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Deuce alignment

34
4
8
Location
poland maine
My deuce is chewing up the front tires I drive this old girl on the road a lot. I put 2500 miles on it last year. I just got all new bushings for the rear and the front spring pins are all right. It acts like the rear ends are out of alignment. Has anyone done anything thing to align these up. Are there adjustable tourque rods that anyone knows of. I plan on running this truck a lot but she is not tar friendly. Any advice. I know the the 9:00 20’s titans I’m running are not road friendly but it’s wearing outer edge on the right and inner in the left.
 

rustystud

Well-known member
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Location
Woodinville, Washington
Center your steering wheel, then adjust the Tie-Rod ends to give you the proper Toe-in. On the Deuce you can go from 1/16" to 1/8" toe-in. (unless your running radials which your not) .
 

Engineer 1SG

New member
29
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Location
Eastern Shore of Virginia
Back when I was a fleet diesel mechanic for Perdue Foods (35 years ago), we'd align the front end of all trucks like this:

We'd jack the front tires up one at a time and spin the tires, spray painting a 1 inch wide stripe at the center of the tread. While the tire was spinning, we'd place a device with a pointer on the floor and approach the tire until it scribed a line in the center of the freshly painted stripe. This line would be concentric from the front to the back of the tire.

After doing this to both tires, we'd place the tires back on the ground and use a long aluminum rod that had pointers at each side that would compare the distance between the freshly scribed lines at the back of the tire versus the front of the tire. We'd adjust the tie rod ends to have approximately 1/8" toe in at the front.

The device was made by Snap-On (Blue Point, actually) and was about as low tech as you could get, but was very effective. The scribed line was always perpendicular to the axle and allowed for an accurate measurement of the "toe in" versus trying to find a spot on the tire that could accurately be measured and compared from front to back.
 
34
4
8
Location
poland maine
Ok the toe in is good. I’m a heavy duty diesel mechanic and I have checked the toe and set it to 1/16 or so. It where’s the front tires like this. Right tire on the outer edge and left tire on the inner edge. The rear ends are pushing the front end. If this were a Mack or a Pete or a Freightliner or any other road tractor you could shim up the tourque rods or move the cam bolts or twist an adjustable tourque rod. The tourque rods In This are not adjustable. So how do you alighn the rear ends to the front ends. Or did Uncle Sam not care about tire where on something that the veit cong might blow up any way.
 

rustystud

Well-known member
9,280
2,987
113
Location
Woodinville, Washington
Ok the toe in is good. I’m a heavy duty diesel mechanic and I have checked the toe and set it to 1/16 or so. It where’s the front tires like this. Right tire on the outer edge and left tire on the inner edge. The rear ends are pushing the front end. If this were a Mack or a Pete or a Freightliner or any other road tractor you could shim up the tourque rods or move the cam bolts or twist an adjustable tourque rod. The tourque rods In This are not adjustable. So how do you alighn the rear ends to the front ends. Or did Uncle Sam not care about tire where on something that the veit cong might blow up any way.
Are you sure your torque rod bushings are in good shape ? If their loose they can cause this kind of problem. In a good bushing, the rubber will help to pull or push the rod into correct alignment. Also are the rods themselves straight ? If their bent or twisted they can cause problems. Trust me when I say they can be bent ! Especially the older round bar style.
 
34
4
8
Location
poland maine
I have all new bushings to put in the rear. But the old one aren’t all worn out just dry rotted. I’ll replace them and check the toe. Then see how it goes. I’ll check my rods again and make sure they are straight.
 

Engineer 1SG

New member
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Location
Eastern Shore of Virginia
Can you find a place to get an accurate measurement on each side between the front axle and the first rear axle to see if the front axle is lined up with the rear? That should give you an indication if the bushing or anything else (frame, spring mount, etc.) is out of alignment between the front axle and the rear axles.
 

rustystud

Well-known member
9,280
2,987
113
Location
Woodinville, Washington
Can you find a place to get an accurate measurement on each side between the front axle and the first rear axle to see if the front axle is lined up with the rear? That should give you an indication if the bushing or anything else (frame, spring mount, etc.) is out of alignment between the front axle and the rear axles.
The best way to do that would be to take the truck to an actual "truck" alignment shop that uses the new laser aligning system. We had that for our busses. You can check all three axles for proper alignment on all axis. Yes it will cost a few pennies, but if you really think you have a problem this will find it.
 

clinto

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12,596
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Athens, Ga.
Center your steering wheel, then adjust the Tie-Rod ends to give you the proper Toe-in. On the Deuce you can go from 1/16" to 1/8" toe-in. (unless your running radials which your not) .
What should radial toe-in be? I have G177s.
 

rustystud

Well-known member
9,280
2,987
113
Location
Woodinville, Washington
What should radial toe-in be? I have G177s.
Most truck shops try and get toe-in on radials to zero, or as close as possible. Our buses all run radials, and we tried to be in the range of zero to 1/16" max. If we did experience some "wander" , we would set the toe-in closer to 1/16" . What most people don't understand about front tires is at speed the tires naturally tend to "spread" outward. So your really running zero toe-in. Radial tires don't do this as bad as bias ply tires do. That's why you set them closer to zero to start with.
 
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