Like a lot of trucks my tires lean in at the top. Its a work truck with a service body and heavy duty ladder rack. I'm always carrying around loads of tools and the truck is overweight and the tires are just getting eaten up on the inside. Had several tire stores tell me that's the best they can do with out changing parts. I checked out the ball joints and found that one was loose and the steering had some issues so I spent a few days and changed every ball joint on the front end and steering box. But for some strange reason this only seemed to make things worse as far as the camber goes. Steering is fine the alignment shop can make it drive straight but it eats my tires up. One shop said I needed to change the camber bushing to a different pitch which seems to make sense even though it took them 3 tries to get the truck to go down the road straight.

So does this seem right that I need bushings?
They wanted $400 for this work and I checked rock auto and they are super cheap so its a weekend project for me. Looks like it should only take an hour or so. Only thing is I don't know what degree of bushing I have from the factory. What do I have and what degree should I get. It leans real bad and eats the inner tire smooth half way through the tread on the rest of the tire.
Is there anything else I should check out?

1997 F250 extended cab 7.3
4x4 with service body.

 

Well the most overlooked item is the leaf springs. They do need to be replaced along with all the bushings. That will get you back to a factory ride height. The TTB is a pretty simple axle but does have parts that need replacement and the leafs are definitely one of them.

 

Figured the springs might be part of the problem but the truck is overweight all the time with lumber and rebar on the ladder rack. Its 8000+ most days. I have already been looking at an airbag kit for hauling to go on the rear but I don't know of a way to beef up the front. Isn't f350 front springs the same. Maybe find some for a 450

What is "leads" If you mean all the bushing in the TIb I changed all of them too. There's not a bushing, ball joint or steering component that wears out on the front end that's over a year old. I got to changing part of them and decided while I had it apart I would change everything even if it looked alright.

 

F450 springs will give you 6inch of lift and you don't want that.

 

with normal load on truck, drive forward 4-5 foot on a flat level surface then park .
measure top to bottom difference on tire, and this will give you an idea of how much you need to change camber.
moog makes camber bushings that can compensate for close to 3.25 degrees

 

Ok, I do alignments all the time, so maybe I can offer some insight here. For trucks, a 0 degree camber is a good thing, simply put we pull things and do not need to take turns around corners at fast speeds. So as far as $400.00 for ball joints or bushings, that actually sounds rather reasonable. It is a lot more work than you think, it certainly is not an hour. Now a few questions...

You say you changed all the ball joints? I am assuming that you a referencing the Upper and Lower Ball joints on each steering knuckle? You stated the ball joint on the gear box? Are you referencing the Tie Rod ends?

When you checked for play in the ball joints did you do the following: Lift the tire off the ground via a jack, and shake the tire from top to bottom in a rapid manner while checking for play?

I am very against doing bushings by yourself. If you can pay somebody to do it all for you, it is easier, and they warranty the work. Where as if you do the work and then have them align it, then you will have to fix the parts yourself if they break later on. I do this a lot, I often tell people at my shop that they need to fix the vehicle again before I can align it. This usually makes people angry, as they sometimes have just made the repairs and did so incorrectly.

Perhaps it would be best to end explaining the alignment process. First when I do an alignment, I do a "roll back compensation" which rolls the vehicle backwards and forwards to make sure I have a good reading for Camber. Next I pull my pins and do a "Caster Swing" this is where I swing the tires from side to side while locking the brakes. This checks the pivot point of the tire, or specifically the relationship for the Upper to Lower Ball Joint. Positive Camber is a lovely thing... 0 degree camber is shopping cart status, and so unstable. Now, the order of fixes is different than this. First you must correct your Caster Angle, then fix the Camber, which requires some tries, especially with IFS front ends. Last you can correct Toe, which makes the tires drive strait. Your Drag Link should also be adjusted if Solid axle and at the very end to make the steering wheel strait. It is a complicated process and should take about an hour with a machine. And nobody, I mean nobody can do an alignment by eyeballs and get it close to as accurate as you can with a machine.

I mention all of this as the $400.00 might be cheaper in the long run, as you WILL NEED an alignment after doing the bushings yourself. Camber angle will effect your Toe angle, thus causing worse issues. Just the two cents of a guy who does way too many alignments.

 

Ok the bushing is not a rubber bushing its a "alignment caster/camber bushing". its on on the upper ball joint that adjust the camber and all you have to do is take the nut off the ball joint and knock the bushing out and insert the new one I easily knocked it out by mistake when I changed the ball joint.

Yes I changed all the ball joints, tie-rod ends, bushings in the I beam and the steering gearbox. I changed everything that can wear out.

Yes I jacked it up and the upper ball joint had play. The steering box was also very worn out. So I took long look at some 20 year old parts and decided that some defiantly needed to be changed and while I had it up and apart I was going to change everything since its a service truck I drive it to work.

It always needs an alignment even after you just get one. They cant align it in a way that doesn't eat tires up in half the time they should last. They just make it go straight down the road. Two shops said that's the way Fords are and the Third (big chain store) said I needed to change the camber bushings.

 

I had to run aftermarket bushings on mine when I ghetto lifted the front end to get it level. Mine needs springs but they're $300. I've yet to find a local shop that can rebend them (super common back in the old days)

I went with the most degree offset I could find on rockauto. It had a hex on the top to help turn it, but it was 31mm for whatever reason. I had to go to Napa and buy a Honda hub socket as it was the only 31mm I could find by itself. It was $10 and definitely worth it.

Put some antiseize on the bushings as well. And definitely get some airbags or a trailer

Camber with the wheels straight needs to be as close to zero as possible, the camber gets offset more than enough when turning to grab even in wet weather.

 

What I am trying to articulate is, could you please post a picture of what your alignment looks like. The alignment sheet if they gave you one. That way I can see the angles, and tell you what is going on. It is the only way I can tell you without having it on my rack.

 

as Vegi said, those shops are talking out of their asterisk and simply do not know what they are doing.
we have a 95 F250 diesel at the body shop that had the front end alignment done 11 years ago after i rebuilt the front end, and the tires are still wearing perfect. (he has only put 65,000 miles on it in those 11 years).
i use a shop down the road with a computer alignment rack.

 

Sounds like a classic case of worn ttb with a lot of weight on it. We put add-a-leafs on our service body to perk it back up from all the weight. Make sure your axle bushings and spring bushings are in good shape first.