Front End Alignment Question

[jrollf]

Truck in sig, F350 two wheel drive, twin I been front axles.

Just got new tires, and like usual I always get the alignment checked, and like usual the mechanic says everything looks great and gives me the spec sheet showing the front end is well within Ford's specs. Over the years I have had two different dealerships and and independent shop do the alignments. Thing is my front tires always wear more to the outside like the camber is out, no cupping, scuffing, etc, truck driver straight as an arrow and brakes straight too. You can see in the picture that the inner most tread rib is a cleaner indicating it isn't contacting the pavement as much.

The only thing I can think of is Ford assumed in their specs that one would be usually caring extra load on the front axles which would cause the axles to pivot up some thus wearing the tires more evenly (camber changes on an I beam with varying loads). Since I'm usually either empty or towing tongue pulls most of the time I'm rarely adding extra weight to the front end.

Is this just a 'Ford thing' or is there something I should be looking into. (FYI, front was completely rebuilt a few years ago and has high quality poly bushings instead of the old rubber junk).

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1993 F350 Crew Cab Dually
XLT
7.3 Factory IDIT w/Banks Sidewinder
5spd Manual

 

[chillman88]

90% of shops just set the toe on these and push them out the door. You need to find a shop that will actually set the caster/camber to spec as well. It's not cheap because it takes time to get right. I'd look for a shop that will walk you through the process so you know they're doing everything and not just the toe.

 

[franklin2]

90% of shops just set the toe on these and push them out the door. You need to find a shop that will actually set the caster/camber to spec as well. It's not cheap because it takes time to get right. I'd look for a shop that will walk you through the process so you know they're doing everything and not just the toe.

I can verify the above. You need to see the computer readout from the alignment machine, make sure everything is green and in spec.

My little 86 ranger did the same thing, wore the front tires out on the outside edge. It has the same type of ttb frontend, only a smaller version. I have driven it for years this way, rotating the tires and even dismounting the tires and spinning them around on the rims to wear the other side (I am cheap).

But I got tired of doing that, and looked harder at the situation. First thing I noticed, someone, don't know if was me or not, had overloaded this truck at some time previous, and the rear springs need replacing. The rearend sat too low. For the time being I bought some of those leaf spring boosters and put them on, and it lifted the rearend back up nicely.

Eyeballing it, I could still tell the top of the tires were still poked out a little farther than the bottom on the frontend. I know the lower balljoints have a little bit of play, so I need to change them before an official alignment. So I went and bought some of those coil spring clamps, and squeezed a couple of the coils together on each side of the front. This brought the ride height down, and it did stop the tires from wearing on the outside edge. It did make the ride a little rougher too, but I am saving my tires and like I said, I am cheap.

 

[hce]

If toe in is not set perfectly on these, it can change the camber at highway speeds. If you have toe in the tires will try to move closer to each other. Depending on the angle of the i beams it will force them up or down. This is the best tool I have found for setting toe on these.

 

[BR3]

Op did mention they gave him the full spec sheet, so even if they didn't have to adjust, surely he could see all the measurements, as well as allowable limits and how close it was to perfect.

Honestly though if the picture posted above is how "bad" it is, I would just look at more frequently rotating.

Op, how many miles did it take to get to that point? If less than an oil change, maybe there's a minor problem the machine didn't show, but if more than that, two oil changes (assuming 3-5k miles) is rotating time anyway.

 

[jrollf]

Op did mention they gave him the full spec sheet, so even if they didn't have to adjust, surely he could see all the measurements, as well as allowable limits and how close it was to perfect.

Honestly though if the picture posted above is how "bad" it is, I would just look at more frequently rotating.

Op, how many miles did it take to get to that point? If less than an oil change, maybe there's a minor problem the machine didn't show, but if more than that, two oil changes (assuming 3-5k miles) is rotating time anyway.

Spec sheet showes everything within Ford's specs, including camber, castor, and toe in. These tires are new less than a thousand miles. I have a new driveway so you can really see the concrete marks on them showing the contact pattern which is identical to the wear pattern on my previous set of tires. There is no actual noticable wear on the new tires yet, the fresh concrete transfer just makes the contact patch really visible.

If there is no smoking gun my plan is to rotate regularly, bummer is this is a dually with the aluminum rims so tire rotations require dismounting tires...

1993 F350 Crew Cab Dually
XLT
7.3 Factory IDIT w/Banks Sidewinder
5spd Manual

 

[BR3]

Sounds like your on the right track so far. I mean the 235/85 naturally have a ballooned wear pattern on the dually width rims anyhow ,so they exacerbate undetectable levels of imperfection. All you can do is keep an eye out, and if need be you can always request certain specs on your alignment even outside of range if you wanted to go that far.