Caster and camber on TTB

[lotzagoodstuff]

First and foremost: Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there on OB.

I put an add a leaf under the front of my 92 last year and although the ride height is good and the truck sits level, my camber is a little out of spec. I asked a local tire shop today about aligning it and they gave me a long talk about eccentric spacers, ball joints, $140 per side, etc. Does anybody have the skinny on caster/camber/aligning a TTB front end? If I am going to have somebody go that far into the axle, I will probably do the labor myself and put all new parts in the front end and have it aligned when I'm done. Hindsight being 20/20, I see why the F350s with the Dana 60s are so popular.

As always, any input is appreciated.

 

[Optikalillushun]

being there are three pivot points on the F-150 TTB, two for the F-250/350 changing one will push the others out of spec.

i dont exactly understand the question but the eccentic bushings go on the upper ball joints to pivot the tires back to near factory. the caster isnt as much of an issue with the F-2/350s.

 

[NJKen]

If you get the alignmet specs (actual as it is now) you can get a universal caster/camber upper baljoint spacer9NAPA can order them for you). You can dial it in by the alignement numbers you got. You can then change the bushing yourself and it should come up just about rite.
You can only correct 2 degrees or 2.5 degrees at most.
Ken

 

[towcat]

what he said above.....
now here's the linky to the parts to do the adjustments. I wouldn't be buying the parts and then dropping in to the same place you got the quote from since you have just cut out a huge chunk of their profit. Unless your ball joints are worn, they can be reused. The universal adjusting sleeve is probably the better way to go but it is more expensive. It's a good product, I've been using this company for years.
http://www.spcalignment.com
edit....
go to the home page and enter your truck info.
here the sleeve that pushes out to 2.75 deg camber
p/n23113 2.75 degree (2-3/4 degree)

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

As usual, you guys have all the answers, thanks for the explaination(s).

 

[hahn_rossman]

Does any body have a diy alignment method for the TTB 4wd trucks?

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Does any body have a diy alignment method for the TTB 4wd trucks?

You can set the camber with a bubble level. Basically you want the wheel to be 90* to the ground.

As long as both bushings are in the same position, the casber will be roughly the same on both sides.

 

[Optikalillushun]

u can set the tow by measure the middle of the tires on the front side and back side (threads) and setting it as close as possible to each other.

[]-----[]
|-----|
XX inches

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

Anybody see anything wrong with this part, looks like a good price for a Moog part.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/K896...001QQitemZ110251874075QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

[zigg]

Just remember, that by the physics of how the TTB works. the camber will only be accurate when the truck is sitting absolutely still. Since the Tires pivot around the mounting point of the TTB arm, they are always positive or negative when in motion. That's the reason these things eat tires so bad!!
Also the reason we like to swap to a solid axle with leafs, that basically only go up and down...Castor is basically built in, or can be somewhat adjusted with shims...

Zigg

 

[4x4TruckinGirl]

A decent shop should be able to help you out without changing all that stuff... dang...... I know mine isnt the same as yours, but with that lift I have on the front of mine, my shop here did a great job aligning it.... there was a HUGE camber adjustment. Like Zigg said when turning your wheels will still be at an angle, and eat tires, but as long as Im rolling straight I can let go of the steering wheel and we'll stay straight..... I know this wasn't at all helpful to you...... Other than saying the shop is maybe trying to take you for a ride..... :-\

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

Today I decided to rotate my tires to get the last bit out of them as the two fronts were wearing pretty poorly on the outside edges. After watching the video of the link Towcat posted, I figured what the hey, I might as well see what bushings are in there (I mean it's already wearing tires badly, what have I got to lose). I got them both out in about 20 minutes, and as it turns out, one was 1/2 degree and the other was 1 1/2 degrees. The funny part was both of them were turned to the most positive camber setting (no caster offset on either of them) and the side that was really wearing the outer edge badly had the smaller offset. So I swapped sides and turned them around to give the max negative camber and I can see that it did put the tires more perpendicular to the ground. Thanks again for the input, I am going to watch the wear on the current set of front tires just to see how close the camber is, which is a lot more fun than the $70 + $140 per side (plus offset bushings) that I was quoted to align my truck.

Thanks again for the help

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

So does anybody have the correct toe in, caster and camber callouts for the TTB? I'd like to know what they are before talking to whomever I get to align my truck.

 

[Reefdiver72]

Well I just got done doing this to my truck I did it for less then 100.00 with all the parts and changed the brakes the hardest part was driving in the new ball joints now I just got to get some new lockouts mine have alot of wear inside so what a better time to replace them.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

So does anybody have the correct toe in, caster and camber callouts for the TTB? I'd like to know what they are before talking to whomever I get to align my truck.

From the 94 Ford factory manual. This is for an F350, F250 is similar. Most likely the minimal differences are due to suspension height.

Camber 0.0* +/- 0.5*
Caster min 2.0*
Caster max 4.75*
Total toe 0.06* +/- 0.25*
Camber split 0.0* +/- 0.4*
Caster split -0.5* +/- 0.4*