dieselfuelonly

FINALLY, the front end work is done. Everything is torqued down, greased, and all the dirt on the truck has transferred on to my clothes. Oh well.

Anyway, for those that have done your own ball joint/tie rod end/idler and pitman arm job yourself, how did you align your truck afterwards "good enough" until you could take it to a shop to get it aligned?

I went ahead and jacked the truck up, put stands under the A-arms so the truck is sitting like it normally would if it was resting on the tires. I have the tie rod sleeves loose and just need to know if anyone has a tip on how to do a somewhat decent temporary alignment as the nearest shop is a good 30 minutes away at near highway speeds.

KHoffman

The only thing you set easily is toe. You can set it with a tape measure. Measure across the back side of the front tires, then measure across th front side. Adjust right and left tierod evenly till you have 1/8 inch less across the front than you do across the back, that will get you close on the toe. If you get the toe close enough it should drive well enough to get it somewhere. Your castor and camber shouldn't be that far off any way.

Mike Holmen

There are two adjusters. One on the bar coming off the pitman arm and one on the driver side of the truck by the outer tie rod. I try to keep my steering wheel in the horizontal position when I drive straight, so put the wheel horizontal. I use my eye and try to get both tires to go straight. Walk 20 feet ahead of the truck and behind the truck, with the wheel straight. You can just about eye ball the wheel into perfect position. From there you have to drive the truck on a straight level piece of hiway. Adjust the bars so that the truck goes straight, and doesn't pull either way. Really you shouldn't need a wheel alignment after that. I just use a tape measure for the camber (the adjuster nuts on the bottom control arm). Every time my truck goes in for an alignment, I have to adjust it so it doesn't drive me crazy with the wandering, or to get the steering wheel perfect again.

SIXSLUG

You can pull a string line around the rears and line down the sides of the truck to see if your toe and camber is close. Caster is another story though. Kurt