PEAK PUTTERS

So when I get back I have to deal with positve camber issue on my Jeep. I've found 2 possible remedies, shims between the knuckle and the spindle or ball joint bushings. I should probably mention that it's a '78 high pinion 44 out of Ford with Chevy knuckles. I don't think that has anything to do with the camber issue. It was more than likely the welding on of the TNT axle truss. I suppose this could cause a positve camber? So my question is how do I measure how much positive camber I have so I know what to order to make repairs? Any thoughts?

i would check for housing straightness, my money would be the housing bent when welding on, cut the truss down the middle, chain out by the knuckles and a bottle jack in the midle of long tube, add lower truss and reweld the cut

ill find the pirate thread that the guy fixed his dana 70

Not sure I want to cut my truss in half. Rather do one of the first 2 options.

i would go with balljoint bushings over shiming the spindle

79chevy39.5's wrote:my money would be the housing bent when welding on,

I have seen this happen with my own eyes. Kinda sucks. . .

I dunno man, I think if I found the housing was tweaked I'd be inclined to fix that vs. going with a bandaid-ish repair. Any reason you're not keen on cutting the truss and re-welding it? I mean, it's only metal

Just my 2cents. Sense you don't know where it is I would start with having it checked out on a alignment rack.

Chrispy wrote:Just my 2cents. Sense you don't know where it is I would start with having it checked out on a alignment rack.

will they even touch it since it's not the original axle? not sure how alignment machines work but will my rock rings be an issue on my beadlocks?

Should go right on. Most places don't really care that it's been modded. They just see it as more chance to upsell broken stuff.

tobyw wrote:I dunno man, I think if I found the housing was tweaked I'd be inclined to fix that vs. going with a bandaid-ish repair. Any reason you're not keen on cutting the truss and re-welding it? I mean, it's only metal

let's say I were to cut the truss, how do I determine where to cut. I would assume the cut would be near where the tweak is if that can even be determined. here's a pic of the axle and truss.

scumby wrote:

Chrispy wrote:Just my 2cents. Sense you don't know where it is I would start with having it checked out on a alignment rack.

will they even touch it since it's not the original axle? not sure how alignment machines work but will my rock rings be an issue on my beadlocks?

Call and talk to dustin @ casaday beeline in Pasco tell him what you got and what your trying to achieve.
He's a wheeler as well so he'll understand.

I'd cut those welds across the bottom of the truss then do the chain, bottle jack dance. Once it's straight clamp the truss down to the housing and reweld it. in SHORT stitches and allow plenty of time to cool between welds.

Maybe it's an illusion but it looks bent just sitting there in the picture.

It looks tweeked near the TT stamp. Probably the camera angle.

i would cut between the tt and the right side upper

SPR wrote:It looks tweeked near the TT stamp. Probably the camera angle.

I agree it does but that would be negative camber, I have the tops of the tires tilted outward (pos camber)

I was talking to my les schwab guy when he was out doing some work on the fleet at work and he said it wouldnt be a problem to throw my solid axled blazer on there to get measurements if i wanted to. The reason why i was asking him about it was because it appeared that my front tires looked like this \ / a little bit looking at it from the front about 30ft ahead of it, same deal hp d44 with chevy stuff knuckles out. I never bothered since mine doesnt see street time but might be worth a shot to talk to them(clearwater store) if you want a idea of where it sits.

I would think the welding would pull the tops of the tires towards each other if anything not away.

For the record a toe problem can also cause them to look that way.

Lurch,
i checked and or adjusted that (1/8") when i put the axle in. what about caster i've never gotten an official measurement on that either.

rennat,
maybe it's a ford/chevy combo causing it. i'll have to get it on a machine when i get back. i probably just have my 500 mile break in on the gears so i haven't seen any tire wear but would hate to. i'll probably be driving mine back and forth to the trails so i'll need to get it fixed.

The right way to check is put an axle alignment bar through it. It doesn't matter what it looks like on the outside. You need the centerline of the bearings and the end of the tubes to be the same. From there they do make eccentric bushings for the ball joints.

Chrispy wrote:

scumby wrote:

Chrispy wrote:Just my 2cents. Sense you don't know where it is I would start with having it checked out on a alignment rack.

will they even touch it since it's not the original axle? not sure how alignment machines work but will my rock rings be an issue on my beadlocks?

Call and talk to dustin @ casaday beeline in Pasco tell him what you got and what your trying to achieve.
He's a wheeler as well so he'll understand.

Chrispy, thanks for the recomendation. took it in today and they verified that i do infact have a positive camber issue. manufacturer spec say -.8 to +.4 camber. mine is passenger +.8 and driver +.4 so the driver side is at the upper end and the passenger is +.4 past the upper end. he said to give it a couple thousand miles and bring it back. since everything is brand new he thinks as things loosen up it may fall into specs. he desn't think it should create tire wear issues.

as it was a 4 wheel check he said the rear end had a thrust angle issue but it was not significant enough to worry about. driver side is at +.16 degrees and passenger is at -.19 degrees. me, i didn't know what thrust angle was so he explained it as ne tire is slllllightly frward of the other.

i also had a toe in issue that they corrrected. i was towed in by about a half an inch more than i should have been.

so bottom line, i'm driving and need to break it in.