84 Bronco 2, Front wheel angle

[wildbill23c]

I've had my bronco 2 since last November, and the front wheels look like they are leaning in towards the center of the truck. I've enclosed a few pictures so maybe you guys can give me an idea of what's wrong. The steering is solid and it doesn't have any play in the steering at all or any loose feeling that would give an indication of ball joints or tie rod ends. I'm thinking its just an alignment problem. I'd appreciate any feedback or other things to check. I took the front wheels off and tried to wiggle the hubs and the whole wheel around on each side with the wheels on and off and everything seems solid when compared to a vehicle that had bad ball joints and tie rod ends. I need new tires, I already know this so don't point that out, I need to fix this tire angle problem before spending money on a set of tires that are going to get worn on one side. The tires seem to be wearing more on the outside on both front tires which seems weird because the tires are at more of an inward angle making me think that it has something to do with the camber being off in the alignment. The tire shop didn't look at it the other day they just jumped in saying $800 for new tie rod ends.

View from front. The angle is kind of noticeable here.


Passenger tire wear



Driver Side Tire Wear


Passenger side under Vehicle


Driver Side Under Vehicle



If any other pictures are needed please let me know, I appreciate all the help you guys have given me so far on this brick on wheels LOL.

Once I get the alignment or angle issues figured out I'm getting new tires, I just don't want to spend money on a set of tires and have them destroyed because something is wrong in the alignment or ball joints etc.

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

Did you back up to that parking spot?

Pull forward 10-15' and look at it again.

 

[RonD]

Have a look here:
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Alignment.html

 

[PanamaExpat]

Camber not set correctly. Mine does that now that I put the leveling kit on the front. In my case it needs different adjustment bushings. You might get lucky though and just whoever did the front end alignment didn't know what thy were doing.

 

[wildbill23c]

Did you back up to that parking spot?

Pull forward 10-15' and look at it again.

No, I drove forward into that spot, but it looks like that regardless of how I park or where I park, forward, backwards, on a hill up or down, etc.

 

[wildbill23c]

Camber not set correctly. Mine does that now that I put the leveling kit on the front. In my case it needs different adjustment bushings. You might get lucky though and just whoever did the front end alignment didn't know what thy were doing.

My truck is stock except someone put 235/75-R15 tires on it, but still shouldn't have the angle that it has, I know from some previous posts on this, that putting lifts and larger tires on will cause the wheels to sit at an angle but I wouldn't think the tires alone would cause this much of an angle.

 

[Surrey]

My truck is stock except someone put 235/75-R15 tires on it, but still shouldn't have the angle that it has, I know from some previous posts on this, that putting lifts and larger tires on will cause the wheels to sit at an angle but I wouldn't think the tires alone would cause this much of an angle.

Not a tire problem. Clearly an alignment problem.

It almost looks like someone replaced the front springs and never aligned it after.

It is also possible whoever aligned it didn't know wtf they were doing, so they did it wrong (these trucks are hard to align if you dont know wtf your doing, and lots of people now adays dont have a clue with this suspension style because it hasn't been in use for nearly 20 years...)

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

My thought is that someone did a "lift", perhaps by putting in stiffer or longer springs. Everything I know I learned on TRS and the link that RonD posted.
There is an adjustment at the top of the knuckle around the upper ball-joint. There could also be a "washer" lift under the spring.

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

My thought is that someone did a "lift", perhaps by putting in stiffer or longer springs. Everything I know I learned on TRS and the link that RonD posted.
There is an adjustment at the top of the knuckle around the upper ball-joint. There could also be a "washer" lift under the spring.

Richard

 

[wildbill23c]

My thought is that someone did a "lift", perhaps by putting in stiffer or longer springs. Everything I know I learned on TRS and the link that RonD posted.
There is an adjustment at the top of the knuckle around the upper ball-joint. There could also be a "washer" lift under the spring.

Richard

The problem is it doesn't look lifted, and the springs are far from stiff, it sags in the rear, the front is spongy. Everything looks bone stock on the truck, if it had lift springs in it is there anything I should look for? Given the way it rides I'd say the springs, and shocks might be original factory springs and shocks. Looks like someone tried to fix part of the sag by adding a helper spring on the rear passenger side. Nothing else has been changed by what I can see.

Its definitely something in the alignment department even my grandfather says the camber needs adjusted and he can hardly see right now.

The local tire shops wanted to start throwing parts at it, I mentioned an alignment this afternoon to the 2nd tire shop and the guy said no we will have to replace the ball joints and tie rod ends first. The guy never even physically looked at the vehicle, just wanted to start throwing parts at it. I told him until they do an alignment first they aren't going to start replacing anything else. I've been told by a couple other people now as well that its just the camber needs fixed.

 

[wildbill23c]

Not a tire problem. Clearly an alignment problem.

It almost looks like someone replaced the front springs and never aligned it after.

It is also possible whoever aligned it didn't know wtf they were doing, so they did it wrong (these trucks are hard to align if you dont know wtf your doing, and lots of people now adays dont have a clue with this suspension style because it hasn't been in use for nearly 20 years...)

Well given the way the previous owner took care of this truck, a botched DIY alignment may have been attempted, and their camber setting is not even close to aligned, I have horrible vision but I can tell its not right.

I've never done an alignment period, and I'm not about to learn on this mess LOL. I'm sure its simple if you know what you are doing, but I'm not going to try. One of the shops here in town can do alignments for about $50 so I think I'm going to go that route.

 

[adsm08]

Check ball joints. If those are OK, you need the camber set.

If you have a laser level and some metal plate you can probably do a fair approximation of a front end alignment in that gravel drive way you have.

Pull forward onto the plate, measure out the middle of the tire and make a mark top and bottom. Loosen the pinch bolt at the top of the arm, set up the laser level, and spin the bushing until the two marks line up with the laser. Repeat on the other side.

It's not a proper sub for a real alignment IMO, but for those super tires you have on there it's good enough.

 

[PetesPonies]

First of all, they are not leaning in. They are leaning outward. That is called positive camber. You reference camber from the top of the tire, not the bottom.

 

[wildbill23c]

Check ball joints. If those are OK, you need the camber set.

If you have a laser level and some metal plate you can probably do a fair approximation of a front end alignment in that gravel drive way you have.

Pull forward onto the plate, measure out the middle of the tire and make a mark top and bottom. Loosen the pinch bolt at the top of the arm, set up the laser level, and spin the bushing until the two marks line up with the laser. Repeat on the other side.

It's not a proper sub for a real alignment IMO, but for those super tires you have on there it's good enough.

Nothing seems to point to bad ball joints or tie rod ends that I can find, which is what has me thinking that the camber setting is screwed up.

Unfortunately I don't have a laser level or anything that would level the truck out enough to come close. In this case I think I would be far enough a head by letting a shop do this repair. I found a set of all season tires for this thing, but I don't want to put them on until I can get this alignment angle mess fixed, no sense destroying a set of tires that's hard enough to get. After the first of the month (pay day) I'm going to setup an appointment to have the front end fixed, then take it over to have the tires put on which aren't new but look like someone bought a car and didn't like the tires and had them changed out within the first few miles of driving as they look brand new and at $280 that's not too bad a deal, granted they're 215/75-R15's but I'm not going to be picky at this point something other than the tires that are extremely worn out is better LOL. I need different wheels too as I noticed the ones that are on the B2 aren't the correct size center holes, looks like someone took a torch and made them fit. So soon I'll be making my way back to my favorite pick-a-part to get some wheels.

Thanks for all the input guys.