Front end alignment for dummies

[gatorman21218]

How hard is it to align the front end on a D50 truck? I want to learn how to do it so I dont have to rely on the local discount tire. Took about 1 year to bald the outside of the right front. I am specifically looking how to adjust the camber.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

for camber you will need to fiddle with the ball joints. since the factory style bj's are fixed position(not adjustable) you will need to get new adjustable ball joints. i am not sure were exactly to get the adjustable bj's though.

 

[Devon Harley]

Autozone an there good prices as well.

 

[warhog]

When the old man at his shop told me "well the alignment could take a half hour, or six hours depending on the truck.." I decided it's worth taking to a shop.

If you have a firestone around you, they offer lifetime alignments. I think it's 100$ or so last I purchased one. After that, for as long as you own the vehicle you can go in every dang day to get it aligned if you wanted to and never pay another dime.

 

[Wicked97]

Caster and camber are fully adjustable via bushings in the upper housing.

Caster is for the most part built in.

Get an angle finder and set the camber as close to 0 as possible. Just measure the angle on your locking hub it will be close enough.
Be warned if your springs are shot and you have to use much more than 3 degrees of camber either way it really affects caster and tire wear when turning.

As for toe measure on the rim at the front and back. You want a little toe in but I can't remember what the acceptable range is.

 

[John Deere]

I believe it is 1/16-1/8". That's where I set mine.

 

[gatorman21218]

ok so with the full weight on the front I want camber to be at 0 degrees?

I added an add a leaf about a year ago and that helped with my wore out springs.

Do I need shims or how do I adjust the ball joints. ball joints were replaced a year ago

 

[Leeland]

As wicked97 said there is bushings that is used for the adjustment. They're located at top of each knuckle. There is a tab they lock to built into the knuckle and I faintly remember having to back the ball joint nut off and pop the bushing up slightly to clear the tab to adjust.

 

[gatorman21218]

Ok I think I know what you are talking about. So thats all I need to do to adjust camber is to adjust it right there at that castle nut?

 

[Leeland]

It'll adjust to a degree or I should say will compensate, it has been almost two years since I messed with them. There is a couple good articles out there on the how to I found when I was needing to adjust camber. Mine were seized though and had to buy new bushings from I believe Superlift and those come with a chart for correcting caster/camber labeled with codes as the Superlift bushing have coding on the inner and outer sleeves. The new bushings were two piece, I can't remember if the oem parts are or not.

 

[riotwarrior]

Maybe this will be helpful...

You have to have these or get these...

Here is the adjustment bushing in the upper ball joint of a F250 D50 TTB

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Here is the one I removed, from drivers side, this shows a slight offset

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Here it is again

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Here are both out

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Here you can see a signifcant difference between 1/2 deg and 1 1/2 deg

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Hope these help you further understand what you do, by adjusting what and where those angles, land you can make alignment adjustments.

Al

 

[G. Mann]

I just did rebuild the entire front end on my 87 F250, D50 so can shed some light on your question.
The above post with pictures tells the story about the parts you want to look at to bring in the adjustment. There are a selection of offset bushings to choose from to give you the range of adjustment you need for your particular truck. Also, when you adjust one side, it changes the geometry for the other side. So you have to check both and hit the median adjustment for each one to give you what you need. Sounds like brain surgery, but it's not. It would be better if you had a front end machine to do the setup on however.

I replaced all the worn parts, dialed it in by sight, then took it to my local front end genius .. $139.00 and 1 hr later.. drives like a new truck.. rock solid.

To me, good investment to let a guy with 30+ yrs and a frame machine do it.

 

[icanfixall]

Well Al once again you came thru with some great pics clearly showing what the words mean. I would never had figured this out without some pics...

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

Al, is that stock bushings for the TTB or are they aftermarket bushings?

 

[Wicked97]

Napa sells the bushings also.

All in all once you get the old ones out its a fairly simple job.