2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission allgnment after balljoints

[PVanderlugt]

Did do ball joints myself, However truck now drives like on skates/ice, assume need an alignment job done , however can't get it in the shop till next week. Would the "skating" be a result from to much or not enough toe-in?? thought I give it a couple of cranks to get me by till next week drove great before(with the exception of the worn out BJ's

Thanks

Pete

 

[B.G. Smith]

Could be mis-alignment or could just be that the front tires have an odd wear pattern from running with bad ball joints. Could swap the rears to the front ans see if that helps. The alignment should be checked though. bg

 

[PVanderlugt]

Tires are brand new, less then 3000 miles, don't think tires are the problem. Toe setting must have changed, just wondering if to much or not enough. Alignment will be checked next week, just trying to get by until then
Pete

 

[JPulliam]

Hope you don't ruin a tire in that time.

 

[CumminsPower98]

You can get the toe pretty close yourself. In fact I have done my own many times and got 107k out of a set of tires once time when running OTR towing RVs so I must have had it pretty close. I do it a couple different ways depending on the type of tires and if I have a helper or not. If I have a helper, which is the most accurate way, I scribe both tires by first jacking the front end up and then clamping a piece of wood or metal to the control arms with something sharp on it to scribe with. Then with the scribe against the treads I spin the tires to get the marks, let it down and roll back and forth a little to get everything settled back to normal. Now is the part where you need the helper to hold the tape. I always burn and inch or two as this is more accurate than holding the tape end on the line. Measure front and back and try to get it as close to 0 as you can.



The other way I do it is to simply hook the tape on the tire treads if I have a tire with somewhat uniform edges of the tread lugs. This works okay but isn't as good really. In fact I just did an '05 this way today after doing ball joints and tie rods and then had the tow set at an alignment shop. I was within 1/16". The reason scribing is the best is that tires are not always exactly true all the way around, meaning they may wobble from side to side a little in the tread. Usually they are pretty straight though.



There are probably better methods but this is the quick way I do it.

 

[KevinLewis]

I do the jack up scribe the tire thing too, but then i use a razor blade to slice the tread block to hold the end of the tape measure and no helper needed.

 

[PVanderlugt]

Thanks for the info guys, initial rough measurements indicate about a 1/2 inch toe in, would this give the "skating" symptoms??
Thanks Pete

 

[B.G. Smith]

Yes, very much so, the setting is probably about 1/16". bg

 

[Missouri Mule]

When I had my ball joint done my alignment was way off but the truck drove straight after the alignment its back to drifting to the right.

 

[PVanderlugt]

Well got it in the shop and it was about a 1/2 inch off indeed. alignment guy set her back up to speck and it does no longer drive like on skates. Still has a little wander in her, but I think it is about as good as it gets with this front end Dodge gave us. Did say everything else looked nice and tight, just flexing of the main control arms due to under design, heavy engine, powerful steering etc. wondering if the Y to T conversion wouldhelp with this?
Pete