GROUNDHAWG

Gotta 86 pickup 4x4. Front tires lean and is wearing the inside of my tires out really bad. Ive took it to a alignment shop and they couldn't do anything with it was all they told me. Guy I got it from said he put ball joints on it but when I jack the front end up the wheels have a little play in them. Any help would be preciated. Would like to fix it before I buy new tires.

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

Could be the camber out of adjustment. Any alignment shop could do it. Which part has play in it when you move the wheel?

GROUNDHAWG

With the front tires off the ground I can move the whole wheel buy trying to push or pull on it but only maybe a cod hair or so

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

Where are you holding it at? 12 and 6 o'clock would indicate ball joints, 9 and 3 o'clock would indicate tie rods, steering components. Also make sure your preload is set correctly on the wheel bearings

GROUNDHAWG

Holding at 12 and 6 and how do u check preload

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

There are threads about it somewhere on here and other sites. You need a 54MM socket also. That's odd the shop said they couldn't do anything about it. Most shops don't work on vehicles over a certain age though.

scope103

There's actually a procedure for checking ball joints. Unless you think the engineers who wrote the manual don't know what they're doing, that's what I would follow.
http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...28balljoin.pdf You really shouldn't feel looseness; follow the procedure and check it out.

Some vehicles (e.g., McPherson struts) have non-adjustable camber. Your truck is not one of them. If the suspension components were bent too far (collision?), the camber adjustment may be out of range. But it really sounds like the alignment shop you picked just doesn't want to be bothered. Go someplace else.

Odin

^^^ I'll 2nd that.
That's pretty lame. I wouldn't go back there again.
Any good shop, hell any shop that gives a damn for that matter should be able to point you in the right direction.

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

Depending on age of parts my guess is a combo of bad bearings preload, control arm bushings and ball joints all contributing. Service front end and see if you can locate a specific problematic area and address it.

GROUNDHAWG

Thanks for the info guys

bswarm

A good alignment shop will tell you what suspension parts are needed. A really good alignment shop has the camber kits. A crappy alignment shop usually only does toe and blow alignments and won't even check the front end.

scope103

If a "camber kit" is what I think it is (shim plates to move the top of a strut or a control arm), it is not needed for this truck. Camber is adjusted with offset bolts in the lower control arms.

To be fair to the alignment shop, they could be "very good," but just don't want to spend the time on a 29-year old truck that will take an hour just to find the specs, and they can't get parts for anyway. They could have plenty of more recent vehicles to work on. It sounds like they didn't charge you. You just need to find the right place; it won't be that hard.

bswarm

Yes they are camber adjustable, you just need to find the guy who knows how to do it. Some adjust at the top plate, some at the strut knuckle, some need a camber kit. Did them all the time.