Front axle off center?

[Green Monster]

Just staring at it, now that I have it back, and noticed the right tire sticks out a little more than the left. Measured it from the frame, and it's off by about 1/4". I know it's not much, but it bugs me. Here are the pics. Everything is new.....springs, bushings, tie rods, ball joints, etc.

 

[Justin V]

1/4" is factory tolerance...


Regardless of year, all squares were developed in the very early 70's....

1991 K5 is just a 73 with updates...

We've been trained to carry 700 dollar computers in our pockets, get our food just the way we want it, (because it is my job) have concrete poured at a perfect consistency and as flat and true as a piece of glass....


1/4" is actually pretty good.

 

[Green Monster]

1/4" is factory tolerance...


Regardless of year, all squares were developed in the very early 70's....

1991 K5 is just a 73 with updates...

We've been trained to carry 700 dollar computers in our pockets, get our food just the way we want it, (because it is my job) have concrete poured at a perfect consistency and as flat and true as a piece of glass....


1/4" is actually pretty good.

Ok thanks.....I guess I'll live with it! Just wanted to be sure I didn't screw something up when I put it all together.

 

[Blue85]

Yeah, they're never perfect. Could partly be tweaked from running lift springs with a stock swaybar setup. The dimensions aren't the same, so something has to be pulling.

 

[Green Monster]

Now that I think about it, I had a 82 2wd K5 and that thing as off by about half an inch. I think these things were just slapped together. I hear the same thing about the old Broncos. Tolerances on everything were pretty liberal.

 

[ChrisPerry]

Shake the truck side to side really hard and remeasure. It will probably change.

 

[datmony]

Loosen everything up and "walk the axle around" a bit and then retighten..... You will be shocked by how much "give" there will be. That is normal so don't stress. Any old school leaf spring truck will be similar. My cjs, k5s, etc are all like that. When you are adjusting you only need to move 1/8" to be on center and you will be surprised how easy it is to make that happen.

Depending on where you are you can even get that adjusted to perfection by a legit alignment shop. That does not mean Les Schwab..... But a true alignment place that will align more than adjusting toe in....

I live outside Seattle and we have a place called Tru-line. They do track cars, they do Bentleys, Lambos, Ferraris.... But they will do anything. They are ~$40-60 more than your normal alignment but frankly, these folks are straight up wizards. They will align the axles relative to the frame and body, relative to each other. A completely different ball of wax compared to your normal alignment. One of our other cars is a v8 Quattro Audi A6. An infinitely more complex vehicle than our old k5s..... To align that they loosened and moved the subframe to align it!!!!

Search around and if you are anywhere near a place like that.... It is worth more than I can describe. It will take a k5 and turn it into a different vehicle. Especially since everything is all new.... It's worth the price of admission....

 

[Green Monster]

Thanks guys, I'll give it another look and see if I can find a good shop too.

 

[1-ton]

Make sure you re-tighten everything. I have completely removed axles from my truck, and then torqued to specs everything back together. I then pulled forward and backward in my driveway only about 10-feet. When I went to re-tighten everything, I was surprised at how loose everything got after only 10-feet of movement. I then re-tightened everything again after one trip around the block, 10-miles, and then 100-miles. After the 100-mile mark everything should be tight for a long time.

 

[Green Monster]

Make sure you re-tighten everything. I have completely removed axles from my truck, and then torqued to specs everything back together. I then pulled forward and backward in my driveway only about 10-feet. When I went to re-tighten everything, I was surprised at how loose everything got after only 10-feet of movement. I then re-tightened everything again after one trip around the block, 10-miles, and then 100-miles. After the 100-mile mark everything should be tight for a long time.

I have about 50 miles on it now, so I'm torquing the u-bolts. What else should I tighten? Thinking sway bar, should I do the eye bolts too? And maybe let everything hang instead of having the axles sit on the jack stands.

 

[TreeFarm]

I have about 50 miles on it now, so I'm torquing the u-bolts. What else should I tighten? Thinking sway bar, should I do the eye bolts too? And maybe let everything hang instead of having the axles sit on the jack stands.

You want the suspension at ride height when tightening everything, in other words jack stands under axles. This way you don't bind up the bushings by tightening them at one end of their travel and then forcing them to sit static at the other end of the travel, you want them in a neutral spot where they spend most of their time(ride height).

 

[Green Monster]

You want the suspension at ride height when tightening everything, in other words jack stands under axles. This way you don't bind up the bushings by tightening them at one end of their travel and then forcing them to sit static at the other end of the travel, you want them in a neutral spot where they spend most of their time(ride height).

Got it, makes sense. Thanks.

 

[datmony]

If you had stuff hanging when doing the initial tightening that could be the reason it is off too. My general process with this stuff is install things and just finger tighten everything. Check alignment. Snug stuff up with a ratchet (snug not cranked down)..... Check alignment. Lift everything off the jack stands under the frame.... Get weight on the axles via stands under the axles..... Check alignment.

If things are off.... Go back one step and adjust. Still off go back two steps. Still off? Go get a six pack and curse..... You won't solve anything that night but you'll feel better

Once everything is jiving..... Torque to spec. Some of this is trial and error.... Just keep at it.....

 

[datmony]

One other thing, buy a couple plumb bobs. They are cheap and invaluable..... Use them as reference side to side.... And front to back for that matter...