I've done a forum search, but have only uncovered my ignorance. Have the old truck running, drives OK. (Pics to come, by the way...) I have the stock front suspension.

First off, what's the best way to line up the steering wheel straight? Taking it on and off is a b----, so not so excited about that. I could loosen the pitman arm and slip it, but that's also not good times. Should I undo the tie rod and adjust only one end? It seems like there should be an easier way.

Second, from the posts, I've seen suggested a toe-in of 1/16" to 1/4". My retarded question is, exactly where and how is that measured? I understand the concept, but it'll obviously make a huge difference where I measure.

Third, are the caster shims a good idea? I of course already have it together, but if it'll help driveability I'll yank the U-bolts off again and put some on....

I guess the easy answer would be to take it to an alignment shop, but where'd be the fun in that??

 

Toe-in is fairly easy to measure. Get the truck on a level surface, bounce it a few times to settle the suspension, now all you have to do is measure the distance between the front of the front tire and the rear of the front tire, the difference between the two is your toe-in.

Make sure you can drag the tape measure across from tire to tire without any obstructions and that you measurement points are consistant between the front of the tire and the rear of the tire.

Centering the steering wheel is going to be a bit tougher. It all depends on which part of the system is off. Center the steering wheel and look at the wheels, which dierection are they pointing? check out the pitman arm, is it in the center of its travel or is it off to one side? Ultimately you will want the steering wheel centered with the pitman arm centered in its travel and the front wheels pointing straight ahead.

Sometimes you might have to meass with the whole she-bang

Good luck
Bobby

 

Bobby's right, proper alignment would be wheels straight ahead (w proper toe), steering box centered, and wheel centered. However...it's probably been to a dozen shops in its life where the alignment was performed half a**ed. I assume we're talking straight axle here, so doing your own alignement is easy. Scribe a line with chalk, crayon, or whatever completly around the center of both front tires. Measure the distance between the lines on the front and back of the tire, near axle height. The same measurement front and rear would be zero toe. Smaller measurement in front would be toe IN. Bigger measurement in front would be toe OUT. Toe in is what you want. If your steering wheel is off center, adjust it at the drag link. It adjusts like a tie rod, changing the length turns the wheels left or right. Alittle positive caster will help stability at todays highway speeds. Positive caster is where the spindle is like the fork on a chopper, negative caster is like the front wheel of a shopping cart. You want positive caster.
Back when these trucks were new, traffic was lighter, speeds were slower, and we had skinny bias tires. There wasn't power steering, so along with a large steering wheel, very little caster was used to ease steering effort. Today we have wider tires and positive caster for stability, along with the increased steering effort they bring, but with power steering we don't realize the increased effort. Thirty plus years ago, my dad drove a very large dump truck in a quarry. The truck had a huge steering wheel, no power steering, and negative caster. Although he had popeye arms, he said it wasn't too difficult to turn as long as you moving, but you didn't want to go very fast as it always wanted to turn.

 

Thanks, fellas...that'll get me started...

 

Uh, unless you have a different front end than most, the drag link is not adjustable. I would suggest doing the setup in the following order after jacking up the front end: 1. remove the pitman arm, then turn the steering box from one end to the other counting the turns at the steering wheel. Turn back 1/2 way. 2. replace the pitman arm so it is perfectly vertical, turning the front wheels by hand if necessary to do so. While the wheels are off the ground it is a good time to mark the tires for adjusting the toe setting later. I like to spin the tire while touching the tread with the point of a sharp scriber to scribe a thin line near the center of the tread.) 3. Lower the jack and roll the truck back and forwards about 2 feet ending up going forwards. 4. adjust the tie rod ends if necessary so the wheels are pointed straight ahead. (easy way to check this: place a long straight edge against the face of the wheel so it extends a couple of feet beyond the wheel/tire parallel to the frame. Measure from the straightedge to the frame at both ends, and adjust the tie rod end until it measures the same. Be sure in doing this step the tierod doesn't end up drastically off center so a lot more thread is showing on one tie rod end than the other.) 5. once again roll the truck back and forwards to settle the adjustments. Now measure from scribe line to scribe line front and back across the truck at spindle height. adjust the tie rod ends equally at both sides until the measurement at the front is 1/16 - 1/8" SMALLER than the measurement at the rear, use the 1/8" if you will be doing mostly higher speed highway driving. 6. Finally remove and replace the steering wheel so it is straight when the wheels are straight. Test drive the truck and see that it steers straight ahead with no pressure on the steering wheel. If it pulls noticably (most roads are crowned so the truck will pull slightly to the right on a 2 lane road, check on the middle lane of a divided highway with good pavement if possible.) 7. adjust the caster angle with shims so the top of the axle leans back 2-4 degrees (more lean for highway driving).
You're DONE! go out and enjoy a drive and decide where you will spend the 100.00 alignment fee you saved.

HINT!: Sears now has a 24" digital level for ~ 39.00 that can read in degrees. BUY ONE it's perfect for measuring front ends, pinion angles etc. You might even want to buy 2, saw one off just beyond the readout module on each end to make a short version.

 

Thanks, AX, I was hoping you'd chime in. Mine does not have a drag link adjustment, but wanted to check to see that I hadn't missed something. I'll get on it.... Can I get the shims anywhere, or do I need to order them from MidFifty/etc..??

 

you may be able to find them at a local spring shop or maybe even NAPA. MF lists them in 2 and 4*. You can stack them if needed just be sure the centerbolt head is long enough to still index into the axle. You can get extended head length centerbolts as well if needed.

 

Well guys, my drag link does have an adjustment on it, just like on a larger truck, but it may be adapted from another vehicle by the po. Sorry if I confused anyone.

 

Interesting...doesn't even look like there's a place for one on mine. What year is yours?

 

No problem Hopper, sounds like a useful mod. Has your axle been moved forwards by chance?

 

Ax, my axle has been moved about 100 feet. It sits outside the house since I installed the Jag subframe. After I wire brushed the crud off, I saw that it is indeed a modified drag link. The po had installed an International steering box, so its Ford on one end and Binder on the other. FWIW, an adjustable drag link is common on larger trucks. They usually use a threaded sleeve for length adjustment, similar to a tie rod. Alittle scrounging may turn up one that's easily adaptable.

 

LOL! Always interesting what PO's have done, makes one wonder what the next owner of our creations will think of what we did...