2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Alignment gurus. RF tire wears with perfect alignment?

[BILLVO]

I hit a curb hard with the right front wheel this spring and took it to an alignment shop right away to have it checked and they said it was perfect. It started wearing the tire just a bit so I rotated them now the right front is wearing the outside edge down again and again they say it is in perfect alignment. They suspect a bent control arm and claim the alignment machine will not show that. They tried to send me to a frame repair shop to try and have it looked at. If it is truely a bent control arm what are the best aftermarket ones that are better than stock ones that won't break the bank? And am I correct that a decent alignment machine will find a misadjusted control arm? Would that be camber or caster I always confuse them?

 

[Oil Burner]

I'm not much help but I have the same problem on my '95. right front wearing before and after alignment. Alignment didn't seem to do much although the guy said it was "way off".



I bought the truck used so I have no idea if it suffered a hit like yours did. I never thought of a bent arm, though.



Billvo, I like DT's bars but they are expensive which is why I still have stockers too. I would imagine you could score some stock arms off of someone who put a lift on.



Mine wears the outside edge of the passenger tire. I'v already lost 2/32nds compared to the inside part of the tire in a month and I don't drive that many miles.



Jason

 

[Cummins724]

I have the Skyjacker bars & they are made of steel tubing which is so tough that you would have a better chance of breaking the axel than the bars. I got mine from National tire and wheel in W. V. They were around $150 I believe.

 

[Dave M]

I had the same problem... right front tire wear. I fixed it by finding a good frame shop who added a shim in the steering knuckle to provide more caster.



Here is my thread:



https://www.turbodieselregister.com...ssion-discussions/144154-steering-woes-5.html



Here is an exerpt from that thread with the solution:

The alignment shop said the trucks camber was in spec (barely) but that the spec is so wide it could still cause problems. Everything in the front end was tight according to them. They removed a offset cylinder thing on the right front knuckle and replaced it to change and make the camber more negative to compenstae for the tire wear. This adjustment required replacement of the offset sleeve (cylinder) which changes both the caster and the camber so it takes longer to get all the specs set. After 4 months it appears to have corrected my problem. I requested they keep the caster between +3. 5 - +4. 5 deg, as recommend on this site, to correct for "death wobble".



Here are the alignment spec's the shop took before and after the camber change:



Before:

Camber: Left= +0. 0 deg Right=+0. 2 deg

Caster: Left= +3. 5 Right=+4. 2

Toe: Left=+1/16" Right=+2/16"



After:

Camber: Left=+0. 0 deg Right= -0. 5 deg

Caster: Left= +3. 5 Right=+4. 1

Toe: Left=+0/16" Right=+0/16"



The alignment shop said since doing the adjustment at the right front knuckle affects both both camber and caster it took 1 1/2 - 2 hours to do. That was 3 months ago and the tires still show no signs of the outside edge wear I had before.

That was over a year ago and I had zero problem since then. Now I'm fighting a death wobble when hitting the brakes. I think front rotors are warped so am relacing them now. Back to the rotors for me.



Good luck,

Dave