Alignment question

[ratrod67]

My 67 has a 78 front crossmember on it. It also has drop spindles and drop springs. I'm having some trouble getting it properly aligned. The 2 places my truck has gone for alignment can't seem to get it right. The truck wont track straight. Pulls to the passenger side. I've checked for bent, broken parts but haven't found anything. I noticed that on the passenger side the inner and outer tie rods are hitting each other when they are threaded into the center sleeve. I bought a couple different outer tie rods hoping for a shorter length but haven't had any luck. Any ideas?

[powell72]

Try swapping the front tires side to side and see if it pulls left. Might not be it but it's worth a try.

[BigTruckDriver]

Originally Posted by powell72

Try swapping the front tires side to side and see if it pulls left. Might not be it but it's worth a try.

Good idea! check the tire diameter on all tires also . Also measure from the rear center to the front center on both side and compare. Find a good factory point on both sides and measure from the tire to the point all the way around. Measure the length of the rods compared side to side.

[thekid54]

Can you turn the same amount left and right? If your pass. tie rods are hitting each other in the sleeve, it sounds like your steering gear box may not be clocked in the middle of it's rotation. In other words you may have 3 turns of the steering to the left and only 2 turns to the right. But, check the easy stuff first like others have suggested.

[royo]

Originally Posted by ratrod67

My 67 has a 78 front crossmember on it. It also has drop spindles and drop springs. I'm having some trouble getting it properly aligned. The 2 places my truck has gone for alignment can't seem to get it right. The truck wont track straight. Pulls to the passenger side. I've checked for bent, broken parts but haven't found anything. I noticed that on the passenger side the inner and outer tie rods are hitting each other when they are threaded into the center sleeve. I bought a couple different outer tie rods hoping for a shorter length but haven't had any luck. Any ideas?

can you cut them off just a bit so that they dont touch for clearance

[BigTruckDriver]

Just picked this up from another thread, might help.




Defective drop spindles
I have a 67 short step side that I have done a restoration on with the auto tech students at the high school where I teach. I bought a large amount of the parts for this restoration through Chevy Duty (Classic Parts). One of my orders was for 2 1/2" drop spindles. I ordered these when I had a bare frame sitting on the shop floor, 2/15/2005. It wasn't until September of this year that we were ready to do an alignment on the pickup. At that time I found that I wasn't able to set the camber on the left side. I had too much positive camber. When I checked SAI, it was equal from left to right. It was the included angle that was off by 2 degrees from left to right. The only possible answer was a defective spindle. I called Classic Parts to tell them of the problem, and because of the age of the order they referred me to Classic Performance Products (CPP) who they bought the parts from. I called CPP and they had me ship the spindle to them for inspection. It took me over two weeks to get a reply from them. Their reply was that they could find no problem with the spindle, but they were going to ship me another. "Thank you very much!" When I finally got the other spindle installed, I found that the 15" wheel wouldn't clear the spindle without dragging. I called them and told them this, and suggested that I take a grinder and remove a liitle of the excess casting. They agreed, and I rechecked the alignment. I still had an alignment problem, so I called them back. Of course they insisted that I couldn't have gotten two deffective spindles and I must have a problem with the pickup. I have alomst 30 years experience, and I know what I'm doing. To prove it to them I switched the spindles from left to right and rechecked alignment. The problem moved to the other side. I called them back and they could give no answer to the problem. I then ordered spindles from Early Classic Enterprises. Once they were installed the pickup ligned up beautifully, and drives great. I just called CPP about a return. They told me that because I had bought them from Chevy Duty I had to contact Chevy Duty about the return. I called Chevy Duty and they called me back and told me that I would have to return them to CPP (more shipping charges), and they would determine if I should get a refund or not, plus there would be a 20% restocking fee. I told them that was not acceptable and I was going to keep my parts and consider my options. Any suggestions???
You guys that have bought spindles from CPP, if you're having alingment issues, don't modify your pickup until you have checked SAI and factored in included angle. If included angle is off by more than 1/2 degree from side to side, you have a bad spindle. Period!
__________________
Darrell
67 short stepside Complete frame-up

[Tx Firefighter]

Definitely swap tires side to side and see if it pulls the other way.

[ratrod67]

Thanks for the replies. It's definately not a tire related problem. I took a couple pics of the tierod. You can see that the inner and outer are actually touching in the center sleeve. I have bought different tierods from different stores and all of them are the same as what I already have. They all hit in the center when trying to get the wheel and tire straight. You can see in the second pic the tire is still slightly out and I'm out of adjustment.

[pharcydekm]

My 67 aligned fine but... I had a bagged 2000 silverado that had the issue as you are aving with your tie rods. I cut 1/2" off of each tie rod. I then took it back and had it aligned problem was solved. Cutting them was very simple put a nut on the tie rod measure however much you want to cut. (I would start with 1/2" on each. Then use a cut off wheel to cut it. Take it to the bench grinder and smooth out the end. Use the nut that is on the tie rod to clean the end of the threads up and reinstall.

[royo]

Originally Posted by royo

can you cut them off just a bit so that they dont touch for clearance

wow what he said

[rustyold69]

tie rods wont make the truck pull to one side it would only make the steering wheel crooked. the pull is from either a tire problem or a camber problem

[ratrod67]

Originally Posted by rustyold69

tie rods wont make the truck pull to one side it would only make the steering wheel crooked. the pull is from either a tire problem or a camber problem

It's not a tire problem. There isn't enough adjustment in the tie rods to be able to get the wheel and tire straight. In the 2nd pic above you can see that the tire is not straight. It pulls because the tire is pointing slightly outward. It's still ok to drive and you don't notice it unles you let go of the wheel but I want it right.

[BigTruckDriver]

yes you can see in that photo. If you have taken it to a alingment shop and they could not figure that out you dont need to go back. Find some one else.

[SCOTI]

If the front end even from side-to-side?

[grinch4om]

whats the other side tie rod set up look like?

[jjk3]

Like pharcydekm said, just cut a few threads off of each tie rod. After that, correct all of your tire pressures. Take back to an alignment shop. If all of your specs are in (front and rear), but the vehicle still pulls, swap front tires side-to-side to see if you have a tire pull. Rear tires can also cause a tire pull, but try and change only one variable at a time. Also, depending on how low your truck is, make sure the rear diff. is square and not dog tracking.

Remember to also check for a pull on a flat road. I can't tell you how many customers come in complaining that their car pulls, only to find out it's because they were driving on a crowned road. Good luck. John

[72MARIO]

Make Sure The Center Linkis Installed Correctly The Tie Rods Should Come In From The Back Not The Front Of The Center Link. Looking At The Truck From The Front You Should See The Nuts Not The Grease Fitting.