Track bar upper bushing:




Track bar lower bushing:

 

Definitely looks cracked and dry.. I just installed a new Moog track bar on mine a few weeks ago. Got it for $100 at Irish Parts. What do your sway bar bushings look like?

 

Oddly enough, they look one year old - since that's when I replaced them. I had four front-end guys assure me everything was goot-n-tite up front, and one of them gave me a pretty piece of paper to show how fantastic my front alignment was - without the need to adjust it. A good alignment doesn't fry bacon for me if every road is washboard, shredding my tires 20,000 miles early. How is it I had to find this myself (not knowing much about front ends), when the professionals let me out of their bays without charge?

Oh wait.... They sell tires. What was I thinking?

 

Realistically, you could pull the track bar off of the truck and the only thing you'd notice is a bit of steering wheel movement when overcoming bridge abutments and the like. It is only there to help quell bump-steer. I've always wondered why a manufacturer would purposefully install a part that physically fights the natural motion and causes a bind. Oh yeah...it's no longer a pickup, it's a soccer-mom mobile.

It's not going to cause a vibration.

 

I think most shops see vehicles bashed beyond stupidity with all the rubber gone and holes worn oval. A bit of superfluous rubber missing just isn't an issue that they will notice. You can be sure if it made a functional difference they'd be all over it. But if Ma and Pa Kettle don't feel a problem they won't pay to fix nothing. So shops generally learn to focus elsewhere. Long way to say if the alignment is good and you're not hearing thumpy floorboards, leave it alone.

 

From "looks alone" they appear to be dry and weathered. Is there movement from the counterpoint in any direction? A lot of times oil and fuel leaks will hasten the process on the rubber.

Alignment: See if you can find a spring shop in your area. They're pretty familiar and do it every day.

I've gotten those print outs as well. Very colorful. I'm an old school kind of guy, bubbles, dials, and measurements.

 

The track bar has literally no connection to tire wear but drivability it can be a problem. I only payed for an alignment once and it was way of, have always done them my self since and have never had a feathered tire or any type of abnormal front tire wear on any of my vehicles.

 

Reread how you had four shops check the alignment, it would surprise me if all four shops were all wrong especially if they all had the same measurements ( you didn't imply this just saying). The tire shop I used gave me the same piece of paper that said it was good to go...... 200 some miles into my road trip the front tires were melting off and was driving like crap, I redid it in a truck stop with almost no tools and drove perfect the next 1000 miles. The shop that gave me that nice paper that said it was right but no it was way towed in, it was over 1/4 in over stock specks.

 

So now I have to do my own alignments if I want it done right? My last set of tires made it 15,000 miles before the thumpy-growly cupping got too bad to tolerate. I keep hearing "Ford pickups do that", but the previous set made it 50,000 miles.

OK, I can turn a turnbuckle. What am I using, a tape measure between the rims? How do I deal with caster and camber?

I wonder if I have something going on with the alignment - counter to all the green numbers on the paper, and the track bar is trying to corral the silliness up front, but the bushings just make things worse.

 

Can't really answer the rest but caster is set when doing the balljoints on the front end. Has your ball joints, drag link and track bar ever been changed?

 

No. But you need some "proper" alignment angles to give to the guy doing the alignment and it needs to be done spot-on; the "green numbers" mean squat since the overall margin of difference between both sides can make for some interesting problems.

For example, too much positive camber on the passenger side may end up "in the green" on a machine that also gives a "0" reading on the driver's front....the difference between the two will still give a "green number", but it will pull like mad to the right and wear the passenger side tire funny. Self-adjusting camber is a hit-or-miss deal since the vehicle needs to sit perfectly level and the the vehicle will need to be moved fore and aft a few feet after adjustment to get the tires to settle into their new home.

Caster issues will not cause tire wear issues unless you do a lot of in-town driving; driving 45 miles on the highway to work every day in your case will not show tire wear but it will have a drastic effect on stability. You can't adjust this one at home since when the wheels are straight ahead, you cannot "see" caster. Unlike camber, there is no visual way to check caster.

Toe is also something you won't see with your eyes. However, it has a huge effect on tire wear, mileage, and directional stability. The best part about a solid-axle vehicle with a one-piece tie rod is that adjusting toe is easy and pretty fool-proof. The only thing you'll have to do afterward is adjust the drag link to center the steering wheel.

Please quit looking at the "track bar" as any kind of stability or control member (corralling any silliness). It has zero purpose other than making sure the drag link angularity/arc and frame location stays relatively unchanged throughout front axle jounce/rebound.

I am getting close to having to walk out the door to go to work, but I will say this....

As a guy who did alignments for years, the measurements and tolerances given by the manufacturer to the alignment machine makers are mostly bunk. Knowing how each angle affects things and how vehicles react DYNAMICALLY to changes (not just statically sitting on "the rack") makes a huge difference. Every alignment I did resulted in "green numbers" because the customer wanted to see that......but before I altered the allowable specifications in the computer, they were red. Any Tom, Dick, or Harry can run an alignment machine and adjust things on the car to where the machine is happy and a lot of people do just that. "It's in the green, so it's good." Wrong.

 

Track bar, no. All the rest, yes... or so I was told. I look at them and grab them, they feel right. Lift either corner and the wheel is rock-solid. Is there a test I should do?

Since my alignment guy is not a Ford Superduty guy, should I take it to Ford for an alignment?

I have wheel shake, an odd vibration or growl, new tires, and my last set was thrashed with cupping.

Oh... this might be relevant or not: When I replaced the front sway bar bushings, the passenger side is a little lower and I had to jack the suspension to get the bolt to slide in. I can't remember how far off it was, but I think it was between 1/4 to 1/2".

 

"Rich consults calendar for trip to Cleatus......."

 

More like move there. Cody could make a living from just keeping Stinky roadworthy.

 

Don't see a need to go to ford specificly for an alignment . I went to firestone for mine without issues. To check ball joints I'm pretty sure you push the tires from left to right or top to bottom and vise versa with the wheel in the air. When you replaced the sway bar bushing I wonder if the leaf spring bushings are still there. Seems odd you had to lift a side to get the bolt to line up. Almost makes me think to much strain is on that one point.

Edit:
Wheel shake, cupping and vibration could be tire balance, tie rods, drag link and ball joints.