Has any one there had their wheels aligned on a straight axle truck? I had to swap out front suspensions on mine due to an accident and now it seems like the drivers wheel leans in more at the top than the passengers. I'm wondering if I should take it to a shop here in town that specifically deals with trucks. "Truck Country". All I know is that they actually bend the axle to set the toe in and toe out. Or is that camber and caster. I don't know, one or the other. Any suggestions would be appreciated. By the way I now have pics in my gallery and you can see that I had to replace the cab and the front clip. So now I guess I would be "11differentcolor58" instead of Black58
Thanks everyone, Black58 By the way how do I get a little pic next to my user name?

 

Man U have a real headache on ur hand there now.. A solid Axle can be aligned, But it takes some major work and only a few heavy truck shops will take it on. I Use to do it when I worked for NTW back in Mass. And it no fun.. lots of heating up and bending the Axle to the right angles. try looking for a Mack truck shop or some shop like it.. Best of luck. U might try to go to a local shop and see if it might be justa toe Adj. If it can fix the probem U be better off.. Best of luck and happy trucking...

 

Most spring shops and truck shops can do it but you may want to check your king pins out first. If you put the truck on level ground and lay a level from the bottom of the tire rim to the top you may be able to see how far it is off. Their is a tool for bending the axle back. If your tire is kicked in like that the truck may pull to the right. Wile it is their have them put a little extra caster in it will make that truck drive nice and strait they may charge you a little more for it. If you are running modern tires set the toe strait ahead.

 

Black,

The tire leaning in at the top could just be an optical illusion as these old straight axles hardly ever need camber adjustment unless they have been run over a stump or involved in some other kind of accident. Are the tires wearing on the inside? If not, I would not worry too much about it. Caster and toe-in can be adjusted easily with normal alignment. I had a 40 Chevy axle bent to adjust camber years ago at a truck shop, but it had been involved in an accident.

Vern

 

Camber is the amount the kingpin tilts off vertical, and is read in degrees. Negative camber means the top of the kingpin leans in towards the center of the truck. Negative camber is used to keep from lifting the inside edge of the tire contact patch off the pavement and to give "push" back when turning. Caster is the rearward lean of the kingpin, and positive readings means the top is further back than the bottom compared to vertical. Caster helps to return the wheels to straight ahead after turning, without caster the wheels would stay turned until you turned them back. Toe in or out is how the wheels point when the steering wheel is straight ahead, and can be measured in inches of difference between the front and rear center of the tire measured at 3 and 9 o'clock, or degrees off straight ahead. Toe in is usually used to keep the vehicle going straight without tending to wander with every undulation of the road surface. Camber is set by the angle of the kingpin built into the axle and the only way to change it is by bending the axle. I don't know what they are set to stock, but I would want some neg camber, and no more than +-0.75* difference from side to side as long as that didn't result in + on one side. If you are having a full realignment done, I'd ask them to set it at ~ -1.5* for today's tires. Caster can be adjusted in two ways: the axle can be twisted from the spring perch out to the kingpin, but the easier way is to use tapered shims between the spring perch and the spring. Again ~ +2* is a good figure to shoot for. The toe is set by lengthening or shortening the tie rod, and I'd recommend ~ 1/16 - 1/8" of total toe in to make the truck easy to drive and not need constant correction to keep going straight. This all assumes that there is no play in the kingpins or tie rods! The kingpins/bushings should not have any appreciable wear or be replaced before any attempt is made to adjust alignment.

 

I just replaced the entire front axle after an accident. So the kingpins and bushings are all in great shape. I still need to finish the brakes. Being that I live in Northern ILL and it's been about 0 degrees here I'm having problems getting a friend over to help me bleed them. So, I haven't been able to really drive it anywhere yet. So that brings me to another question. The old front axle had those wedges that AXracer spoke of. The new axle and springs didn't use them. Should I put them back on or leave them off? I'm beginning to get discouraged because I don't have a lot of money and really want to get her back on the road. But it seems like every step forward I go a half step back. I wish I had a garage or shop, somewhere warm to work on her. I sure would like to take her completely apart and start a frame off. Allthough if you check out my gallery, I should just clear coat it like it is I really think it looks cool like that. Black58

 

More caster won't hurt so put them in, just be sure they're tipping the axle BACK.

 

The shop manual I have says "On trucks equipped with caster wedges, place the wedges between the front axle and the front springs with the thick edges of the wedges toward the rear of the truck." Wouldn't that tip the axle forward?

 

Not if the axle is mounted under the springs.