4 Wheel Alignment or Front End Alignment?
Reading through this thread was frustrating. If your thrust angle isn't in spec your truck will never drive straight, period. That needs to be addressed before anything else is done. What happened when the thrust angle went from 0 degrees to a half degree? That is a very significant change and is a big indication there was an accident of some sort. A solid rear axle doesn't shift a half degree for no reason, something happened. I don't think anything is bent because total toe on the rear axle is only .04, if the truck was in a wreck the total toe would be way out of wack depending on which side it got hit.
All you need to do is loosen up the u bolts, pull the axle back and re tighten the bolts. This will straighten out the axle and you can proceed with the rest of the alignment when the thrust angle is acceptable. I have no idea why anyone would touch the camber and caster on these trucks in stock form, they are set perfectly from the factory. If for some reason the camber/caster needs to be adjusted you have to get a cam kit for accurate adjustments, if you loosen those control arm bolts and try shifting it with a pry bar you'll never get it right, and you'll never get it back exactly where it was. It's a huge headache and a massive waste of time. This is just wheel alignments not rocket science it's not hard to figure it out. At this point I would take it to a good frame shop and get everything cleared up, obviously people on the alignment rack can't figure it out. You're going to need cam kits to fix the camber and caster that should have never been touched in the first place.
All you need to do is loosen up the u bolts, pull the axle back and re tighten the bolts. This will straighten out the axle and you can proceed with the rest of the alignment when the thrust angle is acceptable. I have no idea why anyone would touch the camber and caster on these trucks in stock form, they are set perfectly from the factory. If for some reason the camber/caster needs to be adjusted you have to get a cam kit for accurate adjustments, if you loosen those control arm bolts and try shifting it with a pry bar you'll never get it right, and you'll never get it back exactly where it was. It's a huge headache and a massive waste of time. This is just wheel alignments not rocket science it's not hard to figure it out. At this point I would take it to a good frame shop and get everything cleared up, obviously people on the alignment rack can't figure it out. You're going to need cam kits to fix the camber and caster that should have never been touched in the first place.
Reading through this thread was frustrating. If your thrust angle isn't in spec your truck will never drive straight, period. That needs to be addressed before anything else is done. What happened when the thrust angle went from 0 degrees to a half degree? That is a very significant change and is a big indication there was an accident of some sort. A solid rear axle doesn't shift a half degree for no reason, something happened. I don't think anything is bent because total toe on the rear axle is only .04, if the truck was in a wreck the total toe would be way out of wack depending on which side it got hit.
All you need to do is loosen up the u bolts, pull the axle back and re tighten the bolts. This will straighten out the axle and you can proceed with the rest of the alignment when the thrust angle is acceptable. I have no idea why anyone would touch the camber and caster on these trucks in stock form, they are set perfectly from the factory. If for some reason the camber/caster needs to be adjusted you have to get a cam kit for accurate adjustments, if you loosen those control arm bolts and try shifting it with a pry bar you'll never get it right, and you'll never get it back exactly where it was. It's a huge headache and a massive waste of time. This is just wheel alignments not rocket science it's not hard to figure it out. At this point I would take it to a good frame shop and get everything cleared up, obviously people on the alignment rack can't figure it out. You're going to need cam kits to fix the camber and caster that should have never been touched in the first place.
All you need to do is loosen up the u bolts, pull the axle back and re tighten the bolts. This will straighten out the axle and you can proceed with the rest of the alignment when the thrust angle is acceptable. I have no idea why anyone would touch the camber and caster on these trucks in stock form, they are set perfectly from the factory. If for some reason the camber/caster needs to be adjusted you have to get a cam kit for accurate adjustments, if you loosen those control arm bolts and try shifting it with a pry bar you'll never get it right, and you'll never get it back exactly where it was. It's a huge headache and a massive waste of time. This is just wheel alignments not rocket science it's not hard to figure it out. At this point I would take it to a good frame shop and get everything cleared up, obviously people on the alignment rack can't figure it out. You're going to need cam kits to fix the camber and caster that should have never been touched in the first place.
Last edited by Julio Perdomo; Nov 16, 2020 at 10:29 PM.
Reading through this thread was frustrating. If your thrust angle isn't in spec your truck will never drive straight, period. That needs to be addressed before anything else is done. What happened when the thrust angle went from 0 degrees to a half degree? That is a very significant change and is a big indication there was an accident of some sort. A solid rear axle doesn't shift a half degree for no reason, something happened. I don't think anything is bent because total toe on the rear axle is only .04, if the truck was in a wreck the total toe would be way out of wack depending on which side it got hit.
All you need to do is loosen up the u bolts, pull the axle back and re tighten the bolts. This will straighten out the axle and you can proceed with the rest of the alignment when the thrust angle is acceptable. I have no idea why anyone would touch the camber and caster on these trucks in stock form, they are set perfectly from the factory. If for some reason the camber/caster needs to be adjusted you have to get a cam kit for accurate adjustments, if you loosen those control arm bolts and try shifting it with a pry bar you'll never get it right, and you'll never get it back exactly where it was. It's a huge headache and a massive waste of time. This is just wheel alignments not rocket science it's not hard to figure it out. At this point I would take it to a good frame shop and get everything cleared up, obviously people on the alignment rack can't figure it out. You're going to need cam kits to fix the camber and caster that should have never been touched in the first place.
All you need to do is loosen up the u bolts, pull the axle back and re tighten the bolts. This will straighten out the axle and you can proceed with the rest of the alignment when the thrust angle is acceptable. I have no idea why anyone would touch the camber and caster on these trucks in stock form, they are set perfectly from the factory. If for some reason the camber/caster needs to be adjusted you have to get a cam kit for accurate adjustments, if you loosen those control arm bolts and try shifting it with a pry bar you'll never get it right, and you'll never get it back exactly where it was. It's a huge headache and a massive waste of time. This is just wheel alignments not rocket science it's not hard to figure it out. At this point I would take it to a good frame shop and get everything cleared up, obviously people on the alignment rack can't figure it out. You're going to need cam kits to fix the camber and caster that should have never been touched in the first place.
Reading through this thread was frustrating. If your thrust angle isn't in spec your truck will never drive straight, period. That needs to be addressed before anything else is done. What happened when the thrust angle went from 0 degrees to a half degree? That is a very significant change and is a big indication there was an accident of some sort. A solid rear axle doesn't shift a half degree for no reason, something happened. I don't think anything is bent because total toe on the rear axle is only .04, if the truck was in a wreck the total toe would be way out of wack depending on which side it got hit.
All you need to do is loosen up the u bolts, pull the axle back and re tighten the bolts. This will straighten out the axle and you can proceed with the rest of the alignment when the thrust angle is acceptable. I have no idea why anyone would touch the camber and caster on these trucks in stock form, they are set perfectly from the factory. If for some reason the camber/caster needs to be adjusted you have to get a cam kit for accurate adjustments, if you loosen those control arm bolts and try shifting it with a pry bar you'll never get it right, and you'll never get it back exactly where it was. It's a huge headache and a massive waste of time. This is just wheel alignments not rocket science it's not hard to figure it out. At this point I would take it to a good frame shop and get everything cleared up, obviously people on the alignment rack can't figure it out. You're going to need cam kits to fix the camber and caster that should have never been touched in the first place.
All you need to do is loosen up the u bolts, pull the axle back and re tighten the bolts. This will straighten out the axle and you can proceed with the rest of the alignment when the thrust angle is acceptable. I have no idea why anyone would touch the camber and caster on these trucks in stock form, they are set perfectly from the factory. If for some reason the camber/caster needs to be adjusted you have to get a cam kit for accurate adjustments, if you loosen those control arm bolts and try shifting it with a pry bar you'll never get it right, and you'll never get it back exactly where it was. It's a huge headache and a massive waste of time. This is just wheel alignments not rocket science it's not hard to figure it out. At this point I would take it to a good frame shop and get everything cleared up, obviously people on the alignment rack can't figure it out. You're going to need cam kits to fix the camber and caster that should have never been touched in the first place.
Here is the latest alignment sheet
What did they do specifically to the rear axle? Was it replaced? Without being able to physically look at the vehicle I can't tell you exactly what's wrong. Regardless, they should have re positioned the axle when they did the alignment because that thrust angle is terrible. I know it's only .01 out of spec but ford trucks have very close to zero degrees thrust angle from the factory they are set up very well. If I was the one working on it I would also check to see if the center bolt in the leaf springs were broken as that can also cause dog tracking but if the axle was replaced then that shouldn't matter. Install the camber kits (I recommend spc) and take it to a better shop. This shouldn't take more than a few hours worth of work.
What did they do specifically to the rear axle? Was it replaced? Without being able to physically look at the vehicle I can't tell you exactly what's wrong. Regardless, they should have re positioned the axle when they did the alignment because that thrust angle is terrible. I know it's only .01 out of spec but ford trucks have very close to zero degrees thrust angle from the factory they are set up very well. If I was the one working on it I would also check to see if the center bolt in the leaf springs were broken as that can also cause dog tracking but if the axle was replaced then that shouldn't matter. Install the camber kits (I recommend spc) and take it to a better shop. This shouldn't take more than a few hours worth of work.
What did they do specifically to the rear axle? Was it replaced? Without being able to physically look at the vehicle I can't tell you exactly what's wrong. Regardless, they should have re positioned the axle when they did the alignment because that thrust angle is terrible. I know it's only .01 out of spec but ford trucks have very close to zero degrees thrust angle from the factory they are set up very well. If I was the one working on it I would also check to see if the center bolt in the leaf springs were broken as that can also cause dog tracking but if the axle was replaced then that shouldn't matter. Install the camber kits (I recommend spc) and take it to a better shop. This shouldn't take more than a few hours worth of work.
What did they do specifically to the rear axle? Was it replaced? Without being able to physically look at the vehicle I can't tell you exactly what's wrong. Regardless, they should have re positioned the axle when they did the alignment because that thrust angle is terrible. I know it's only .01 out of spec but ford trucks have very close to zero degrees thrust angle from the factory they are set up very well. If I was the one working on it I would also check to see if the center bolt in the leaf springs were broken as that can also cause dog tracking but if the axle was replaced then that shouldn't matter. Install the camber kits (I recommend spc) and take it to a better shop. This shouldn't take more than a few hours worth of work.
Last edited by Julio Perdomo; Nov 17, 2020 at 01:00 PM.
What did they do specifically to the rear axle? Was it replaced? Without being able to physically look at the vehicle I can't tell you exactly what's wrong. Regardless, they should have re positioned the axle when they did the alignment because that thrust angle is terrible. I know it's only .01 out of spec but ford trucks have very close to zero degrees thrust angle from the factory they are set up very well. If I was the one working on it I would also check to see if the center bolt in the leaf springs were broken as that can also cause dog tracking but if the axle was replaced then that shouldn't matter. Install the camber kits (I recommend spc) and take it to a better shop. This shouldn't take more than a few hours worth of work.
What did they do specifically to the rear axle? Was it replaced? Without being able to physically look at the vehicle I can't tell you exactly what's wrong. Regardless, they should have re positioned the axle when they did the alignment because that thrust angle is terrible. I know it's only .01 out of spec but ford trucks have very close to zero degrees thrust angle from the factory they are set up very well. If I was the one working on it I would also check to see if the center bolt in the leaf springs were broken as that can also cause dog tracking but if the axle was replaced then that shouldn't matter. Install the camber kits (I recommend spc) and take it to a better shop. This shouldn't take more than a few hours worth of work.
Last edited by Julio Perdomo; Nov 18, 2020 at 11:03 PM.
Reading through this thread was frustrating. If your thrust angle isn't in spec your truck will never drive straight, period. That needs to be addressed before anything else is done. What happened when the thrust angle went from 0 degrees to a half degree? That is a very significant change and is a big indication there was an accident of some sort. A solid rear axle doesn't shift a half degree for no reason, something happened. I don't think anything is bent because total toe on the rear axle is only .04, if the truck was in a wreck the total toe would be way out of wack depending on which side it got hit.
All you need to do is loosen up the u bolts, pull the axle back and re tighten the bolts. This will straighten out the axle and you can proceed with the rest of the alignment when the thrust angle is acceptable. I have no idea why anyone would touch the camber and caster on these trucks in stock form, they are set perfectly from the factory. If for some reason the camber/caster needs to be adjusted you have to get a cam kit for accurate adjustments, if you loosen those control arm bolts and try shifting it with a pry bar you'll never get it right, and you'll never get it back exactly where it was. It's a huge headache and a massive waste of time. This is just wheel alignments not rocket science it's not hard to figure it out. At this point I would take it to a good frame shop and get everything cleared up, obviously people on the alignment rack can't figure it out. You're going to need cam kits to fix the camber and caster that should have never been touched in the first place.
All you need to do is loosen up the u bolts, pull the axle back and re tighten the bolts. This will straighten out the axle and you can proceed with the rest of the alignment when the thrust angle is acceptable. I have no idea why anyone would touch the camber and caster on these trucks in stock form, they are set perfectly from the factory. If for some reason the camber/caster needs to be adjusted you have to get a cam kit for accurate adjustments, if you loosen those control arm bolts and try shifting it with a pry bar you'll never get it right, and you'll never get it back exactly where it was. It's a huge headache and a massive waste of time. This is just wheel alignments not rocket science it's not hard to figure it out. At this point I would take it to a good frame shop and get everything cleared up, obviously people on the alignment rack can't figure it out. You're going to need cam kits to fix the camber and caster that should have never been touched in the first place.
Relocating an axle is not a DIY project and it’s unlikely that it could be done with straps. Furthermore, there are locating pins that keep the axle aligned with the springs. If the axle is shifted there is almost always an underlying cause. And by shifted it isn’t side to side, it’s one side pushed of being held forward or back (in your case left forward, rear back, or a combination of the two). There seems to be a missing piece to your puzzle. Perhaps your alignment technician collected inaccurate readings or has a machine out of calibration? Your truck has been in an accident?
Consider this. I have a lifted Jeep YJ which includes aftermarket leaf springs, wedges installed to point the pinion slightly upwards, the track bar removed, and aftermarket shackles. Significant modification and still the thrust angle is near zero. Solid rear axles generally stay located perfectly in place.
Have your truck taken elsewhere to have the alignment checked. If the thrust angle is truly half a degree out take it to a qualified frame shop to find out why. Your only other option would be to have the front wheels adjusted for thrust angle compensation and just roll with it. I’ve seen thrust angles so far out that the truck left four tracks in the snow!
Consider this. I have a lifted Jeep YJ which includes aftermarket leaf springs, wedges installed to point the pinion slightly upwards, the track bar removed, and aftermarket shackles. Significant modification and still the thrust angle is near zero. Solid rear axles generally stay located perfectly in place.
Have your truck taken elsewhere to have the alignment checked. If the thrust angle is truly half a degree out take it to a qualified frame shop to find out why. Your only other option would be to have the front wheels adjusted for thrust angle compensation and just roll with it. I’ve seen thrust angles so far out that the truck left four tracks in the snow!
im back, i tried to move the axle back, i loosend the u bolts slide the axle and tried to re tight the bolts while the strap was holding it in place but i couldnt re tight them, i had to put the axle back in place, apparently because the u bolts go around a plate with two bolts holding the leaf springs i cant slide it back or forth






