Wheel Alignment Target Specs

Does anyone have recommended wheel alignment specs? I’d like to put my rig through an alignment shop to make sure I’m within spec but I’ve found a few conflicting posts on line.

It handles alright right now but has a noticeably huge amount of positive camber. If anyone cares to chime in with some target numbers I’d appreciate it.

Running 33x12.5 tires, 2.5” Deaver springs with Bilstein shocks, 7° C-bushings, Delphi power steering box, stock pitman arm, adjustable track bar & drag link with all new bushings, new wheel bearings & ball joints, 4 wheel disc brakes.

Dandesjar said:

Does anyone have recommended wheel alignment specs? I’d like to put my rig through an alignment shop to make sure I’m within spec but I’ve found a few conflicting posts on line.

It handles alright right now but has a noticeably huge amount of positive camber. If anyone cares to chime in with some target numbers I’d appreciate it.

Running 33x12.5 tires, 2.5” Deaver springs with Bilstein shocks, 7° C-bushings, Delphi power steering box, stock pitman arm, adjustable track bar & drag link with all new bushings, new wheel bearings & ball joints, 4 wheel disc brakes.

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Modern alignment specs would be:

Camber: 0.25° ± 0.25° (Try to avoid 0.00°, otherwise the truck can wander)
Caster: 5.0° ± 1.0°
Toe: 0.25° ± .12°

If you have wide tires or heavily offset rims, you may need to bump toe to .37°. Tires can dynamically toe-out due to drag of the tire and scrub radius.

If you want to set the truck so it counters road crown, set driver's camber to ~.37° and passenger's camber to ~.12°.


My rig is currently:
Camber L: 0.37° / R: 0.12°
Caster: 4.5°
Toe: 0.25°

Turning 37s with neutral offset wheels, you can take your hands off the wheel at 80+MPH no problem.


Make sure the shop does a 4-wheel alignment so thrust angle and any rear camber / toe issues are sorted out.

Hi, before the alignment you will get more help if you post some pics of your front end, with Trac bar and drag link angles. With your lift you may want a drop pitman arm.
You may discover some things should be changed before the alignment.
I would also experiment with tire pressure + or - @ 25 psi. A lot of guys run too much tire pressure and like it when they lower it.
You should know toe is the only easy adjustment.
Make sure to get a printout or screen shot of the numbers.
Good luck

Thanks guys. I don’t have any pics handy at the moment but I can tell you that my Trac Bar & Drag Link are sitting pretty well parallel. A drop pitman arm would change that unless I also lowered the Trac Bar. I called both Tom’s & Wild Horses before I installed the lift and both guys I spoke to gave me the same info - that a drop pitman arm & Trac Bar are not usually needed until you go above a 2.5” lift. Would you agree with this info or would it be worthwhile dropping the arm & Trac Bar? Like I said, I’m not having any big steering issues. It does get a bit twitchy at higher speeds but I’m thinking that’s mostly due to the fact that I’m not used to the hyper-sensitive power steering that it seems to have. I also haven’t mounted the steering stabilizer or tweaked the tire pressure yet. Would increasing the amount of pre-load on the ball joints help to reduce the response rate of the PS box, or would this just cause excess wear?

I mostly want an alignment to save on tire wear if it’s out of spec but have no idea what proper spec numbers would be for my set up.

Hi, I should have posted my alignment numbers, but Digger556 gave you good numbers.
My Bronco got a Dana 30 to Dana 44 swap with 7 * c bushings and a tie rod drag link kit which allows toe adjustment on each side.
I set the toe in the driveway and drove for years until I got new BFGs and decided to get the alignment numbers on a computerized John Bean machine.
We got caster left 3.9, caster right 3.4
Camber left 1.9,. Camber right .8
Left toe .15,. Right toe .15.
All you can adjust is the toe setting. Camber can be changed by bending the axle. Caster is fixed by the c bushings. I don't know much about camber shims.
I wouldn't overdo the preload on the ball joints, but don't have much experience with that.
You probably don't need a drop pitman arm, and if the bars are parallel that is good. If can put up some pics you will get more information.
You can learn how to check the toe in your driveway with a tape measure. Look for @ 3/16 toe in.
I would do as much as possible before the alignment shop, so you don't have to bring it back and pay them again for something that you can easily fix first.
Good luck

The information you got about not needing the drops with a 2.5" suspension lift are based on tradition. So while they're basically true, they're not "universally" true. And every Bronco is different...

Some have benefited from adding them (and your'e correct that you need to do both in most cases), others have not really noticed a difference (but it didn't get any worse) when driving around.

I'm going to add them to mine, but am doing all the other stuff first as a test to see what, if any real differences it makes.

But first things first. Do get your alignment readings and full printout. Even let an alignment tech adjust the toe-in while it's on the rack. But don't let them tell you it's not adjustable. All aspects can be tweaked, if not actually "adjusted" by normal means.

A pitman arm and drop bracket don't effect any of the normal alignment settings. They are only there to bring your overall angles back down to a more near-stock level. Anytime you lift the suspension you change those angles from stock. The farther away from stock you get, the more little funny feelings crop up. Sometimes they're acceptable, sometimes they're hardly even noticed.
But sometimes, they're too much for someone and so the drops can be a good thing.

Again though, get the other stuff dialed in first, then see if you need any additional stuff.

Good luck.

Paul

I just tried to get my numbers, but the shop wouldn't even put it up on the lift because he said he didn't have specs. I told him I just want the numbers and a toe adjust, but nope...then I went across the street to Discount for a wheel balance...they wouldn't do that either because he said my tires were 10 years old and I shouldn't be driving them. I told him I'm not interested in buying new ones and just want a balance. but again, nope. tires are 10 years old but were sitting in storage for most of that and don't have may miles on them (and I'm not made of money). So tired of these Rear Echelon MF's telling me what they cant do...
Did a driveway toe adjustment, and ordered some balance beads.....
Sorry for the rant...

I hate the alignment freaks that won't even touch something.
But the Discount Tire thing is a well known issue. Any and all big name brand chain tire stores won't go near a tire that's older than 7 years or so (I think it's 7?) anymore. The guys at Goodyear would not even put my swamper in the water to look for the leak (that I had circled in grease pen by the way) because it was too old.
If it's not strictly the law these days, at least it's the law-of-the-land with the big chain stores.

But to not even give you the readings and take your money? That's kind of ridiculous.
He may just not have wanted to touch it, because if he's got a machine newer than thirty years old, he's got the specs in the machine.
Unless I'm missing something and they have to pay extra to have the old numbers programmed in? I doubt it, but maybe some of the alignment specialist members here can elaborate on that.
Any machine should be able to set toe though. With or without specs!

Oh well. At least you got it done (yourself!)...

Paul