I'm currently pulling my hair out. Maybe you guys can help.

My left front wheel sticks out beyond the body of the truck about 1" more than the right front does, or the rears do for that matter.

I was running BFG 305/65-18s on my stock steel 8" OEM wheels, never noticed any difference in wheel placement between any of them. Same goes for when I had the stock 285/75-18 Contis on there.

Today I had some new BFG 305s put on along with some new aluminum wheels. The wheels are .5 in wider than the stockers (so they're 8.5in) and have an offset of -6. For some reason the left front wheel sticks out 1" farther than all the others.

First I thought they had a spacer in there by accident, then I thought perhaps 1 rim was either a different model or was defective, no dice. I checked:

- The boxes the new rims came in (all marked the same)
- I measured each rim the best I could, all measured the same for offset

I then went back to the tire shop. They (we):

- Took both front tires back off (nothing unusual found).
- Checked the coding on the rims (nothing unusual found i.e. they're marked the same).
- Swapped both front rims with each other. Ended up with the same issue of the L-front wheel sticking out an inch more than every other one.

I've owned the truck since day-1 (bought it here when the buyer program was going back in the day), it's never been in any wreck, not even a fender-bender. It's never been "off-roaded", just some sand 4x4 running mostly pulling my trailer at the dunes. It wears tires evenly (always has), and goes down the road straight. I never noticed this issue until today, not sure if it's because these new rims stick out a tad more than the OEMs did and that's why I'm noticing or what the deal is. Me and the tire place are both stumped as to this condition.

Comments?

 

Do you have a leveling kit or anything on it or is it completely stock? Sounds to me like your axle is off center. Alot of times people put coil spring spacers in but dont bother doing anything to recenter the axle. Like and adjustable trackbar.

 

Yes, I have a 1.5in front-level kit on it, was installed by 4-wheel parts center about 8 months ago. Had my 1st set of BFGs put on the OEM rims after they put the level kit on it.

 

I put in a Bilstein Leveling kit in my 2006 6.0 (2.25" spring kit) before my current 4.5" Icon lift.. and didn't notice the tires being off.. however.. each Superduty is different and my guess would be the axle needs to be centered. - adjustable trac-bar would be the way to go.

 

There ya go. It's pretty well known that the leveling blocks throw off the centering of the axle. If you want it to be centered again, have the 4x4 shop put the correct parts in to recenter it, or remove the spacers.

 

I had the same problem.My truck was bone stock...I had too have my cab moved on the frame.

Read this thread...https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...s-crooked.html

 

Well I obviously need serious education in suspension and alignment stuff because I'm not getting it. I don't see how simply putting a thicker rubber spacing on top of the coil springs can shift the entire front axle assy 1" to one side or the other. The other thing is the right front appears to be exactly where it should be inside the fender well (compared to other trucks I looked at today and compared to where the 2 rear wheels are inside the body of the truck).

I've had this level kit on for a good year, the truck tracks straight down the road and it wore the tires perfectly even over the course of 5k miles (since the level kit). I suppose the 4x4 retail establishment that put the level kit spacers in could've used the wrong parts but that seems unlikely given the amount of these they do on a routine basis. Seems to me like if they'd have done something to cause a 1" shift in the front axle alignment it would've manifested itself in some other nasty way by now?

I appreciate the words so don't take me the wrong way, it's just not sitting right with me at this point.

 

Interesting. I may have to take it to a professional axle and/or body shop then. I just went out and eye-balled it and it's very hard to tell if it's off. I look at the bed/cab junction on one side and it appears like it may be off to one side, but then I look at the other side and I get the same appearance.

Right about now I wish I had some rubber on the OEM rims so I could put it back on and measure because for the life of me I never noticed this before the new rims.

 

The links are fixed length, so as the truck frame/body raises in height, away from the axles it has to shift to one side or the other based on the fixed lengths of the draglink/tie rod. It's geometry, but it's sort of like a triangle or angle I guess of the drag link/tie rod and when you open that angle the length of the arm gets shorter if that makes sense (it doesn't really get shorter, but it moves more left or right).

I don't know how to draw a picture of it with the computer keys, but draw an angle and then open up the angle and you'll see the end of the line(s) shift from right to left or vice versa

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Thanks, that's helpful. I see what you guys are saying.

Also, just got off the phone with 4wheel parts, the guy was pretty much like "yeah that happens sometime" and when I mentioned the adjustable trac bar he said that might be the only thing would fix it. Of course they didn't tell me that when they sold me the kit.

 

Yep, adjustable trac-bar is the only fix, but it's not a big deal to have it offset.

 

Well I'm probably going to have a shop put a new trac bar in as this wheel sticking out will drive me crazy now that I know it's out there.

Thanks again for everyone's .02.

 

So glad to read this thread, thought I was going crazy. I have a 2006 F-250 and it was used. When I got it I pointed it out and they said there was nothing wrong, took it to Ford and they said it was in an accident. Before I could go back to where I got it and chew them out, I was involved in another accident. They fixed all the stuff that was involved in the accident. i pointed out that the body was off and they said it was normal, so I called the insurance company about shabby repairs. Long story short, it's going to the body shop on the 21st to get the whole thing measured and straightened out, finally get it back to the way it should be.

LCDR Dan

 

I have seen that on alot of trucks, there is a tolarance on the cab to frame and there can be a difference, the bed however is less adjustable. so look at the gap between the bed and the cab, if there is a difference, the cab may have to be moved.

 

Here is another option on the trackbar. This guy sells spacers that go between the trackbar mount and the frame. Pushes the trackbar down which recenters the axle. This listing is for a complete leveling kit but email him cause I'm pretty he'll sell just the trackbar spacers too. The spacers are shown installed in the third picture


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD-...d=p3911.c0.m14