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Hi folks. Finally getting around to the front end work on my truck. The steering wanders and follows the pavement which I originally thought might be the worn out king-pins. Well, the king pins are definitely shot so I ordered a new set, but it seems grandpa broke some springs in his 93000 miles on this truck and replaced the driver's side front stack with a different set. I have 11 leaves on the pass side and 12 on the driver's, so driver's side stacks up about 1/2" taller than the passenger. To make matters worse there is no caster shim under the driver's side springs. Seems like this explains my erratic/wandering steering. Anyone have one of these rascals they would be willing to part with, or know where I can get steel shims to match? I would also be interested in the whole spring/shackle/bolt/shim assembly so I could get mine to match.
i got a spare set of wedges. if you don,t find any i,m willing to send them for free. only thing i,m in quebec canada ! if your interested let me know!
Are the wedge shaped spacers/shims a stock item or a correctional thing aftermarket? I have not noticed them.
Hmmm... I just assumed it was because the factory config was 11 leaves, and that + the shim are what I have on the pass side. Somewhere around here I have a drawing, must be on paper. I'll track it down.
I never noticed the thing when I had the front end apart last year, I only realized it yesterday when I looked at it closely. 0 caster on that side would definitely explain my wandering steering. I've rebuilt most of the steering box except the steering gear itself and it has very little play.
It's been my experience not having those castor shims installed will definitely cause wander and tracking on uneven road surfaces, like rain grooves and road repairs. You will spend all your time and energy fighting to stay on the road.
I've only checked three sets of factory shims, all from half tons and they all were right at four degrees. The shims on my truck are factory and are also four degrees. For what it's worth....I've been told by several mid fifties Ford truck guys that five degrees is better, especially while highway driving.
So a generic set of 2-4* shims should do it, eh? Seems to be easy to find aluminum ones but steel not as common, haven't found any in 2" width. All the steel shims I've found are 2.5" wide used by the 4x4 guys to adjust pinion angle on the rear. Suppose I could trim 1/4" off either side.
I think the stock shims are 2 degrees, they are about 1/4" thick at the back and taper over the 4" span. Stock front tires are 7.00-20 and I'm running 8.25-20, so slightly more caster will help. I'll try 3 or 4 degrees.
They say the mind is the first thing to go....I think they're right!
I was wrong with the numbers I stated in my last post. After checking my notes, the stock shims are two degrees and four degrees was referred to me as being used by the mid fifties Ford guys. My apologies.
I'm just going to crawl back under my rock and stay there....
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