Axle Crooked?

[donalloy1]

Fellow SSer's,

Front-end technician says my Front Axle is crooked and that center pin(s) are sheared?

Have made some measurents and attached below crude diagram to show what I am seeing.

1 - From trailing straight edge of lower body work to right side rear of tire 2 1/16"

Same approach left side 3 1/8"

BTW have 33 x 10.5 15's on vehicle.

2 - Refers to attached drawing. Measure points follow diagonal lines.

Right side front half 21 1/2" & 21 1/2" rear half.
Left side front half 21" & 21 1/2 rear half.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreaciated! Think ride side is toast? Left side? Time to break them down I suppose. DMLII sends....

 

[73m819]

put new pins in, reset the axle, not a big deal

 

[donalloy1]

put new pins in, reset the axle, not a big deal

Glad you think this job is not a big deal. Have never replaced Leaf Spring pins before. Love vehicle. Rather not kill myself working on her!

 

[Bob H]

It is a basic pretty straight forward job, therefore your mechanic shouldn't charge more than an hours labor.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Ron's right. Not a bad job. Here's how I would do it. Support vehicle by the frame well off the floor. Drop off the tires and rims. Position jack under passenger front and jack it up a couple of inches. Remove the bottom of the shock then put a c clamp on the leaf spring. Loosen and remove the ubolt and 2 large bolts holding the top plate down. Lower thejack to gain access to the offending pin. Watch that brake hose, if it starts to get tight, remove the caliper and suspend it with a wire or such. Replace pin, put everything back together and move the operation to the other side.

 

[73m819]

It is a basic pretty straight forward job, therefore your mechanic shouldn't charge more than an hours labor.

do it your self

 

[donalloy1]

Ok, will do myself. Need to find a couple pins though. Any idea where to get them. I suppose a shop the works on Leaf Springs dahhh. Thanks for support, DMLII sends....

 

[73m819]

grade 8 bolts, round the head before installing in the spring, get ones long enough that the shank is long enough for the spring, use a self locking nut, use vice grips or pipe wrench to hold the head, touque, cut off the extra threads

 

[donalloy1]

That was an easy find. Thanks for helping all!

 

[nk14zp]

Ok, will do myself. Need to find a couple pins though. Any idea where to get them. I suppose a shop the works on Leaf Springs dahhh. Thanks for support, DMLII sends....

Napa or any parts place will have center bolts.

 

[donalloy1]

Now all I have to do is make it happen. Real easy to talk about it.

 

[Dukeboy]

I've had sheared center bolts deform into a "staircase" shape before. each individual leaf was about 1/8" inch forward of the previous. The soft center bolt material deformed a good distance before shearing. In that case (In addition to Recovry4x4's instructions) I had to carefully loosen the 2 C-clamp's and persuade the leaf springs to let go of the bolt and then realign them and compress them with a large screwdriver aligning the bolt hole. Then install the new bolt. Still not bad, but I would expect the bolt to be deformed if your axle has moved. good luck

 

[1ton cucv k5 turbo]

look into using Spring pin from a Peterbuilt... you will have to drill bigger diameter through leaf springs... this is what was done to mine from po...

 

[donalloy1]

Have five days off. Diving in today. Will post later how my backyard approach works out?

 

[donalloy1]

Went with Grade 8 Bolt approach. Right side was extremely tough! Will come back later and leave hints for future divers!

Bottom line is that Front End Technician has his head up his *** Big-time!

Neither of my Center Pins were damaged. Replaced them anyway and inspected/learned as I went. Going to shove one of my used Center Pins where his sun does not shine!

All I want is my beast to track smoothly. I need to hold light downward pressure on left side of steering wheel to track straight on freeway. How do I adjust? Need to dive into TM's and hopefully find my answer.

Wife told me today that I need to work on my truck! I take beast to a so called shop and they pi** me off always. It is so hard to get quality craftsmanship these days!

 

[998Junkie]

Wife told me today that I need to work on my truck! I take beast to a so called shop and they pi** me off always. It is so hard to get quality craftsmanship these days!

To me that is the joy of these trucks, if you are willing to get dirty most of the work you can do yourself and I think do a better job than a shop. Between the well produced manuals and the years of people on this site working together I don't think there is any job I'm not ready to try on my trucks.

Semper-Fi

 

[Bob H]

Went with Grade 8 Bolt approach. Right side was extremely tough! Will come back later and leave hints for future divers!

Bottom line is that Front End Technician has his head up his *** Big-time!

Neither of my Center Pins were damaged. Replaced them anyway and inspected/learned as I went. Going to shove one of my used Center Pins where his sun does not shine!

All I want is my beast to track smoothly. I need to hold light downward pressure on left side of steering wheel to track straight on freeway. How do I adjust? Need to dive into TM's and hopefully find my answer.

Wife told me today that I need to work on my truck! I take beast to a so called shop and they pi** me off always. It is so hard to get quality craftsmanship these days!

Tracking and pulling or drifting are different items.
It is normal to "hold light downward pressure on left side of steering wheel to track straight " the slant of most roads to the right can cause this.
Front end alignment ( toe in),
differences in tires from side to side (size, air pressure, wear, etc)

 

[ODdave]

Deleted.

 

[donalloy1]

Deleted.

Why Deleted? Did I do something wrong?

 

[donalloy1]

Tracking and pulling or drifting are different items.
It is normal to "hold light downward pressure on left side of steering wheel to track straight " the slant of most roads to the right can cause this.
Front end alignment ( toe in),
differences in tires from side to side (size, air pressure, wear, etc)

I know the Beast is in pretty good shape up front. Think front end guy is trying to rope me into some cash cows for himself?

Will continue to focus on items that need the most attention vs. what others say!

Thanks for support, DMLII sends....