Anyone have the stock alignment specs?

[pboggini]

Does anyone have the stock alignment specs? I ask because mine is at the dealer to have the tonneau cover installed but I also asked them to check the alignment since it wandered on the grooves in the cement highway. They said it had 3 degrees positive caster and they said that since they didn't have the updated specs from Ford they couldn't make any mods to the caster. I'm hoping someone might have access to them. I tried looking on line but it looks like these aren't readily available and there seem to be some places selling subscriptions to all specs which I don't need.

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[Fordguy]

Item Left Right Tolerance (Side to side)
Camber Front 0.03° ± 0.75° 0.03° ± 0.75° 0.00° ± 0.75°
Rear - - -
Caster Front 2.72° ± 0.75° 2.72° ± 0.75° 0.00° ± 0.75°
Front - Bridgestone 255/70R16 and 265/60R18 2.47° ± 0.75° 2.97° ± 0.75° -0.50° ± 0.75°
Rear - - -
Toe @ curb ride height (positive value is toe in, negative value is toe out) Front 0.00° ± 0.10° 0.00° ± 0.10° 0.00° ± 0.20°
Rear - - -
Thrust Angle Rear - - 0.00° ± 0.50°

 

[pboggini]

Item Left Right Tolerance (Side to side)
Camber Front 0.03° ± 0.75° 0.03° ± 0.75° 0.00° ± 0.75°
Rear - - -
Caster Front 2.72° ± 0.75° 2.72° ± 0.75° 0.00° ± 0.75°
Front - Bridgestone 255/70R16 and 265/60R18 2.47° ± 0.75° 2.97° ± 0.75° -0.50° ± 0.75°
Rear - - -
Toe @ curb ride height (positive value is toe in, negative value is toe out) Front 0.00° ± 0.10° 0.00° ± 0.10° 0.00° ± 0.20°
Rear - - -
Thrust Angle Rear - - 0.00° ± 0.50°

Cool, thanks! I'll chat with the service guy to see if we believes me. Where did you get this from?

 

[pboggini]

Item Left Right Tolerance (Side to side)
Camber Front 0.03° ± 0.75° 0.03° ± 0.75° 0.00° ± 0.75°
Rear - - -
Caster Front 2.72° ± 0.75° 2.72° ± 0.75° 0.00° ± 0.75°
Front - Bridgestone 255/70R16 and 265/60R18 2.47° ± 0.75° 2.97° ± 0.75° -0.50° ± 0.75°
Rear - - -
Toe @ curb ride height (positive value is toe in, negative value is toe out) Front 0.00° ± 0.10° 0.00° ± 0.10° 0.00° ± 0.20°
Rear - - -
Thrust Angle Rear - - 0.00° ± 0.50°

I contacted an old friend who works for Folsom Lake Ford and he printed out the specs. These, above, are for the 4x4. The 4x2 is a bit different:

Item Left Right Tolerance (Side to side)
Camber Front 0.44° ± 0.75° 0.44° ± 0.75° 0.00° ± 0.75°
Rear - - -
Caster Front 2.90° ± 0.75° 2.90° ± 0.75° 0.00° ± 0.75°
Front - Bridgestone 255/70R16 and 265/60R18 2.65° ± 0.75° 3.15° ± 0.75° -0.50° ± 0.75°
Rear - - -
Toe @ curb ride height (positive value is toe in, negative value is toe out) Front 0.00° ± 0.10° 0.00° ± 0.10° 0.00° ± 0.20°
Rear - - -
Thrust Angle Rear - - 0.00° ± 0.50°

Mine is after their adjustments:

Camber Left -0.8° Right -0.4°
Caster Left 2.9° Right 3.0°
Toe Left 0.0° Right 0.0° Total Toe -0.01°

It still dances around on Hwy 85 but doesn't pull on streets w/o grooves. I scored a printout of this so I'll take it back to Sunnyvale and see if I can get them to get the camber closer to 0 and the caster to 3.9° since that would be the max on the right for Bridgestone.

It is curious that the Bridgestones listed are the 16's and 18's. I have the 17's. It's also curious that those Bridgestones are getting a difference of -0.50°.

 

[pboggini]

Took the truck by Custom Alignment in Mountain View, CA today to chat with the very knowledgeable folks there. Walked in and was greeted by Alan. I told him that I came here for some advice as they had aligned my old '65 Mustang a few times a number of years ago. I was sort of expecting them to be short with me 'cause I was up front saying I wasn't planning on getting an alignment unless I couldn't get complete satisfaction from Ford. Alan was great, I showed him the alignment print out and he pointed out something I'd missed, the minus sign in front of the value for the left wheel. I just saw 0.02 on the left and 0.06 on the right. But, looking again, sure enough, the left was -0.02. He said he would put in more toe in as the dealer moved it from the old values to 0.00 and 0.00. He suggested about 1/32" on each or 1/16" together which looks like around 0.05 per wheel. He said that should fix the darting I'm feeling on the grooves.

He looked at the 2.9 left and 3.0 right caster and said "I'd leave that a is since you said it doesn't pull." He also said he'd make the camber the same left and right as the values after the adjustment are -0.8 left and -0.4 right. He said he'd make it -0.4 on both as you want a bit of negative camber for when the truck is loaded a loading it will make the front a bit more positive.

He then said he hadn't yet seen one so he couldn't comment on how easy it would be to adjust. When I told him it was outside he said "oh, cool, let's go take a look." One other guy, Steve, said "can I look at it too? I was pricing them just last night." Alan came out and looked and saw the adjustments on the lower arms and aid "yea, you've got caster here and camber here, that should be easy." Steve was looking at the truck and asked to look inside. I handed him the keys and said "you can drive it if you like." He was shocked and said "lemme go wash up." When he came back he said "are you sure?" I said "yea, I'm going with you." I spent about 30 minutes there talking to him telling him what I ordered and why. I gave him the name of the guy I got it from but he said he lives near the Morgan Hill store and was going to go there. He was pretty jazzed and said "I saw this review where this guy said they ride terrible. This thing doesn't ride terrible, it rides great!"

Anyway, I've got my recommendation that I'll take back to the dealer. I think they will need someone to come out and update their machine. Once they do that, I'll go back and get them to make it like Alan said. If I continue to get no joy, I'll just pop for the $$ and have Custom Alignment do it. If you need an alignment, I can't recommend these guys enough. They aligned my Mustang mostly to my specs making sure I didn't do anything stupid. They are pricier than other places (I didn't ask the current going rate but I remember it being more) but I liked the results and those old Mustangs are hard to align. Alan also said they'd align it so that the truck performed like it should so I'm confident that if the dealer can't get it to my satisfaction that they will.

 

[Msfitoy]

So the front camber should be -0.04 correct?...my camber must be set wrong because my print out shows 0.7 (no minus sign so must be positive)...if so, I need to go back and have them correct this...my front does look more positive camber than negative.

 

[Stangman570]

Here's a copy of my last alignment.

 

[pboggini]

So the front camber should be -0.04 correct?...my camber must be set wrong because my print out shows 0.7 (no minus sign so must be positive)...if so, I need to go back and have them correct this...my front does look more positive camber than negative.

From my conversations with the guy at Custom Alignment, yes, you want some negative camber because when you put a load in the back and it squats, the front will get more positive camber. He liked the -0.04 number and suggested I get both sides set to that. I still have not as I was basically waiting 'till the dealer called me which they haven't. This is a good reminder to me that I should call them and see if they've added the numbers to their machine so I can get both sides set to -0.04 camber and then get some toe in (negative). I'm going to request they go -0.05 on the toe as that's right between 0 and the max toe.

 

[Msfitoy]

Thanks for all the info everyone...I got my camber reset to 0.0

 

[johnitahoe]

Here's a copy of my last alignment.

I find it interesting that your Rear Left tow is .33 and Rear Right to is .04. My truck rides fine but tires seem to wear more on the sides. How much does Rear Tow matter. Mine is Left .31 and Right -.01. I wonder if it is a manufacturing thing since ours are so close?

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