My front tires seem to have started to tow in at the top. i did a search for front end work but found nothing on this.i would like to correct this problem if anyone has had this happen and knows a fix please let me know..thanks in advance..97 f250 crewcab psd..

 

balljoints?????????

 

Tow in is actually when the front of the tires are angled in. If the top of the tire is angled in, the camber is out of adjustment. The ball joints (I can't remember upper or lower) have an accetrick thats turned to adjust the camber. If they just need to be adjusted, its fairly dheap. If they need more adjusting than the accentrick will allow, they will have to put a higher camber balljoint in, and charge you accordingly. A bit more money.

 

If it's that noticable to the eye.......you've probably got a bad ball joint. An alignment tech can tell you what's wrong........then you can go from there. Just tell him that you've noticed the lean and need to have the front end checked out.

 

Jack the front end up and wiggle the tire by grabbing the top and the bottom of the tire and see if you feel any movement. if you have any movement at all at all the ball joint is bad.

 

The IFS on these trucks are prone to this when the springs start to sag. Is yours 2 or 4 wheel drive?

Dave / Believer45

 

4x4 and what is ifs? thanks

 

independet front suspension.

 

I'm with Believer on this. The weight of these engines is hard on front springs and it shows up with IFS more than the straight axle trucks.

 

Couple of solutions:

Have a suspension shop re-arch the front springs.

Install a reverse shackle kit - if I am not mistaken it is good for a couple inches of lift.

Install a small lift kit.

Replace the front springs.

Add-a-leaf to the front end.

Install front air bag "helper" springs and use them to level the truck.

Dave / Believer45

 

I have a 96 F250 with the same problem. I am planning to add a spring...or one of the 6 ideas believer45 had. My question is if I found a 350 solid front axle would this be a fairly easy swap to my 250 IFS? and would this solve the problem forever? I am to the point of needing ujoints and ball joints anyway.

Thanks...

 

The symptons that you describeds are common in vehicles that have the notorious Twin Traction Beam (TTB per Ford) or as many commonly refer to it as the Twin I-Beam. The fact of the matter is that there are many reasons that your tires have the "appearance" that they are tilted in as such: as mentioned in other posts you might have spring sag, or the factory cams have twisted in the spindle socket or you may also be suffering from a condition of "toe-in". For quick reference, when a spring sags on a TTB truck, it reduced the angularity of the left or right side I-Beam in relation to the hinge (pivot) points that connect them to the truck. When that happens, it dircetly effects that angle at which the ball joints are pitched in relation to vertical. One of the other side effects that can also be an indicator is that the spring may begin to make contact with the bumpstop (located directly above the ubolts on the spring, attached to the frame) and make the truck ride much rougher. There are easy corrections liek add-a-leafs that will lift, but also stiffen the suspension and then there are expensive repairs such as spring replacement or shackle reversals. There is also the chance the the truck has already had an alignment performed and "adjustable cams" were installed. This may benefit you as they can sometimes be twisted back into aligment specs for a small cost. And let us not forget the option that you need to simply have the truck aligned! Might run you 150-200 depending on where you are located. Make sure you take the vehicle to a shop that can explain to you why these trucks sometimes have this issue; that is a good indicator as to the quality of the repair (and diagnosis) you wil receive! If you have questions, you can feel free to respond directly to me.

 

Hey WeldBoy, the swap you aretalking about is fairly simple. Make sure you know what year the front end is from (kingpin or ball joint) and the brake configurations. As far as parts go, the 250 does not use a trac-bar (panhard rod) to locate the axle, so you will need to purchase that part and the bracket that attached to the crossmember on the frame from either the dealer, or if you are going to use the lift kits method it will need to be a drop bracket that is supplied in most component boxes. You will need to change the steering system completly as the 250 has an Inverted Y system and the 350 has a solid centerlink with total toe adjustment on the alignment. U-bolts will need to be longer for the extra diameter of the solid front axle and the front end will gain about two inches in height due solely to the large axle tube and spring pad height. It is a nice swap when done properly and will keep you from having the continual alignment issues that this forum started with.