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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.
Acdii
Thanks for the torque spec. What's the size of the ball joint nut?
Thanks.
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.
ACDII-thank you for your valuable feedback and explanation of the values, putting me at ease somewhat. I was really nervous that the resulting negative camber will wear out my 37” tires a lot quicker but as you explained, that -.5 degree of camber is not enough to do that.
a few days later and 200 miles in, i actually think the truck drives good. The steering feels a little bit different from 3 degrees of caster and a LOT different from spending past 3 months at 1 degree of caster. Different in a positive way, the truck feels more composed, tracks straight.
Like on rails? Makes a noticeable difference compared to stock values. Have you noticed cornering is a bit more precise too?
yes, i noticed a difference, but i cant quite articulate it. It feels more composed on a highway, tracks better while going straight at speed.
but there’s something not quite right with the steering feel. It doesn't seem to come back to 0(center) every time, if i come out of the turn if comes back close to zero, but maybe 1-5 degrees under, to get it to zero (to track straight) i have to move the steering wheel myself. Where as before i felt the steering returned to center on its own better - I came out of the turn and it just returned to center. This feeling of having to return to center or even sometimes overshooting it is what bothers me the most.
In another way i can explain it, before if i took the steering 2-3 degrees of center, I immediately felt the truck turn in that direction, whereas right now it feels like it turning there but at a much slower rate. at times it feels like it’s not even turning when i steer those 1-3 degrees in either direction. I’m not even sure what this is called, i don’t believe it’s what people call “play”, but maybe it is? And i’m trying to figure out if this latest move to 5 degrees caster or slight negative camber is what caused this steering behavior or if the mechanics installing my ball joins shim and doing the alignment somehow screwed up my steering? Not having expertise, i can’t really say. But i am contemplating a move back to those OEM shims (3 degrees of caster ) where the truck felt best without these odd steering sensations.
I’d appreciate if you have any suggestion as to what this can be related to (too much positive caster, improper alignment or something else). Im not even sure what to check in regards to steering feeing other than going back to oem shims.
You found the drawback of more caster, and one of the reasons why Ford has so little caster even though it leads to death wobble when parts start to wear. Once the tires reach what they feel as true tracking, they stick there. That is because the angle of the spindle has the leading edge of the tire patch further back, so it is trailing. When the spindle is further forward, the patch on the road gets closer to the center of the tire, making it more nimble, more sensitive to inputs, but that sensitivity with worn parts is the reason DW occurs.
Not a perfect solution, either way has some drawback, but I would rather have a little offset, than not knowing when you hit a bump and the front end takes off all over the road.
So I got a good deal on a pair of Moog K80154. I'm confused after reading their install instructions as nowhere does it state which way the slot in the lower bushing faces...... I am not setting anything with camber, just +2.5 caster on both sides. According to their chart, I need to set the driver bushing to AA, that's +2.5 caster and no change to camber. For the passenger side is AN for the same, +2.5 caster and no change to camber.... But nothing says how to face the lower bushing slot. I feel like I am in over my head versus just getting the +2.5 non adjustable bushings. I paid $25 for the pair.
So I got a good deal on a pair of Moog K80154. I'm confused after reading their install instructions as nowhere does it state which way the slot in the lower bushing faces...... I am not setting anything with camber, just +2.5 caster on both sides. According to their chart, I need to set the driver bushing to AA, that's +2.5 caster and no change to camber. For the passenger side is AN for the same, +2.5 caster and no change to camber.... But nothing says how to face the lower bushing slot. I feel like I am in over my head versus just getting the +2.5 non adjustable bushings. I paid $25 for the pair.
I could be mistaken and I haven't installed this type myself but it reads to me as if the top letter lines up with the slot in the lower bushing, and the lower letter points towards the tire. So the lower bushing would position in whatever way makes the lower letter point towards the tire. If that's the case, it would mean that the upper slot lines up with the lower slot on both, but drivers side (AA) has the slot(s) pointing towards the wheel, passenger side N towards the wheel, so slot(s) point away from the wheel. That's just how I'm interpreting the instructions.
Your factory shims should have a slight amount of camber correction, it would be stamped on them. Are you going to try to dial the new ones in to match?
I returned the adjustable shims and ordered a pair of Moog 2 degree non-adjustable shims. I have my truck pretty dialed in now and one last tire rotation solved 90% of a slight left drift I had, the pull is really dependent on road crown now, but I feel it could be a little better. Doing plugs, brakes and vacuum pump for my FIL 2014 F150 3.5 eco next weekend, so hope to get the shims on then.
Moog K80124 2 degree shims are on the workbench. When you guys installed your Moog caster shims, do you remember the orientation? Fat side of the taper to the rear of the truck? Slit in the shim to the front? Moog told me" the index mark on the driver side faces the wheel and the index mark on the passenger side faces the engine (meaning that for both, the slit faces forward), but then they would not confirm that with the slit, just the index marks. Thanks for your help!
Moog K80124 2 degree shims are on the workbench. When you guys installed your Moog caster shims, do you remember the orientation? Fat side of the taper to the rear of the truck? Slit in the shim to the front? Moog told me" the index mark on the driver side faces the wheel and the index mark on the passenger side faces the engine (meaning that for both, the slit faces forward), but then they would not confirm that with the slit, just the index marks. Thanks for your help!
What orientation looks like it will move the ball joint stud towards the rear most?
First and foremost my apologies for hijacking a thread. But it’s no mistake this topic came up for me. I’m in the process of procuring all my parts for my “Bootleg Tremor”” slash lift/level project. I ordered my adjustable tracker today. The caster bushings are my last part to tackle. After what I’ve heard of Moog suspension parts I’d rather not order their stuff. Where is the best place to order the SPC caster bushings? And part numbers would be great for a guy that hasn’t found the right answer. The 2.3-2.6 setup is what I’m referring to. Thanks in advance.
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