Hi yall,

I have a 97 F250 4x4 D50 Powerstroke truck and wanted your opinions my alignment results. Truck is stock, no lift or anything. Has 150k miles and in good shape for it's age. Hasn't been abused. I replaced the balljoints last year with Dana Spicer OE and put all new Timken bearings and seals in the hub and spindle so the front end is pretty fresh.

Anyway, I got some new tires this morning (Cooper 235/86/16) and had them check the alignment. They said I need adjustable camber bushings. Here was the printout

Camber (Spec is -0.3 to +0.8)
Left Front Camber -0.8
Right Front Camber -0.3

Caster (Spec is +2 to +6)
Left Front Caster +4.3
Right Front Caster +4.7

Toe (Spec is -0.10 to +0.16)
Left Front Toe +0.23
Right Front Toe +0.20

Instead of just throwing some adjustable bushings at the truck, I have been thinking that maybe the reason for the slightly negative camber may be due to the leaf springs weakening/flattening over time? I need to do the front leaf spring bushings since they don't look to be in the best shape and thinking about having my spring re arched. I'm having a hard time accepting that a truck that is 100% stock suspension wise cant be adjusted with the stock bushings. The Camber isn't THAT far off.

Any thoughts on alignment results and how to proceed?

thank you!

Drew

 

Camber will wear the insides. That is close enough not to matter. The TTB/ TIB suspension will wear the tires quick regardless.. Keep them rotated..

Also, ditch the Coopers, they have a 30 day buy and try anyway but they have been making straight garbage for the last year.. Even my supplier who deals 50% in Cooper has admitted they are garbage.. 90% of the Coopers I install ( by amendment request only ) have been out of round, and one out of 4 need sent back in for out of round because they are too far out... Falken tires make our #1 now where it used to be Cooper, and we started getting requests for Falken before joining their dealer program... If you bought at a chain shop, Guaranteed they just flopped them on and sent them down the road regardless

 

Is your truck 4x4? D50 or D60? Not much info provided. Clapped shackle bushings and leaf bushings will of course cause irregular wear.

I beam bushings wear out as do the radius arm ones. Ever done those? Why is the toe out of spec? Do you have a loose tie rod?

 

Hey guys, its 4x4 with D50.

Matt167 - Damn that sucks. Don't think Ill ditch the coopers at this point without some sort of validation on my part. I will jack up the front and check what you said. Thank you for the information.

HitMan - I never said I had irregular wear. I was trying to make a connection between having worn out front leafs and negative camber. I have not done the I beam bushing but it looked to be in good shape. When they checked the front end they said it was fine. Ill check again. Why is the toe out of spec? Might be related to the balljoints I did last year. I'm just not getting around to having it aligned. I put the stock bushing back to its same location.

thanks guys,

Drew

 

Ah, I figured you had some irregular wear. Nearly -1.0* is going to wear out the front end sooner, but maybe they were like that stock. I am not super familiar with the D50, but does it not have those caster/camber keys like the 2x4 trucks use like mine? If so, few shops know about them nor how to use them correctly. Not saying your shop is bad, but I have to drive 90mi round trip to align the trucks.

With 150k, I would think the leaves would be okay still, bushings probably not. I did those I beam ones at 260k on the dually, they were clapped. Drooping slightly, center steel rod was easy to push out. But this truck was rode HARD and put up wet.

Are your tie rods still OE? No idea the life span on them, I slapped on Moog HDs when I rebuilt my front end.

 

HitMan - Yeah it has a bushing in the upper balljoint with a center hole that's eccentric. Regarding the tierods, not sure if they are OE but I have not replaced them. Shop said they were tight during inspection but now you have me wanting a buy a pair just cause

I don't like the shop I go to but its close. I do all my own work but bring it there for alignment and tires. Oh get this, so when they told me the truck NEEDED an adjustable bushing they then informed me that the labor would be $160 just to install the bushings if I bring them in. That's nuts! He said they aren't easy don't just fall out so I had to call bs on the guy since I did the balljoints recently, haha. Not sure what their shop rate is but that looks like 2x bushings @ shop rate of $80/hr. What a rip!

Anyway, any of you guy had experience re arching springs?

thanks,

Drew

 

I have 5$ on leaf and front upper shackle bushings are whapped out.


Deff front upper shackle....look at it...its challenging but they are woefully inafequate desighn...poly for the win

 

check all front end bushings. spring bushings, axle pivot bushings, and front shackle bushings up in the frame.

 

My D50 bushings in the axle pivot and in the spring shackle ends were completely trashed at 160,000 miles. I replaced them with urethane bushings and they seem to work and last well. That is the first step, to replace all those bushings, then you have a baseline to measure the caster and camber from. The springs always look like they need to be re-arched because they come new with that funny looking negative arch.