Yes, yes, you have it. Believe it or not, if you simply change the offset of the wheels, either the rear or the front as an experiment, you can achieve a different angle, and change the over / understeer problem.
Wider front than rear will tend to oversteer. Too much difference and the thing really becomes unstable. Lengthen the wheelbase, and you can correct some of it, but then the rear tires do not track well during a turn. Then it becomes a mess.
Front wheel drive cars are a bit of a mystery, and all wheel drive cars can also present some difficult with these angles, but they still apply, its just that the angles are slightly different, although the little experiment still works.

Try this in a Kart, and you will really see some killer changes. Solid axle rear drive with more power to weight ratio than an F1 car, and tiny, tiny changes in angle will affect the car / kart.
These guys understand this angle, and use it to their advantage. Wheelbase, and track width is being changed quite often.
Fortunately, they have little suspension movement, so these angles can remain constant. Longer travel suspension becomes a little more interesting.
Desert guys really concentrate in this area, and are magicians when it come to some suspension design. Keeping these angles under control is often the difference between a competitive vehicle, and one that just looks good on the trailer.
When vehicles just seem to find the line, and almost drive themselves without being twitchy, or unstable, it means the angles are correct, and some engineer did his homework.

 

alright ed, i have a question that kinda falls into this. i might be getting a reg cab shortbed 78, and i found a set of axles off of a dually for super cheap near me. if i leave the dually 60 front wide, what do you think i would run into for steering problems

 

If you run a single wheel, or regular offset wheel and not a positive offset dually (Budd wheel) type wheel, you will scrub.
This scrub has more to do with SAI or steering axis inclination than anything else and not reaaly to do with Ackerman as much as a problematic scrub problem.
See the offset of a single wheel will be so far out that turning the wheels will be difficult. Turning becomes "grabby" like a vehicle with a welded diff.
You could over engineer the knuckles to turn the inside wheel further, but this is not practical, and it wont fix the SAI or scrub.
This adapter on the end of the hub will promote bumpsteer and create a reasonably difficult ability to turn when compared to a single wheel front axle, even with an open differential. See the diff has little to do with this. A 2wd truck would act the same way.
Your short wheelbase will exaggerate this problem, and this relates back to Ackerman.
Funny cycle huh?

Also keep in mind that depending on your rear axle, if you run a single wheel on it, you might make problems a little bit worse.
Also know that there were no dually 4x4 axles in 78/9 so installing them in a dent is not all that easy.
You will have to outboard the front leafs, and this presents other problems.

 

f150. wanna keep the coils. the axles are from an 88 i believe

 

Thats going to require that you cut the driver side spring perch. While some have had decent luck here, Ive seen several break in this area.

 

did fabritech shut down? i was trying to use them as a reference, but google says page not found

 

im setting up my front axle now, do i want my lower coil bucket to be 0* or whats going to be the best angle for that. i dont have any motor or tranny in so i need to get that set in so that doesnt throw me off.

 

Where is your baseline? I mean where is this zero (0*) degree figure coming from?

If your just dropping the spring bucket, then drop each and every hole down two inches.
Thats fairly simple.
Once you get the thing on the ground, and the engine is in, you will then be able to determine the length of your radius arms and which bushings you will require.

 

well i mesured the angle off of the piece that my two spring buckets bolts go into. the kit i bought came with 7* but i added 4" of lift

 

ok guys im running into some problems and need some major help. ive been trying to mock up my front axle, but i cant get the radius arms to bolt up. i have the wedges tacked on 7.5" across, but im running a 9/16" spacer. with my spacer in there i have a 1/2" gap still? also i am using 7* off set bushing. i have tried hookin it all up several different times nothin is workin. i have no clue what im doing wrong. i would love to find out though. thanks alot i personally think it is those monster bushings because my dana 44 is 7" across so mathmatically im correct. but the stupid thing is not working out.

 

well this is what im talking about. so you can acually see it.

 

do you have the bottom bolts all the way tight? if so loosen them up. i don't know too much on the 70's coil suspension, but could it be possible that you need a spacer top and bottom?

 

i do have a spacer on top and bottom

 

are all 4 bushings the same? are there 2 sets of two that are the same shape? make sure you don't have them mixed up. did you mock up both sides? were there the same problems on both sides? maybe you measured wrong

 

all the bushings are the same its how you put them over the c's one is the opposite upside down than the other. ive tried both same results i just have no clue what is wrong. i bought the spacers there made for exactly what im doing im lost.