Agreed, try taking the blocks out, since that will reduce your positive camper. They look to be an add on by some one.

 

ok i just hope that the u-bolts arent going to break if i put a half inch breaker bar on them. ill soak them in diesel for a few days prior.. ok thanks guys

 

just a bit of penetrating lube will do.

 

Yes, that plate is stock!
Yes, Removing it will affect camber!
Yes, It is part of the locating pin!

Removing it allows no place for the locating pin to key into!

The only resolution is parts replacement and alignment, no backyard DIY hack jobs are going to resolve worn out parts and alignment issues!

An alignment is cheaper then constant wear on tires.

I know thats not what you want to hear, but it's the facts!

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

so, what the hell good is it if its just floating on top of the axle? if its not welded to the axle then its worthless in holding the axle from shifting back and forth. would make more sense to drill a hole in the axle for the pin to recess into. there could have been either thicker material in that area or a second plate under it to cap under the location hole.

 

I didn't know that. Good catch.

My manual makes no mention of it in the diagrams though so I don't know what to think.

 

thats what i was thinking. i know i cant be the only person to think that it would help the camber issue on this junk front end. but its what i have so i have to work with what im given. i love doing fab work so im guessing ill have to do a little bit to it.

 

X2 what festus said.

 

it was stock on mine but the center pin bolt goes through it and sticks outta the bottom into the hole in the spring perch, so it does help center the spring pack and is stationary being that the pin bolt head does keep it from floating aound

 

There are three steering angles/measurements that have to be taken into consideration.

Caster
Camber
Toe in

On a leaf sprung vehicle, if you want to change the caster, you use a wedge shaped plate in that location.
Which way the wedge slopes and at what angle tilts the axle forward or backward to adjust the caster angle.
In reguard to IFS/TTB front axles, the most important part of caster is the angles match on both sides.

With a D 60, the angles match because both knuckle yokes are attached to the same axle tube.
With an axle that is two piece like the D 44 and D 50, the only thing that keeps those angles the same is where they bolt against the leaf springs.
Hence the need for wedges to adjust the angles.

The next one is camber.
If the front tires sit like this / \ it has negative camber
If the front tires || the camber is zero or neutral.
If the front tires sit like this \ / the camber is positive.

The TTB axles used in the 250 trucks like slightly negative camber.

Camber is what makes lifting a truck with a TTB axle so hard and complicated which translates to expensive.

The third thing is toe in.
Almost all vehicles have a slight toe in to help with cornering.

From memory I have mine set at 1/8", IE the front of the wheels are 1/8" closer together than the rear of the wheels.

My take on your tire wear.
Excessive toe in or positive camber for equipment related issues.

That tire wear could also be from driver induced wear if you take the corners excessively fast.

Roll into a corner hard, crank the wheel hard almost to the point of squealing tires with you foot hard on the brakes, a 4 ton vehicle puts a huge load on the outside edge of the corners outside front tire.

Here is a little more information above what I stated above about alignment.

Caster, Camber, Toe

So if you remove those plates, you may actually be making the problem worse if they are wedges to adjust the caster.
A 1/2 degree wedge would look almost like a piece of flat metal to the eye.