Align your own truck?
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Posting Guru
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From: South Central Boise
Align your own truck?
I have a 67 f100 4x4 and the only way to align the front wheels is an adjusting sleeve between the passenger and driver tie rods. I think I have it close to strait, but that is just with eyeballing it. I don't drive the truck much at all and I have my crappy winter tires on it so I don't care much about wear at this point. Is there an easy way to align your own wheels or do I just have to take it to a shop. Thanks.
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From: Remsen, NY
You can get it really close by driving it onto flat concrete, bouncing it a couple of times, and getting under with a tape measure. Find a common spot on the tread and measure the distance between two points on the tires in the front, and then again at those same spots in the rear. Adjust as necessary to make them even or toe them in just a tiny bit. I have done this with several of my vehicles after suspension work and tires have worn perfectly afterwards. Obviously the wheels have to not be bent at all and the tires have to be in good shape.
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Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Calgary, Canada
I did it on my 2wd F350, it can be a PITA but it's doable. make sure it's on flat pavement or concrete and use very slight adjustments on BOTH of the sleeves when making the adjustment. If you don't adjust both your steering wheel may go off center. You should be sure that the inside rim of the wheels is not out of round or is flat if set down on a flat surface so that when you measure there won't be any innacuracies in the measurement. Take a tape and measure between the back edge of the rims and then the front edge and the front should be 0.0 +- 0.250 as a general rule but check the spec for your truck. Also Ideally (just so someone doesn't feel the need to correct my method) the measurements should be taken at the exact center axis of the wheel but without the proper equipment it can't be done with a simple tape and anyway, 0.0 is 0.0 no matter how you look at it.
Hope that helps.
Oh, and you know that those sleeves are opposite thread; so to tighten, both get turned in the SAME direction, same for loosening but opposite direction.
Hope that helps.
Oh, and you know that those sleeves are opposite thread; so to tighten, both get turned in the SAME direction, same for loosening but opposite direction.
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From: South Central Boise
Sweet, thanks ya'lls. This is exactly what I did. I think I will take a few more measuerements just to be sure. I have been measureing at mid point on the wheels. I don't care about the steer wheel center because I usually have it off once a month for something. It rides good and doesn't pull or wobble. I think I have it close. I found out that a local place is offering alignments for $20. I guess I could afford to be certain. Thanks again.
