AllFordsGuy

Hey guys I have Moog CC824 springs in the front of my 2wd truck which levels it out well. The alignment has been tricky but it seems pretty good now. Cost about $200 to get it done. Drives straight down the road when it's smooth, but bump steers obnoxiously whenever it's rough. People do not like to drive/borrow the truck because they say it does not feel safe. And I live in michigan...so don't tell me to avoid bumps.

I did a little reading and my current understanding is that when you lift trucks like this in the front the tie rod angles get sharper if you do not have a dropped pitman arm. So then when a wheel hits a bump, it pushes the tie rod in towards the gear and in turn steers the other wheel with it. This makes my truck rather jump across the road when you hit bumps.

The truck only sits 1-2" inches higher I would suspect. Does anyone have any experience correcting this problem? The closest pitman arm I can find to adjusting for a lift this short is shown here: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/slf-1109/overview/

Thoughts? Suggestions? It would take ~$400 to get the truck back to stock ride height so I am trying to avoid that.

BLDTruth

Shouldn't need a drop pitman arm unless you raise the truck 4" or more.

It is more likely the raising of the front end has exposed a weak link in your steering system - have the tie rods been replaced?

AllFordsGuy

I check them every time I have the truck in the air (often). When I got the truck ~7k miles ago, the steering was catastrophic; 6+ inches of steering wheel play. I replaced the centerlink and bad ball joints on one side as well as radius arm bushings. I just tightened up the steering gear. The intermediate steering shaft is in good shape.

Things I know are meh right now:
Wheel bearings on both sides have a little play, both clunk slightly when you shake the wheel. Looking behind the wheel you can tell it's the bearings.
Front shocks are basically blown.

I wish I got a printout of the alignment when it got done. I had a medium/heavy duty shop do it. The guy said he got it as close as possible, I know these trucks are a pain to do. But the truck does not drift or pull or appear to destroy tires yet so it seems like it's okay.

Here's some pics for no real reason. I was curious to see how sharp of an angle the tie rods looked like they were at but was hard to capture.

fomoco998

Shocks probably need replaced. Worn shocks and loose wheel brgs. will cause what you describe.

AllFordsGuy

Well I guess I probably should anyways :/ I'll get the stuff ordered and report back

Vette117

I like the way your truck sits a lot. I haven't been able to find many pictures of the SWB ( single cab short bed ) leveled out. I have been thinking about doing it to mine.

How bad was your camber after replacing the springs? Also, how long since you have replaced or updated your rear leafs? Mine are old and surely sagging. I don't want to lift the front end too far.. haha.

I just replaced all steering components and ball joints in the front. I will be replacing the shocks as along with the new springs. Any shock suggestions for the lift?


Thanks in advance.

AllFordsGuy

The camber adjustment was a huge pain. I'm not sure how bad the alignment would be with just the new springs since I did adjustable bushings at the same time but it for sure would have thrown it off. See my thread for camber issues here: https://www.f150forum.com/f88/knuckl...hat-do-293433/

Eventually I ground down the edge of the knuckle at home and had the semi shop do the alignment best they could. That picture is with the springs broken in, the alignment was more difficult when the springs were brand new.

I do not know what the story is with the rear leafs, they seem rather high to me but they do look like they a ton of miles on them so I do think they are stock. I am under the impression that the previous owners never towed so perhaps they were never really stressed.

In terms of shock suggestions, I do not have experience with the front but I intend to use Motorcraft shocks from rockauto. The cc824 spings are essentially "with trailer tow" springs but there is only one option for the Motorcraft shocks on rockauto so I see no reason why they will not do nicely. (there's no "with trailer tow" Motorcraft shocks on there, and these springs are high enough to use shocks meant for a "lift"). I would like to know if they will work well with the spring rate of the CC824 springs but I cannot find the spring rate of the original springs so I can't compare it.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

There is a factory drop pitman that Ford installed on 4x4's because they are typically 2" higher than 2WD's'
But getting the play out of your wheel bearings (also a good idea so you don't blow out the bearings and trash the spindles =$$$$) and installing new shocks should make a big difference.

eyesman2

There is the tie rod flip mod..allows you the make the tie rods more level ..but that for 4x4s.with 4 inch plus lifts .check all the steering parts again..and replace if necessary