Alignment on WC 1947 trucks

[Life is Good]

Hello All,

 

I recently corrected the toe alignment on my 1/2 ton. Wandering is much less. But my weeks still really seem cambered with the top of tires out more than bottoms. Especially passengers. No accidents. Does anyone have good experience in the alignment specs on these 47 WC 1/2 ton pickups? Bearings are tight/no slop. King pins not obviously loose. Any detailed alignment tips appreciated. 
 

truck does still wander a bit. New radial tires on front and proper toe in has helped a bit. 

[kencombs]

Normal for the tires to be out a little more than the bottom.  Don't have a book handy, but I think 1/2-3/4 degree positive camber is what most solid axles used  Only adjustable by bending and seldom needed.  Caster is adjustable using tapered shims between the axle and spring.  And, caster is usually the cause of wandering.  Original specs don't really apply as they were written with bias ply tires in mind.  I'd measure what you have and  try adding 1/2-1 deg positive.

[Life is Good]

9 hours ago, kencombs said:

Normal for the tires to be out a little more than the bottom.  Don't have a book handy, but I think 1/2-3/4 degree positive camber is what most solid axles used  Only adjustable by bending and seldom needed.  Caster is adjustable using tapered shims between the axle and spring.  And, caster is usually the cause of wandering.  Original specs don't really apply as they were written with bias ply tires in mind.  I'd measure what you have and  try adding 1/2-1 deg positive.

Thank you Ken,

I am pretty sure my Front wheels sometimes  look like  3 deg camber with tops out too much. Here are some pics to help judge..though as I look at these pics it doesn’t seem too much camber, but at certain angles of view it sure is apparent the tire tops re out too much compared to bottom of tire . I’m interested to see how shims work if you or anyone has pics of shim placement. 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Life is Good

[kencombs]

Pics look normal to me.  Remember, if the tires are not pointed straight ahead the angle will change due to the king pin inclination angle

 

Camber has very little influence in how a car/truck feels when driving.  Wears tires badly if way out, but drives straight.

 

Don't have any pics of the shims but a web search should turn up lots of them.  Simple, just a piece of metal, thinner on one end than the other.  It's placed between the spring and axle.  Thick end to the front tilts king pin back, if axle on top of the spring.  Obviously, if reversed the king pin tilts the other way.

[JBNeal]

If your steering gearbox is not properly adjusted, then steering can be a handful to keep that buggy between the ditches.

[ggdad1951]

6 hours ago, kencombs said:

Pics look normal to me.  Remember, if the tires are not pointed straight ahead the angle will change due to the king pin inclination angle

 

Camber has very little influence in how a car/truck feels when driving.  Wears tires badly if way out, but drives straight.

 

Don't have any pics of the shims but a web search should turn up lots of them.  Simple, just a piece of metal, thinner on one end than the other.  It's placed between the spring and axle.  Thick end to the front tilts king pin back, if axle on top of the spring.  Obviously, if reversed the king pin tilts the other way.

 

This exactly...shim it wrong and you get REALLY bad wear.  I honestly put the ones back on FEF backwards and while he ran true, tires wore BAD on the outside edge.  Took him to my car club buddy's alignment shop to investigate and he found that and swapped them around.  Drives better and the steering is less "floaty" at highway speeds.  But I had aligned the tires with a tape measure perfectly!