hello,
i have a 1996 f250 7.5L A4OD two-tone extended cab & extended bed. I'm looking to do a wheel alignment on this truck.
since the truck has been out in the aleutian islands (about 2020), its never had an alignment. there are service stations, but none of them have an alignment machine.
I've read a few posts regarding why people would want to do their own alignment when a shop charges a very reasonable price. i hope I've conviced you that I'd be an exception to this rule.
i have access to a level concrete floor and i have tools. because there is very little in the way of doing your own wheel alignment, any guidence would be immensely helpful.

thank you

 

oops, my bad. i meant to say it's been out here in the aleutians since 2000...

 

You wanting to set the toe only or does the camber appear to be off? Does it wear tires funny or pull to one side?

I do my own alignments. It's an iterative process.

 

I've had good results setting the toe on my 1989 4x4 with a tape measure. I choose my measuring points on the tires carefully, making sure they're repeatable as I compare front and back numbers. Maybe I've just been lucky using this method in the past, but I have even tread wear.

Yeah, this is my first post. Been reading great info here for years, but thought it was time to give something back. I hope this qualifies.

 

Setting the toe with a tape measure works well with me as well.

If you're looking to do a full front end alignment, this may help. First, with the toe set to ~1/8" toe-in, I use an app on my phone for an angle finder, and dial in camber that way. After making a camber adjustment, reset toe to 1/8" toe-in & recheck camber. Note: only check camber and toe after rolling the truck forward a good distance, gently stopping. If you're a heavy guy, not a bad idea to put your body weight in the driver seat while you measure camber & toe. Once I have toe set to about 1/8" toe-in and 0 degree camber, I pay attention to if the truck pulls to one side on an average crowned road. If it pulls to the right, lay the right wheel caster back a 1/2 degree more (then reset toe) and try again. I usually end up with 1/4 degree more caster angle on the right side to account for road crown, but I often don't actually know what my caster angles are.

 

I like this method:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...alignment.html

 

The way I do toe alignments involves a couple pieces of angle iron and jackstands. Put the angle iron on the jackstands and push it against the wheels, making sure it's tight up against the sidewalls (not held at a weird angle by sidewall tread or lettering) and not up against the edges of the stands. Measure in front of the wheels, measure forward the diameter of the wheels, measure again. I find this much easier than measuring behind the wheels, mainly because there isn't a truck in the way. Write down how much it's out each time and how much you turn the adjusters. If the wheel is straight to begin with, adjust both sides the same amount each time; if not, adjust one side more than the other and you can work on the toe and the wheel centering at the same time. When you think it's done, take it for a drive and then check it again, especially if you didn't use the greased plates. I'm usually in and out of the garage several times before I'm happy with it.

The first time I tried doing an alignment, I measured between the tread grooves, and discovered after much frustration that the tread on my Michelins wasn't quite straight. Spin the wheel and the groove I was using wandered back and forth, which explained why I had been chasing the alignment all over the place.

Unless your truck has been in an accident, you've replaced front end parts, or something has worn out, you shouldn't have to do much. If it's out by more than you like, note where it started and make small adjustments until it's where you want it. The spray paint tip from wwhite's link is a good one if you have that style of alignment adjuster. Also works great on torsion bar adjusters.

 

I'll be replacing all the suspension parts in the next few months. it has a dana50 front end if that makes a difference

 

I put the steering wheel straight then I use a 4ft level across the topside of the tires horizontally in-line with the raised strip on the front bumper and also a tape measure using the front bumper as a referrence point to adjust my frontend....Works great for me and havent been to an alignment shop in over 25 years.

Mine adjusts perfect when theres 2" of gap between the front bumper and the 4ft level.

For the camber adjustment I bought a cheap magnetic camber gauge with bubble gauge off of ebay which works great too.Before that I used a magnetic torpedo level.......heres a link

https://www.ebay.com/itm/38371363560...Cclp%3A2334524

I bought these to complete the task..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/28441559001...EAAOSwrAJhHcsj

 

Set toe as mentioned using a tape measure. You can set camber using a level across the face of the tire. Don't worry about caster - caster does not wear your tires.

If you are done and it pulls to one side or another, *then* we can talk about caster.

 

This method worked great for me and didn't require many items to do it. It has been great since I did it.

 

I'd like to thank you guys for your expertise. when i get around to switching out these parts, I'll be looking at your replies quite a bit. thanks again!