My truck was used as a 5th wheel towing rig by the PO and probably had a camper on the bed at one time too. I'm wondering if taller springs were installed for his use of the truck.

The front wheels are closer together at the bottom than at the top and this seems to be the exception to the rule when it comes to how the front end can go wrong with twin I beam suspension.

My understanding is that this year of I beams are not supposed to be bent to correct a wheel camber problem, so I'm looking for some ideas on what can be done about this. Are there different sizes of coil springs that you can get for this? It doesn't look like the springs can be cut to correct this problem because how the ends of the coils are bent.

 

You can't cut the coils, but there are plenty of aftermarket springs that are different lengths.

Is your truck 2 or 4wd?

 

Its a 2wd.

 

I put a set of bronco front coils on my 80 F-100 2wd it raised the front end 3 inches and I put 3 inch blocks in the back. My wheels were leaning out at the top. I heated the very bottom coils with a cutting torch lowering it about a inch (go slowly). Now they look straight up and down. If you want to fix it for free try this if it dose not work your out the coils you needed to replace anyway.

 

Um, isn't that going to affect the hardening of the steel? Sounds really easy to do but I don't want the coils to break on me later on.....

Will it harm the springs? I have the tools to do this, is it really that simple?

 

To answer your question YES, there are different lengths of springs. A friend of mine & I went to the wrecking yard awhile back to look for a longer set for his Ranger. It seemed that every ford 2wd had a different length or coil thickness. We looked at 15 different Fords from Rangers, Broncos, F150s, F250s, & F350s. It was crazy.

 

ok i maybe off here as i have a 4x4 but cant you put the index kit in the upper ball joint to draw the top in to make the wheels straight? or maybe it already has them and you just need to pop them up and turn them till the camber is straight?

 

Not in my case. My truck has kingpins instead of balljoints. Kingpins are not adjustable.

Looking at the parts in the suspension, I think I have a few options.

Remove the rubber unsulator,

Remove the bottom spring seat and grind it down,

Maybe make some new swing brackets to lower the inside end of the I beams.

 

I heated the bottom coil front and back as the spring starts to get hot it loses its spring and the coils collapsed together. You will still have all the rest of the coils above. Low Riders and Hot rodders have been doing this for years.

 

LMC TRUCK has coil spring options for the front-end, but RockAuto has a much bigger selection

 

If I were fortunate enough to have a Twin-I-Beam Ford truck that the wheels canted inward at the bottom, I would consider myself quite fortunate and LEAVE IT ALONE.

Every Ford I see, including mine that has had every piece part and particle replaced, spreads outward at the bottom like an old sickle-hocked cow, and they really get weird when turning in a parking-lot, sort of looking quite unfit for the road; that's probably why people instinctively crowd the shoulder when meeting a Ford truck.


I would NEVER EVER consider bending a Twin-I-Beam axle, even though that seems to be the redneck means of alignment.

There are other means of bringing things into alignment, rather than heating and bending stuff that otherwise would never give on it's own; likewise with the springs.


How does the truck drive ??

How does it wear tires ?? Mine eats them on the front; the rears last forever.

 

You are correct, there are different options to get the twin i beam alignment correct, but bending axles is standard procedure on big trucks.

Heating the springs is an old trick, but it's hard to control the amount of drop. The better way is the harder way, and that is to take the spring out, cut the coil, and then you can heat and bend the end down so it fits in the pocket, though I have cut several and then re-installed without bending the end flat, and they worked fine.

 

Hi Franklin2, I was hoping to get your thoughts on this.

The truck has a bit of a dead range in the center of the steering when the wheels are strait ahead on the highway. This means that it demands a very steady hand to "persuade" it to track strait at high speed. Constantly correcting from side to side. The truck will not return to center after a gentle turn on the highway. It does not pull in either direction and each wheel seems to be off by the same amount. Tire wear seems to be acceptabe, looking at the old tires. I have a bout 2000 miles on a new set right now, and so far nothing strang is happening, though it is still early.

I've gotten the hang of driving it by now, but on the long trips its still a little tiring. Others in the family find it difficult to drive and thats my main reason for wanting to fix this.

For heating the springs I would use a metal spacer with shims betwen the axle and frame to stop the sagging at specific points and allow me to control the sag. If its safe and common practice to heat the springs up without having them break later on, than I'm tempted to try this. Otherwise, like others have said, I'll need news springs anyway.

The size and shape of th axles are such that I don't think it would be wise to try and bend them. Older fords had longer, more slender beams that could be bent and thats what the book calls for, but not for my year of truck it would seem.

 

Sounds like the caster is off. I am not sure how they would adjust that on your truck, but ride height will affect that spec.

Caster is how much the top of the kingpin is ahead or behind the bottom of the kingpin, if you are standing to the side of the truck looking at the wheel. So in other words, when you turn the tires, they do not actually spin on the very bottom of the tread, but they rock back and forth. So when you are turning the wheel, you are actually lifting the truck up a little bit, and when you let go, the weight of the truck pushes back down on the tire and it naturally wants to return to center. It's a little hard to explain, but here's a site I found that might help. Toe, Caster, and Camber - What does it mean and how to adjust it.

If you find a good alignment shop in your area, you can tell them the problem, and they should work with it till they get it fixed.

 

Caster is corrected by raising/lowering the ends of the radius-arms, hence the name "radius-arm".

From what you say about the wheel not returning to center, I would have a talk with the guys at RedHead Steering Gear and see what they say; they are good guys and won't try to sell you something you don't need.