you. They are used to working on big, greasy, rusted worn out stuff. Working on your little F series is child's play compared to what they see everyday. You may think you have a big truck but compared to a 20,000 lb. Peterbilt it's a Prius.

 

Thats a good idea, I will have to look around for a shop like that.

 

What suspension are you talking about? TTB or solid axle?

 

TTB, it was on the truck in my sig.

 

Sigs dont show up on my phone. So its a half ton I assume. Adjustable radius arm bushings arent very common. Is that what you have? Not sure about caster shims you speak of either. Ive only seen them used on solid axle trucks with a good bit of lift.

 

biggest thing to keep in mind.. most techs anymore are taught caster is something that cant be changed.. ive heard this BS so many times its drives me nuts... all 3 alignment angles can be changed if needs comes to be.

 

The camber caster shims are the replacement shims that go on top of the upper ball joint and adjust the the angle on the ball joint. The alignment cams on the radius arms are located where the radius arm attaches to the frame. It is pretty obvious if you know what they are so I would assume an experienced alignment tech would see them and go "oh I bet that will get the caster angles corrected" but I guess not. If a shop claims to be experienced with aligning lifted trucks I would assume they would be familiar with the cams. I guess that's what I get for assuming.....

Yes it is on a f150 ex-cab 4x4 with a 5" lift.

 

This sounds like a real possibility. I feel like everytime I take my truck to a shop I need to go in there and tell them how to align my truck.

 

Ok that clears things up a bit. The caster/ camber bushing ( not shim) is the normal way to adjust caster and camer on a ttb truck. An adjustable radius arm bushing is highly unusual. It would be easy to miss, in the future I suggest you tell them you have aftermarket adjustable ones.
Caster is not a tire wear angle. Does the truck pull? What were the caster readings?

 

From my understanding feathering is a sign of caster angles being out. Yes bushing was the word I was looking for not shim. Thanks

I usually always tell them about the adjustable alignment cams on the truck. I do not remember what the caster reading was. I will have to dig out the paper and see.

I am tempted to replace the ball joints with moog ones just to do it because it will need to be done eventually. I am currently in the process of soaking all the alignment cams and bushings in power breaker to dissolve the rust so they have no excuses when I take it back in.

 

Caster causing feathering is incorrect. It is also a common misconception that once you put adjustable camber bushings in you just turn them to adjust camber. You have to remove the wheel, remove upper ball joint nut, remove the bushing without destroying it (ive had zero success with removing the adjustable ones without damaging them... soft metal vs air hammer) then you have to look at the chart thst comes with the bushings ( if you have that info available) , then you need to calculate the change needed to figure out how to orient the bushing, reattach alignment head, compensate it, do a caster sweep, and hope you got it right.
The fixed bushings are better imo.. likde what ford used originally. They cost a lot less and though the process is pretty much the same, you dont have the inaccuracies of the adjustable ones. It was rare I didnt get it right the first time with them... adjustables were just a headache, and like I said reusing them is about impossible.

 

Hmmm, I have had them out with previous trucks without issues. What would you think could cause the feathering than? I have replaced the tie rods and drag links within the last 6000 miles and shocks are brand new. When they checked it for alignment I specifically told them I thought the ball joints were possibly going bad and they said they were fine. Checked the ball joints yesterday by jacking the front end up and using a pry bar and did not get any abnormal movement. Since I have replaced the shocks the drives side has stopped feathering but the passenger side is getting worse. It used to just be feathering on the outer most tread block but now that I have done a couple 200 mile round trips on the highway the inner most tread blocks and 2nd to outer most tread blocks are starting to feather as well. Also on the highway between 75 and 80 there is a vibration/noise coming from that side that sounds like when you push a shopping cart to fast and the front wheel wants to wobble due to negative caster. The truck does not pull to either side or wander (other than the typical sloppy ford steering gear box). It has a quality 4" lift on it with extended radius arms and I believe the Tuff Country EZ ride coils. The previous owner put the lift on and then decided to put add-a-leafs in the rear and a leveling kit on the front so it has the poly spacers under the coil springs. I'm not a fan of it but I have not gotten around to putting 6" lift springs on it or just removing the spacers and getting f250 springs for the back instead of the lift blocks and add-a-leaf.

 

Toe in or positive camber will cause outer edges to wear faster than the inside. Dont expect to see a ttb truck wear tires perfectly... especially a lifted one. Keeping the tires rotated helps a lot.