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I tried to add castor bushings....could not get the old ones out....thinking the 2019's are pressed in.
They are not pressed in any differently than 4WD from 2005+. Back the castle nut off until it's level with the top of the ball joint then start to hammerin on it. Might need a pry bar in one hand and hammer in the other. You'll shock it lose.
I lifted my '21 when it had 11 miles on it, installed the spc 2.3/2.6 shims, re-centered the steering wheel and drove away. 15k miles later, tires still look new and the truck drives nice and straight.
They are not pressed in any differently than 4WD from 2005+. Back the castle nut off until it's level with the top of the ball joint then start to hammerin on it. Might need a pry bar in one hand and hammer in the other. You'll shock it lose.
i tried all the different methods, all the pullers, forks, hammers, etc.
the only thing I didn’t do was map gas it.
No one with a 2017-2019 f-450 has come forward and said it’s easy, just look at it and it will jump off the truck.
i tried all the different methods, all the pullers, forks, hammers, etc.
the only thing I didn’t do was map gas it.
No one with a 2017-2019 f-450 has come forward and said it’s easy, just look at it and it will jump off the truck.
Ah, I didn't realize you had a 450. I'm not sure if there's a difference in the wide track big girls or not. Perhaps yours are pressed in for higher weight ratings.
I tried to add castor bushings....could not get the old ones out....thinking the 2019's are pressed in.
Do they look like the ones I posted a pic of? If it has a slot, they are pressure fitted, the taper of the ball joint presses the cam into place. To get it out, you have to relieve the pressure, that means both ball joints have to come out of the sockets, then the cam can be removed. You can do this with everything still in place. First remove the lower ball joint nut completely, then loosen the upper until a few thread remain, then go whack-a-mole on the two flanges the ball joints go through, you may need to give the spindle a hard whack or too as well. The spindle will pop out , then raise the spindle up enough with a jack to remove the nut, and take a crescent wrench to the cam and wiggle it back and forth to loosen it and is should come out. If it is rusted like the one I showed, you will need to remove the axle and spindle and use a tapered punch from underneath to get it to come out. Just did it myself last week.
BTW, unless you know for certain your camber is off, DO NOT use these! These are only for correcting bent axles, or modified axles. If your axles is stock, you shouldn't need to adjust camber. Camber is fixed on the solid axles.
I've seen this posted a few times times but I'm curious as to why you'd use two different caster degrees (2.3 & 2.6)?
I assumed that was the way to go and did the 2.3 and 2.6 with a 2.5 leveling kit and after the alignment the truck pulled pretty good to the left, even on roads sloping to the right. Put 2.6 on divers side as well and the truck tracks perfectly. Most of the roads around me are mostly flat and fast lanes slope to the drivers side.
As far as the 450 goes I know pmf sells bushing specifically for the wide track dana.
I cleaned up the cams that were in mine and both were identical. I guess it comes down to how the numbers show when being aligned as to what cams are installed. There are also times alignments are done with the driver in the seat due to their "weight", if you know what I mean, and that can call for different camber/caster on either side. When I was turning a wrench back in the 90's, we had one customer who dropped his car off, paid over the phone and picked up after we closed, and we never saw him. We did the alignment and it handled perfectly. He called to complain that it still pulled when he drove, so he dropped it off again, and again we never saw him. We checked it out to make sure everything was tight and correct, and they were. He came to pick it up in person that day, and we discovered why it pulled. The guy weighed at least 350 pounds. He was HUGE! We didn't mention anything about his weight, we just asked him to sit in the car while we double checked the alignment, and made the proper adjustments. He was happy after that.
Guys, i need some help. I replaced these with carli 2.0 shims and my camber went from 0 to about -.5 on both sides and toe went from zero to about +.16.
On caster side, i went from 3.0 to + L4.8 and R5.2. I don’t like how the truck drives. It requires too much steering where as before it felt lighter / less effort to steer at 3.0.
I want to go back to 3.0 caster, so back to stock shims. Can someone tell if the green one is passenger side and blue the driver side? Also, what is their proper fitment, i’m assuming with stock ones the opening is looking inward at 90 degrees? Can someone please look and confirm?
Another issue, when taking them off, the tech broke a piece. I assume its a non issue, wont effect function, but perhaps i should look for a replacement unit.
First, the camber can be adjusted with the cam, just needs to be rotated a bit. Second increasing Caster will increase toe because it changes the angle of the tire, pulling the front of the tires outward. Third, Increasing caster increases steering effort because the wheels are more prone to track straight, which is the cause and solution to Death wobble. Cause being too little caster, solution, adding in more caster.
Drivers side, rotating the cam clockwise will decrease camber making it negative, or pulling the top of the tire inwards, Counterclock wise will increase, make it more positive pushing the top outward. This will also affect caster a bit.
However, your specs are good, that 4tenths between left and right should track well, and camber has little impact other than tire wear if in excess and pull if in excess, and yours is not. You could lighten steering just a tad by getting toe to zero on both sides, but the caster is what makes it feel heavy.
Last edited by acdii; Aug 16, 2022 at 10:56 AM.
Reason: mixed caster with camber.
It's not a caster shim nut, but the ball joint nut that secures the cam. The nut is torqued to 59 ftlbs. The top ball joint is where the adjustments are made.
Top ball joint nut, and you can see the angle the 2.5* cam sets the spindle.
