How Do I Adjust Camber?

[k_williams1982]

About a week ago now, I built up some "plates" and installed them between the spring and axle on the front of my truck. It raised the front and took care of the tires leaning in on the top, but now, they lean out a little bit. The upper ball joint has an "adjustable" type joint, but how do I adjust the camber with that? Do I just loosen the nut and turn it? Do I do it with the truck on the ground or off the ground? I'm hoping to take the truck up to Portland this weekend, but would like to try to fix this before I head out on a 4 hour roadtrip each way. I called Les Schwab and they want $150 to do an alinement on the truck! I only get $139 a week on unemployment, so that itsn't even an option. Thanks for any advice.

 

[k_williams1982]

I assume the silence in what to do is a hint that I should just roll a D60 under this and be done with the crappy IFS setup.

 

[tractorman86]

you got it!! i've had that same problem for a couple years and had it aligned, didn't do squat, most shops dont know how to do the TTBs there is a long post from a little while ago on this. try a search

 

[1dieselman]

If the tops of the tires are out only a couple of degrees I would leave it alone until you can afford a proper alignment. They came from the factory with positive camber so you should be fine.

 

[k_williams1982]

I'll add pics today of what they look like sitting, and after backing up. I think I've got some serious issues happening under the front of this thing.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

I think I know what the problem is - when you drive forward your tires sit like this \-o-/ and when you put it in reverse they go like this /-o-\ correct? This is actually very typical of the TTB suspension, my truck squats at least an inch if I drive it in reverse for just a few feet - it has a lot to do with the toe-in tho, so you may wanna try bringing that out by 1/4 turn on each sleeve (if you put a channel-locks on the sleeve from under the front bumper of the truck, lean on the channel-locks so when the sleeves turn it causes their handle to go down, that's on both sides.

 

[1dieselman]

how thick are the plates that were added?

 

[k_williams1982]

I think I know what the problem is - when you drive forward your tires sit like this \-o-/ and when you put it in reverse they go like this /-o-\ correct? This is actually very typical of the TTB suspension, my truck squats at least an inch if I drive it in reverse for just a few feet - it has a lot to do with the toe-in tho, so you may wanna try bringing that out by 1/4 turn on each sleeve (if you put a channel-locks on the sleeve from under the front bumper of the truck, lean on the channel-locks so when the sleeves turn it causes their handle to go down, that's on both sides.

That is exactly what's happening. I did notice earlier though that the tire itself seems the be making the /-o-\ look worse and that if I look at the rim it's really not that bad. It seems that I'm getting a lot of sidewall flex, so I might try increasing the tire pressure a little and see if that helps. I had to replace the driver's side outer tie rod and adjusted it so that the bad of the tire and the front of the tire were equal distance apart. Previously, the front was 1/2" closer than the back, and I didn't see this problem as bad before. Is 1/4 turn all should I give it or just a starting point, and is the front supposed to be a little closer togerther?

 

[k_williams1982]

how thick are the plates that were added?

About 1" total. There are pics of them in the Pics & Videos section.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

the front of the tires is supposed to be closer together, this is known as toe in (toe out would be if the back is closer). 1/2" toe In is way too much tho, IIRC the factor specs are for like 1/16" or so... The 1/4 turns are just a starting point, you gotta fine tune it as ou drive. Are you sure you have zero toe, as in front and back of tires are the same distance apart now?

 

[k_williams1982]

the front of the tires is supposed to be closer together, this is known as toe in (toe out would be if the back is closer). 1/2" toe In is way too much tho, IIRC the factor specs are for like 1/16" or so... The 1/4 turns are just a starting point, you gotta fine tune it as ou drive. Are you sure you have zero toe, as in front and back of tires are the same distance apart now?

Just checked, and the fronts are 1/8" further out. I haven't adjusted anything yet. I have a new set of axle pivot bushings coming in the morning. They are poly and were about $16 each with a lifetime warranty. I'm going to install them tomorrow and see what happens. It appears that the driver's side tire in straight up and down, but the passenger side leans out on the top when sitting after driving forwards. When I back up, both sides lean in, but the driver's side leans in more. I checked the pivot bushings and they are old rubber ones. A few little pieces came off in my hand, so I know they are shot. What's the easiest way to replace these? I'm already planning on getting the tires off the ground and doing one side at a time, but do I beat smash or burn () the old ones out, and what's the best way to install the new ones? I've got a full days work ahead of my over $32 worth of parts.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Your passenger-side tire seems about right, when empty and driving forward these trucks are supposed to ride with the top edge of the front tires leaning out a bit, when you back them up they start to lean in a bit at the top. Your driver-side wheel seems to have a bit too negative camber, try to rotate the adjuster sleeve so it brings the top ball joint a bit outboard.

The crappy part is that by adjusting the camber you're also messing with the caster. Question for you - does the truck pull to either side if you let off the wheel as you drive down a level road? If it goes straight, turn the adjuster sleeve clockwise - camber and caster both increase this way, and therefore cancel each other's effect on causing an unbalanced pull to that side.

Oh, and bring those tierods in, 1/8" out in the front is waay too much, I'd rather have 1/8" in than 1/8" out.

 

[k_williams1982]

The truck tracks straight down the road and doesn't pull to either side. Do I need to remove the whole knuckle in order to turn that adustable thing under the nut (Is that the "sleeve" that you are talking about that will change camber/caster or are you talking about the sleeve on the tie rod?) on the upper ball joint? This is the first IFS I've gotten this far into and I'm really starting to see why the D60 is rolled under them now.

Should I replace the pivot bushing before I start doing all this just to see what effect that has? If the bushing for the driver's side is shot and "sagging" at the pivot point, that would let the tire lean in. I hope that the passenger side isn't shot as bad otherwise it's going to lean out badly. I'll take pics tomorrow and post them. I should have the new bushings around 11am and hopefully have it all back together before dark.

 

[k_williams1982]

Well, the parts store just called and my pivot bushings are in, so the carnage begins. This is my first time replacing these, so I'm not exactly sure what's in store for me. I've heard sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it's a PITA. I guess I'll find out. If the new ones are rubber, I'll send them back and hold out for a set of poly bushings. The ones I just got had a lifetime warranty, so hopefully they are the poly ones. I'm just trying to keep the truck drivable until I can get a D60 under the front. I thought I had an axle for $500 on payments, but when we went to go get it we found out somebody had walked off with it!

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY

Sad as it is to say, there are very few shops/men that have any clue as to how to line up the front-end on one of these trucks.


Think about it for a minute :

The local alignment shops are busy playing around with little toodle-around cars by the hundreds and seldom get called upon to work on one of these trucks, so they either don't really care to fool with them, or don't have any real idea what they are doing.


Go to a big truck shop.................same situation in reverse; nothing about our front-ends really relates to the day to day business of lining the steering on a real truck, so very limited experience/want-to there either.



About the only real option to get a genuine front-end alignment done properly on one of these trucks is to find a shop that specializes in recreational motor-home chassis type vehicles; then you have a fighting chance that the man and machine may actually be able to accomplish the task.



Unless you know what you are doing and actually do the work yourself, front-end alignment is sort of a gimmick.

There is little way to tell if the work was properly done until thousands of miles down the road.

You can pay good money for a completely crappy job and not know that you got took until months later.