I need for someone who has one of these trucks without lift to measure the distance (approximately) from the front axle tube to the rubber bumper stop. I bought this truck from a wrecking yard and I'm not sure if it's been lifted or not. My front pinion angle is low and the camber is obviously off. I'm replacing the "c" bushings. I need to determine if I need stock bushings or bushings with a positive offset. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

The truck is a 1976 4x4 half-ton with a dana-44 front end.

 

On my 76 F100 the distance is about 6 inches,(just looking at it). Usually a lift is very noticeable. You have two options on stock height springs, stock and HD,( HD in case you want a snow plow or wench.) I put the HD on mine because the price was the same.

Before I would worry too much about insert sleeves, which isn't much of an option on your 44 anyway, replace the ball joints. You didn't say if your camber was too negative, usually happens when the lowers start to wear. Replacement should take care of your camber problems. You really can't make many alignment decisions until you get the camber corrected. You can replace the ball joints yourself. Autozone rents the ball joint tool for free,($100.00 deposit), or Harbor Freight sells the same one for $40.00. Don't let them try to give you the fork, what you want is a big "C" clamp with different sleeves.

Your caster should be positive, axis line between ball joints tipping forward at the top. This will make your truck driveable on the highway, (ever notice some vehicles take a lot of effort to stay straight on the road and not wander at highway speeds? Not enough positive caster.) Caster can be played with somewhat with the radius arm bushing, but again, replacing the old wore out stock rubber with new stock rubber usually takes care of things. The new plastic ones look cool and are a bit stiffer, but need constant lube or they squeek and wear out.

Unfortunatly, our trucks aren't set up with alignment adjustments, except for toe in. If replacement doesn't take care of the problem, call around and there should be an old timer that can do the fix. Involves actually bending the yolk. Not a DIY project. If there is a special sleeve, ball joint kit you can get, send me the part number.

One more thing to look for on your 76. The track bar bolt hole on these are known to egg out. Loosen the lower trackbar nut and try and take tension off the track bar. Then try to move the bolt where it goes through the axle housing. Should be no play. The shops will sell you bushing kits till they run out, but it won't fix the problem. Ingalls makes a repair kit availible though Six-States.

Good luck..

 

I've replaced everything on the front end except the "c" bushings. I just need to know the distance. I would appreciate it if someone would measure theirs and let me know what they come up with.

 

Like I told ya...looked at mine and it's about 6 inches. Measured one side at 4.75, because it's parked on a hill. Look at your back end, are there blocks hooked to your leaf springs anywhere? If not and your truck is sitting level, it's probably stock.

You said you've replaced everything, but you're wondering about a lift. I guess you didn't replace your front springs. It's only about $50.00. Call Benz Springs in Portland, OR. They would be able to tell you anything about your spring height.

What do you mean by "c" bushings? The axle insulators or the caster camber bushings? If you mean the axle insulators then yes, they definatly would affect your caster which would affect your camber, because the toe-in would be at a severe angle. You can get different degree insulators, but you ought to be able to do a visual or even measure with a set of calipers how the diamond on your axle sits in relation to your radius arms. Should be fairly well even. You want a little bit of positive caster, forward tilt. I'd probably get stock and go from there. I can't remember where I saw those degree'd insulators at. If the pinion shaft on your front diff is low, meaning tilted down, you would have a heck of a lot negitive camber. That truck would drift on every ripple in the road and to overcome by increasing toe-in would throw your camber off even more. Does it look like someones put multiple stablizer shocks on it at one time? With power steering you really only need one if your caster is right. They aren't there to stop road wander, but to keep from ripping your thumbs off while 4x'ing in ruts with manual steering. I keep my thumbs up even now..learned response.

Please let me know how this works out.

 

Obviously, you don't understand. I know what my problem is. I just need the distance, not a diagnostic proceedure for the entire front-end. Yes, the truck is lifted in the rear, but this is a truck who's history I know nothing about. jc Whitney has the "c" bushings/insulator bushings available with several different degrees of positive offset.

 

Ok, on my truck the distance is about six inches; however, this is with stock height springs new about two years ago. The 24 year old springs that I took off were probably 5 inches on one side and 4.5 inches on the other. This truck is stock. The height from the top of the axle tube to the rubber bumper is about six inches. My truck sits level, front to rear, side to side. If I was to block up the rear springs a couple inches my height in the front would decrease a little because of weight transfer.

You picked this up at the wreckers and it's been messed with. Who knows how long it's been sitting there. Let me just tell you a little of the history when these things were new. I was there.

Your options back then were:

2" lift, springs in front, block in back. You could squeek by without changing the pitman arm and some didn't mess with the track bar either. Most shops didn't want to deal with the 2" lift because, 1. It didn't make much of a difference height wise and 2. Less parts meant less money for them. If you wanted a 2" usually they sold you a body lift.
4" lift, most common. New springs, blocks, pitman arm, track bar,(sometimes this was adjustable).
6" and 8" lift. They were out there, but not common because of the cost and didn't handle well.

Back then we were all a little leary of the F100 with coil springs. Everyone was used to leafs where all you needed was blocks to raise it up and the cost of coils wasn't cheap like they are now. You could buy rubber spacers to cheaply raise the coil. Pry the coil apart and stick them in. Didn't handle well.

If it was me, I would take the blocks out of the back, put stock "c" bushings in and see how it does. If your springs are old, they WILL have collapsed by now. Then, I would go about putting a 4" lift on it, if I wanted a lift. I like my stock height on my F100 and ran 33 inch mudders for years without a clearance problem. Now I run fairly skinny 10 ply's on 16" rims and don't get stuck, don't get flats, and get better gas mileage.

Of course, everything I say is of an opinion satisfactory to myself. I answered your question in the first line of this post, (as well as the first line of the last two posts.)

Good luck to ya..

 

Thanks for the help. I like the ride height just the way it is and I don't want to make any changes to it. It wears the 33x12.5's like a champ; no fender drag or rubbing while turning.
If I can get my pinion angle corrected, she'll be fine. I have a slight wheel-hop in reverse but that's what I'd expect from lift blocks, and it's not bad enough to cause problems. Thanks again.