Ball joints. degree of camber

[JGrammatico]

Hi there. I have an 03 dodge with just over 100k on the odometer and was thinking about getting some upper ball joints for it. I went on Kragens website but they offer three different degree's of camber. everything from 1/2" to 1-1/2". How do i know which ones to get? is it something that only an alignment shop can determine? I would like to do it myslef and save some money.

 

[mitchC]

Hello

My 06 has 97500 on her and she's been pulling right for the last couple of thousand miles. So I took her to Les Schwab and they aligned and replaced the right upper ball joint as there was no way to adjust caster and camber without the correct offset joint according to Schwab. Anyway now all is well drives like it did when new.

Mitch

 

[TBartlett1]

You need to know where the alignment is currently set at in orde to chose the correct balljoint.

If your current balljoints are worn the actual camber may be a guess. But a good shop should be able to read between the lines.

 

[jelag]

Years ago I was taught that camber was in the inward, and outward tilt of the king pin at the top... . as if the truck had a straight axle... . it was easy to learn... . camber is a tire wear angle and needs to be there, so that when the truck make a turn, camber helps the inside wheel turn tighter than the out side wheel...

In the same breath, too much camber will cause tire wear... . inward is neg camber and outward is positive camber... . I would never go farther than the high limit... and both sides need to be the same...

 

[JGrammatico]

thanks for the replies. I thought it would be a simple purchase and hang on to them until i was ready to tear into the front end. i am glad to have asked before i jumped in and bought them.

 

[brods]

Years ago I was taught that camber was in the inward, and outward tilt of the king pin at the top... . as if the truck had a straight axle... . it was easy to learn... . camber is a tire wear angle and needs to be there, so that when the truck make a turn, camber helps the inside wheel turn tighter than the out side wheel...



In the same breath, too much camber will cause tire wear... . inward is neg camber and outward is positive camber... . I would never go farther than the high limit... and both sides need to be the same...

Jim, are you sure you’re not confusing Ackerman angles with camber? Our trucks call for 0 degrees camber. What you are describing (the inside wheel turning sharper) is because of the Ackerman angles which pertains to the steering arm geometry.

 

[jelag]

brods... . I'm sorry, I don't understand, nor have heard the term Ackerman angles... let me look that up...

Jim

 

[jelag]

Brods... .

Wow, never heard it expressed as Ackerman before... . What I perceive from what I read is the combination of what I've learned as Camber and toe out on turns... . Camber and tow out on turns allows the outside wheel, in a turn ""to lean and change radius to allow a vehicle to turn and not scrub off the tire and sort of lean into the turn"""

I'm not sure I can express this so others understand it... . but let say you turn right... both front wheels lean with the top of the tire leaning right and each tire tries to conform to the correct radius in the turn... the same way a motorcycle tire cambers over with the movement of the center of gravity...

I think we're saying the same thing, just in different ways... . it is the combination of Camber, and toe out on turns that allows the tire to turn around the corner instead of scrub around the corner... . This is also effected by the location of the upper and lower ball joints... and the relationship they have to each other...

 

[brods]

Caster causes camber changes when the wheels are turned. So what you are describing is due to Ackerman angle (TOOT) and caster. Most of the old links I had are dead. These from Ingalls are good, though they used to have a more detailed tech section years ago.

Toot at the bottom of the page: Alignment Terms - Ingalls Engineering Co. , Inc.

Go to the bottom where they talk about tire wear from caster: Alignment Terms - Ingalls Engineering Co. , Inc.

Don't mean to come off as a know it all, because I don't. Alignment and suspension geometry is very complicated and every setting has an effect on the entire system. I learned more than I ever wanted to know researching DW and know enough to realize I understand very little, lol.