How to correct out of spec caster '17 3500 4x4

[cricha]

2017 3500 4x4 TD approx. 33000 miles. All stock. Truck pulled to the right since brand new, shows excellerated wear on rt front tire. Dealers have blown me off 3X saying wheel alignment is not covered by warranty. Finally took it to a shop and had them verify problem. Shop says there is no adjustment to move camber on one side, and that it is out of factory spec. Question is, is there anything that can be done like adjustable ball joints that would correct this? I'm going back to the dealer again with the data sheets from the shop, but I don't think it will do much good. Any constructive advice is most welcome!!

 

[jhenderson]

A copy of your he specs would help.

 

[cricha]

OK, should be caster, not camber.
original caster was left front 5.8 right front 5.6
shop made some changes, got it to left front 4.3 right front4.2
spec is left 4.50 right 4.8

 

[cricha]

shop said they cant get the required difference. Is there a solution?

 

[jhenderson]

Something isn’t adding up. Caster adjustment is not incremental. It’s infinitely adjustable within its range. If they could get from 5.8 to 4.3 they could have gotten 4.5 The spec is not different side to side. It’s a range. 4.5-4.8 is probably the range spec from the factory.
Either way those figures shouldn’t cause a pull to the right. Next; caster doesn’t cause tire wear. On our trucks, toe is the usual culprit. Chances are the right front has too much toe in. Forget the factory toe spec. It wears tires. The shop you used doesn’t seem too knowledgeable. Find a good alignment only shop and have them set the toe in to a max of .1 degree toe in.

 

[Cummins12V98]

That’s funny they paid the Pahrump, NV Dealer to check my 11 HO DRW.

 

[cricha]

left toe in 0.09
right toe in 0.06
total toe 0.15
steer ahead 0.01 - what does this mean?

 

[jhenderson]

Steering wheel alignment. As in, is the steering wheel straight? Does you truck still pull? What was the toe before your latest alignment? If it still pulls, swap the front tires side to side and see what happens.

 

[EDankievitch]

With a solid front axle there is No Camber adjustment unless you install those adjustable ball joints. The Caster adjustment is done with the cams located on the bottom of the axle. Most Ram trucks that I have checked have been set on the very high side 7 to 9 degrees positive caster. Caster is what returns the steering wheel from turning to straight. Too much caster and the truck will want to go "down hill" from the high center of a crowned road. The truck will pull to the right in the right lane and pull to the left in the left lane on a 3 land highway. The more Positive caster the more pull you will feel. The Old books use to say that Caster should be between 3 to 4 degrees positive. And I agree as when my truck had more caster the truck followed the crown of the road to the point that I found it very fatiguing.
Also I have found most truck leave the factory with way too much TOE in. I don't have a fancy computer alignment tool. a good friend that had a alignment shop had one and hated it as it would take too much time to set up correctly. and it not set up correctly would give wrong info. He had showed me that the OLD simple ways were always better. And again I agree. The old service manuals called for a TOE in of 1/16" to 1/8" inside bead of the rim to rim compared front of axle to the back. I have found the Toe in on some new trucks set at 1/4" to 3/8". The truck with the 3/8" toe in had the death wobble so bad the truck was almost un drivable. And tire wear was really bad.
Hope this helps.

 

[Cummins12V98]

"Also I have found most truck leave the factory with way too much TOE in" HA ya think???!!!

My 11 HO DRW was stepping the outer front edges. The Pahrump Dealer check and said all was in spec. PROBLEM is the 1/4" is WAYYYY too much and causes stepping as I found out later talking to my alignment guy of 30+ years. He set the toe to 1/64-1/32" and the front tires wore nicely after. He said to rotate the fronts ONLY side to side with the ROTATION the same that means flipping then tires around on the rim. On my 15 I have them change rims so the pressure sensors stay in same spot.

#ad

 

[Ozymandias]

Almost dead ZERO Toe is perfect with the T-Steering.
BTDT

 

[sag2]

Caster split can help with pull but you can't adjust it on a solid axle unless you do the offset ball joints. The only caster adjustment you can make with the adjusters is total caster, not side to side. Also as said, caster is not a wear angle, only toe and camber. You can also make minor corrections to pull with camber using the adjustable ball joints, but you have to be careful as going out of spec to correct a pull will then accelerate tire wear. As mentioned you need an alignment shop that actually understands the angles, not one that follows the on screen adjustments.
Alignment is only covered for 12/12.