Attention: TDR Forum Junkies I had a quite a learning experience on my 94 2500 2WD front suspension/alignment. I was having a pull to the left that was getting worse and sometimes went wild when braking, but sometimes not an sometimes even went right when not braking. About a consistent as a politician in an election year. I had aligned it about 12000 miles ago and everything was fine, ball joints good and everything else ok. I pulled it up on my F/E rack last Friday and checked the Camber and caster. The Right side camber was a little on the negative side, about 1/32 degree. The left side was ok at about 1/8 degree pos. The caster was 3. 125 degrees on the left and 3. 75 on the right. However the lower ball joints were loose and the idler arm was wasted. Ok, I have found the problem, new ball joints and idler arm and tweek the alignment and all is well, right? /wrong! I still had a pull to the left all the time and harder pull when braking. I was fussing with myself about the cause, bad tire? had I misread the gauge or got a bogus reading?... ... So today I rechecked the alignment readings. They were as I had remembered except for the right side had just under 4 degrees of pos caster and the left side had just over 3 degrees of pos caster, giving a cross caster of about 3/4 degree. The camber was equal at a scant 1/8 pos on both sides. Normally (on a car or conventional pickup) a 3/4* cross caster, with the right side being the highest possitive reading, will not cause a pull unless you are on a road crowned to the left. But with the weight of the Cummins engine setting on top of it, things change and become more sensitive to caster and especially cross caster. I reset the caster to equal within 1/32*, maintained the camber where it was and set the toe-in to 1/16". (There is some disagreement in the specs. on the toe-in, some sources call for 1/16" to 1/8" and others call for 0 to1/16") Now it drives fine, with only a slight pull when braking, so slight that if I were not sensitive to it, I wouldn't pay any attention to it.
Before some one corrects me on my camber settings, let me say that I know it calls of . 5*P +-. 5*. I do not like that much camber if I can get it to drive with out it. It is to hard on the tire outer edge wear. An old veteran of many repair battles taught me how to align for the best overall performance. I do not go completely by the specs, but use them as a guide. Odd as it may be, my truck was in the specified tolerance range when it was pulling to the left.
Any way, the learning curve for me was to be mindful of the engine (or other) weight on the front axle. Cross caster on a 2WD CTD truck sould be kept to a minimum.
Before some one corrects me on my camber settings, let me say that I know it calls of . 5*P +-. 5*. I do not like that much camber if I can get it to drive with out it. It is to hard on the tire outer edge wear. An old veteran of many repair battles taught me how to align for the best overall performance. I do not go completely by the specs, but use them as a guide. Odd as it may be, my truck was in the specified tolerance range when it was pulling to the left.
Any way, the learning curve for me was to be mindful of the engine (or other) weight on the front axle. Cross caster on a 2WD CTD truck sould be kept to a minimum.
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