Need some help... Alignment problems

Okay so Im to the point that my tires are wearing band on the inside from camber... The driver side more than the passenger. Previous owner had it lowered maybe 1.5 to 2 inches at most in the front but never had it aligned right. So I gotta put new tires on it but first tackle the alignment. I notice that the steering seems to wonder but worse now that the tires are bad.... Im planning on replacing at least the tierods if needed, anything else I might want to consider while Im at it. I notice that the steering has alot of free play in it, is it time for a gearbox change-- if so anyone know where to find one cheap?

This is my first time working on torsion bar setup, anything special? I have worked on plenty of a-arm type vehicles but still leary about the torsion setup.

Thanks in advance. JAson

it's ok there not to different in the way they work, and you may want to look in to just checking the set screw in the gearbox befor getting a new one some times that will help the play in the wheel... as for what else to replace just look at it all and make sure it is in good shape.......how far of a drop you got now is it still just the 2" drop,if so they sould be able to fix the toe in and the camber and that will help the tire wear

Dont know what kind of tires u have but directional tires on these old trucks give them a bad case of the wanders no matter how good ur suspension is.Might want to check ur A-arm bushings while ur checking things out as well as ur wheel bearings.if ur caster and/or camber has been out for awhile, u can bet u have got some advanced bearing wear.bj

i also heard that if you do an allignment you should have good tires for correct alignment. from all four corners.

My truck is sitting about stock, maybe a 1.5 to 2 inch drop in the front... Cant really tell but thats what it looks like. Right now Im rolling on stocker 14inch wheels with non directional tires. Im looking to upgrade maybe to a set of 16 or 17 inch chevy wheels but thats down the road. Im using the truck as my work truck and right now Im looking at throwing a set of new tires on the front before I get it aligned. Hopefully I can get all the joints changed before then. Thanks for the advice on the steering box, I will have to look into that to while Im at it.

JAson

First, it would help if you would place your vehicle information either in your post or your profile somewhere so it helps with age and mileage diagnoses.

Upper arm bushings which are worn out will give you the camber wear you are seeing. The bushings wear out, allowing the arm to cam in towards the engine, rotating the tire axis in. The driver's side carries repetitive loading and the passenger side carries occasional loading, so that is why you see more wear on the driver's side.

if you look at the ends of the upper A-arm where the bushings are, you will see either 8mm bolt heads or grease fittings. If you don't see the grease fittings, the bushings probably never received lubrication.

The nice thing about the torsion bar setup is that once you load the lower arm with a jack, the three bolts which hold the upper arm to the spindle can be removed and the arm itself can be removed from the truck for service. Someone wrote up a how to which can help walk you through this. The other thing is that once you remove the three bolts I referred to, the upper arm will be free to check for wear. Any slop means it is time for replacement of the bushings.

To check your tie rods, lift one tire off the ground. Once it is free, you can move it back and forth to check the tie rods / idler arm / etc. for wear.

which is why i said check the a- arm bushings. I have a 2 owner well cared for Tennessee truck that hasnt been abused, but at 125k I replaced both upper and lower a arm bushings. AND installed grease fittings. The original ones had never been greased cause Mr. Maz (to save a buck) never installed them at the factory.Bwawha-ha-ha-got u again round eyes.BJ

i would also check the balljoints. here is the write up that i did on the upper bushings.







-justin