I had additional springs added to the front axle by a shop that I would not now trust to work on a tricycle.

The front axle was installed at an angle.

Is there a recommended procedure to align the axle? The two ideas I can guess at is to find a centerpoint on the body or frame and use that as an alignment point like one would align a trailer axle to the hitch or to assume the spring mounting points are precise enough to just center the axle between the two on each side.

 

Hi Gene, When you say angle, could you be more clear? Side to side? Top to bottom? Gotta pic? I assume the track bar was untouched? How much lift? Shackles untouched?

Lotsa questions!

 

Front axle is angled so that it is not perpendicular to the frame/body. Measuring from the wheel well one wheel sits further back than the other. When traveling in a straight line the vehicle rides at an angle along the ground plane when viewed from another vehicle.


So if you draw a line down the center of the vehicle the front axle is not perpendicular to that line in the plane of the ground. I have not yet measured the rear axle.


The front end is aligned with the rear, so tracking and tire wear is not an issue. But I am about to start work on the suspension and so would like to get this repaired at the same time.


The way I was taught to align trailer axles was to take a length of string long enough to run from one end of the axle to the hitch and then to the other end of the axle. Find the midpoint of the string. Then adjust until the midpoint of the string was in the center of the hitch. From my experience it worked very well. The problem with this method for the X is what do you use for the center reference point?


The other possibility is just get the wheels centered in the wheel wells, align the front end, and this is good enough.

 

Sounds like you need an adjustable track bar.

 

Doesn't really make sense. The springs have pins that sit in locator holes in the diff, so there's no way to mount the diff too far "forward" or "to the rear" of the correct spot on the spring. The shackles and hangers locate the spring to the car, so getting the diff at a right angle to the frame is a no brainer. The pin is a bolt that goes through the springs. It has a nut on one end (on top of the spring) and the other end looks like a small cylinder and goes into a hole on the diff spring mounting hardware.

So maybe they didn't get one of the pins in the diff hole correctly. Other possibility is that they mounted one of the springs backwards. I'm pretty sure the pin in the springs is not centered. Its a bit more to one end than the other. You could do some measuring under the car to see if the springs are oriented in the same fashion.

Now, for left to right centering, the track bar takes care of that. A small lift doesn't usually require a new adjustable track bar. Measuring the centered-ness of the diff is easy with a tape measure. Measure from the inside of one rim (not the tire, the wheel itself) to a point on the frame and then do the same on the other side and you'll be able to see if its centered. Don't rely on the bumper or the fenders to do this. Use a point on the frame, same point on both sides.

 

Yeah, they either did not align the pins, the pins broke, or they installed one of the springs backwards.

 

Agree with both posts above, good chance a spring was put in backwards, how much of a difference is there from one side to other? Can you pull a measurement from front axle center to back axle center on each side?

 

Sounds like either a spring backwards or a broken pin. That is what I needed to know. Thanks!

 

Let us know what you find out!

 

If that's the case, the Double Wrap will be in the rear instead of the front; easy to check. On a Ford spring the 'double wrap' (military wrap) goes on the front eye.

 

The mounting pins for the front springs are adjustable. The pins go through a slot that allows adjustment. The rear springs are not.


I am installing new springs (Code X in the front and the stock super duty rear springs) tomorrow and will just adjust the front axle so that it is parallel with the rear. I will also take measurements for the other thread on chassis heights.

 

I don't recall it being slot-shaped when I did my 2000 V/Modded B code swap...I recall a definite round opening.

 

The fronts have a slot but its no very long. I think its mostly a slot to get everything to line up, not necessarily to actually change the alignment of the front axle. I don't think the slot was intended to do any adjusting.

Also, leaf spring setups in general are not very concise. There's no easy way to tell that the rear axle is in the correct position and then align the front to it. If the rear is off and you try to adjust the front to line up (assuming that's possible) with the rear, then both are off.

I have some racing experience and we spent hours aligning cars with all kinds of digital equipment but with trucks and solid axles and leaf springs, close is good enough. I had to get used to that concept the first time I took the Excursion for an alignment and saw the acceptable measurement ranges and how little can actually be adjusted.

 

There are no slots of any fashion for the front I'm looking at round holes in my old axle right now

 

Also on my rig there is no way to install the springs backwards the bolts are different sizes front to rear unless they put a smaller diameter bolt In the front