dbrannon79
I'm getting there!
Guys, I decided to pull my 95 into the back driveway and check and adjust if needed for a quick and dirty alignment job today. I have noticed since I had pulled the TT hearing tire tread road noise more so that it had before. looking at my tires I found that both the front tires were cupping on the inside some. reading online I am finding that for some tires this is a normal thing and others say it's alignment or shocks to blame. I figured I would double check and see if anything was going on.
Since I mostly do my own alignment jobs and seem to have had decent luck with it, I would do it again just to ease my mind. I leveled the truck as best I could with my driveway all uneven and cracking. found spots for the two front tires that my torpedo level is almost dead on going my the center of the radiator support, bed floor, and bed side rails. measured the camber on both front wheels placing the level on the rim's flat area below the bead up and down check both front and back of the front wheels. I found that both fronts needed to be pulled outward as they were leaning in towards the truck slightly. Got that done with keeping the same caster angle by moving both the front and back UCA adjustments the same amounts.
after that was done I rolled the truck back and placed two pieces of old floor tile with grease in between like a sammich to give the fronts wiggle room for adjusting the toe.
when I adjust the toe I normally set two jack stands forward of the front wheels and tie a long kite string to one wrapping back around the rear wheels and up to the other front to the second jack stand, pull it tight along with using a twig between the string and tire at the far rear giving a space so it's not touching the sidewall. Then use the rear rims to measure the distance front to back of the rim adjusting the stands closer or farther away to get the strings a straight and in line with the truck as possible. as long as the wind isn't blowing too much I can get it perfectly straight.
Then I move to the front wheels and use the rims to measure front to back of each wheel, taking the difference giving me my toe in/out measurement. also making sure the steering wheel is straight with the wheels. I did all this and I'm now perfectly straight with a 1/16" toe in.
something I ran into which the truck has been like this from the day I purchased it is the rear axle is off set to the drivers side by almost 1 inch. you can see this in the distance of the string on the passenger tire comparing to the drivers side. not sure if this can cause an issue or how I would go about fixing it if I need to.
Since I mostly do my own alignment jobs and seem to have had decent luck with it, I would do it again just to ease my mind. I leveled the truck as best I could with my driveway all uneven and cracking. found spots for the two front tires that my torpedo level is almost dead on going my the center of the radiator support, bed floor, and bed side rails. measured the camber on both front wheels placing the level on the rim's flat area below the bead up and down check both front and back of the front wheels. I found that both fronts needed to be pulled outward as they were leaning in towards the truck slightly. Got that done with keeping the same caster angle by moving both the front and back UCA adjustments the same amounts.
after that was done I rolled the truck back and placed two pieces of old floor tile with grease in between like a sammich to give the fronts wiggle room for adjusting the toe.
when I adjust the toe I normally set two jack stands forward of the front wheels and tie a long kite string to one wrapping back around the rear wheels and up to the other front to the second jack stand, pull it tight along with using a twig between the string and tire at the far rear giving a space so it's not touching the sidewall. Then use the rear rims to measure the distance front to back of the rim adjusting the stands closer or farther away to get the strings a straight and in line with the truck as possible. as long as the wind isn't blowing too much I can get it perfectly straight.
Then I move to the front wheels and use the rims to measure front to back of each wheel, taking the difference giving me my toe in/out measurement. also making sure the steering wheel is straight with the wheels. I did all this and I'm now perfectly straight with a 1/16" toe in.
something I ran into which the truck has been like this from the day I purchased it is the rear axle is off set to the drivers side by almost 1 inch. you can see this in the distance of the string on the passenger tire comparing to the drivers side. not sure if this can cause an issue or how I would go about fixing it if I need to.
