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Front End Alignment - Camber Adjustment

Irishjig13

Jr. Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
90
Good morning, I have a question regarding front end alignment I am hoping will receive some recommendations.

To start: I have a 2.5" suspension lift, 2" body lift, 37" tires, 7 degree C bushings and currently have a -3 degree camber on alignment.

If I add a drop bracket to the radius arms will I be able to get back to a +3/4 degree camber?

Thank you in advance. Kevin
 

Slednut10

Contributor
Guru? That's funny!
Joined
Sep 26, 2013
Messages
2,394
Camber is the tilt in or out at the top of the tire when looking at it from the front. Drop brackets will affect the caster. Which one are you looking to fix?
 

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DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,345
With that much negative caster from only a 2.5" lift Irishjig (and I'm assuming it's caster from your description), either at least some of the C-bushings are in wrong, or your truck had some nasty caster readings already.
Those bushings and a 2.5" lift should have left you with roughly 1-2 degrees positive. Fully four or five degrees from where you are now.
It's not impossible of course. Just more off than normal.

Did you take these readings yourself, or was that from a pro alignment rack?

Adding drop brackets for their additional 4 degrees of offset is not usually a good combination with 7° C-bushings. Too much pinion angle change and potential for the u-joint to bind up.
But every truck is different of course, so with some testing you could determine if yours can tolerate the extra 4 degrees of tilt.
I'd have to say that most EB's could not handle that much, but it can't hurt to check.

Then again, even after all that, you'd only be at 1 degree positive caster. Not enough for a happy driving experience for most EB's. Mine was not horrible at that level, but most who have that don't like how their rigs drive.

So, if you are truly at 3 degrees negative with 7 degree bushings, the ONLY true fix as far as I'm concerned is to cut and turn the steering yokes.
Those are the ends of the axle tubes where the ball-joints attach the steering knuckle to the axle assembly. Commonly referred to as the "inner-C" these days, they are the only component that can be changed to get both good caster numbers and a good pinion angle.
If you end up doing that you would normally go back down to a 2 degree C-bushing and then turn the yokes to get caster.

If you're not sure about any of that stuff, it's been done a lot here over the years, and if you can post up some pics of your situation as it is now, maybe someone can see something and come up with a better solution.

Good luck!

Paul
 

Boss Hugg

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
2,140
I have a feeling he either means CAMBER or he actually has POSITIVE 3* caster... We measured my dad's 4.5 lifted stuff the other day and had +.35* caster and somewhere around 3* camber. 2" of radius arm movement would put Irish's caster somewhere around 3*.
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,345
Could be. And if that's the case then even more reason for not adding drop brackets to try to tweak camber. While the effect might be measurable on a fine scale, it's not going to be making any meaningful changes to camber.
And that 3° of camber you guys are experiencing is pretty high! Definitely good to get most of it gone, whether it's positive or negative.

For adjusting camber Irish, you either need camber shims placed between the spindles and knuckles, or ball-joint eccentric collars. Both are available with up to 1.5° offsets, so in theory you could adjust both of yours down to a more manageable level.
Optimum for our rigs seems to be about 1/2 to 3/4 degrees positive. Might not get there then from your negative level, but you could get it more manageable at least.

But rotating the axle in one direction or the other is not going to get it done.
And will only lead to you needing to compensate for other stuff.

Paul
 

mtp71174

Full Member
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
204
Irishjig13 posted the wrong data the specs are
3.5 sl
neg 2 degree caster on each side
7 degree c bushings
This bronco is in my shop for assembly as a favor to the owner and my body man. The
owner opened up a catalog and just ordered parts and then gave them to us to build
some 77 parts some 75 parts. Needless to say builder beware.

This truck will be 99% driven on the road so driveshaft bind will not be a issue yet I
will use an angle finder on the front yoke before and after. What I was hoping to find
was the amount of caster to the positive drop brackets will give me I guess I will find
out and will post it.
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,345
Should be 4 degrees for most drops. (also mentioned in post #3)
Bringing the total to just +2 degree. Not the hoped for result maybe, but a lot better than being on the negative side!

Paul
 
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