Guys.

She's got a slight pull to the right that causes me to 'fight' to keep it towards the center of the interstate. Plus, the insides of my tires wear faster than the rest of the tire.

So I took her in for an alighnment. It was toe'd out some, so they adjusted that. Still has a slight pull the right.

Also, the Camber is slightly negative, but not enough to be outside the factory tollerances. It'll be ~$100 to give it a slightly positive camber if I want to try and eliminate the slight pull to the right. Ball joints and everything look great. (They did not have the bushings I needed on hand.)

Would you guys do it?

Stone

 

Yep, i've had it done before. Worth $100 to not have to buy tires prematurely

 

Hello,
As far as the inside of your tires wearing, it seems as if you have found the problem. If you have (had) too much tow out, you would be dragging the tires as you drove, each one trying to go away from each other. It probably affected your mileage as well. Most factory settings call for a slight tow in, taking into account the fact that the forward thrust of the vehicle in motion tend to push apart the front wheels. The camber should not effect the steering in the way of having a pull to one side unless the left and right are at different settings. Bad caster setting can cause the truck to be "twitchy" and over react to uneven roads and bumps. (death-wobble..the problem in alot of lift kits). A pull to one side or another can be frequently attributed to tire pressures. If you checked the pressures and they are good, and providing your alignment shop did a good job, try to rotate your tires from front to rear before you lay out the extra bucks. Uneven wear due to it being out of align earlier could also be your culprit. Keep in mind in the future, the best alignments take into account your wieght (either simulated by using weights or having you sit in the truck during the process) and the way the truck is normally loaded (extra equipment that is normally on board and how the weight is distributed) to make all of the static adjustments. If this is not done the alignment could be "building in" an issue instead of curing one. Sorry it was a long post, but I hope it helps.

 

Guys, thanks a ton. Great description Blue.

When I bought the truck it already had a pretty good pull to the right. And the front tires were wore pretty badly on the inside only, the driver side being much much worse than the passenger side. I rotated the tires and increased and evened out the pressures and the problem got much better. Well, About 800 miles ago I got a brand new set of tires. The pull to the right came roaring back. I've adjusted the air pressures in all the possible combinations and can't get it to go away.

The alignment guy says that the premature and uneven wearing is most likely due to the toe'd out problem. However, he says that the pull to the right is most likely due to the negative camber. The camber is negative on both sides, but more negative on the driver side tire, which he says would explain the pull to the right, especially when taking into account 'road crown'.

Also, the thrust angle is 0.06 degrees to the right, but he said "that's nothing to worry about, as most all rear wheel drives have a slight angle to them. If it was over 1 degree he would be concerned."

Chris, did you go from slightly negative to slightly positive? I'm actually "in spec" as to the 'book' camber tolerances. However, the alignment guy is recomending changing the bushings to make both positive and if anything, the driver side a bit more positive to account for road crown. Do you remember how much of a change you made? (degrees).

Thanks again fellas.

Stone

 

So....in case anyone was following this thread, here are the results:

I paid the $100 to have new bushings installed to bring the passenger tire to dead center (0.0 degree camber) and the driver tire to slightly positive (+0.02 camber).

Results: Amazing. I guess I never noticed just how bad I was fighting it. However, it isn't just that, but now it seems more response when stearing on the interstate. I guess because I'm not always compensating for a hard pull to the right.

Anyway, (behind my fuel pressure regulator) it was the best $100 I've spent on this truck.

Stone

 

It's really good to read these in-depth posts on a topic and then to read the results of
the successful solution. Nice work by all, including the front end shop.

 

Thanks Topbob.

I just found it weird that while my negative camber was "in spec" acording the the computer (Ford?), it still didn't ride correctly. Plus even a small adjustment to the positive/neutral, still within the spec, made all the difference in the world. It was a "risk", considering it could have been something else, but it paid off.

Also, for everyone else's benifit. I went through all the standard stuff before I took the 'risk' of such a small adjustment. (Adjusted my tire pressures all over the map, checked my break calipers all the way around for sticking slide pins, rotated my tires all the way around, bought brand new tires (those were coming anyway, regardless of the pull, I just waited until after I got them to push the 'alignement nuke button), had my stearing components and ball joints inspected.....I think that covers it.) Finally, the aligment shop mechanic said felt that after all that checking, he would give it a shot. Great shop, I'll be back.

Stone

 

Good to hear it all worked out for you. Isnt it nice to have your truck where it should be. Makes for nice driving enjoyment. Kudos to your shop and to you for keeping up with it.