81 western star with neway suspension

[Rod78]

Hi, I just hired a local mechanic to change out all my bushings on this suspension and now my truck pulls to the right and is wearing both steer tires on the right sides.
It pulled before the new bushings nut maybe not this bad. Old bushings were quite worn.
Is it possible he didnt know what he was doing and welded the alignment bushings without squaring up the axles? He told me he welded them exactly where the old ones were.
I've since replaced steering kingpins and steering wheel bearings to eliminate those variables. I've had a friend that knows small vehicles measure up the front end and he says the steer axle looks very good for aligned. Yet it still pulls.

What should I try next? The nearest actual big rig alignment shop is a 5 hr drive away.
My thought is to swap steer tires and see if that changes anything.... thoughts please.

Thanks,
Rod

 

[RZucker]

Something in the rear is out of alignment. Pull the outside duals and set the truck back on the ground, use a good straight edge across the face of the inside wheels near the hub. You should have contact all the way across both wheels. I use this method on trailers with good results.

 

[DMiller]

Either that or the frame is sprung.

 

[Rod78]

RZucker, I know exactly what you are saying. I can see just by looking at it that the axles arent lined up perfectly. Are the weld on alignment bushings the only way to re-adjust the alignment of the rear axles? Is it a big job to cut the old bushings off, line up and weld new bushings in??

 

[DMiller]

Weld On??All the NEWAY systems I worked had Eccentric Collars on the bolts thru the bushings or as on earlier units a slotted bolt hole in the frame bracket and the washers tack welded in place once aligned.

 

[Rod78]

Yes this has the slot and the washer welded. I said bushing but yes it is a washer.

 

[RZucker]

Yes this has the slot and the washer welded. I said bushing but yes it is a washer.

If it's just the washer style, it shouldn't be too hard to fix.

 

[Rod78]

It looks like the mechanic that changed all the rubber bushings and pins did quite a bit more than tack weld those washers.
So once those washers are cut off then a guy can manipulate the axles to get them lined up?
Doesn't sound like rocket science, but I'm sure Leary to take it to a shop to get fixed unless it's a respectable alignment shop.

 

[DMiller]

Hope the previous shop did not fixed full circle weld them, will be on the grinder awhile if did.

 

[Rod78]

Yes I'll be grinding for a while

 

[DMiller]

A decent repair shop should be able to align the drives, as noted NOT rocket Surgery or Brain Science

 

[RZucker]

A decent repair shop should be able to align the drives, as noted NOT rocket Surgery or Brain Science

IIRC, those washers only had about an inch of weld at the top and bottom originally.

 

[Tenwheeler]

Something in the rear is out of alignment. Pull the outside duals and set the truck back on the ground, use a good straight edge across the face of the inside wheels near the hub. You should have contact all the way across both wheels. I use this method on trailers with good results.

Interesting!

 

[Truck Shop]

Something in the rear is out of alignment. Pull the outside duals and set the truck back on the ground, use a good straight edge across the face of the inside wheels near the hub. You should have contact all the way across both wheels. I use this method on trailers with good results.

Plus it can be squared to the frame doing it that way, plus center of steer axle spindle to drive hubs. just my two cents.

 

[Tenwheeler]

Sometimes I run a string around the back of the front drive axle tires at the center of the axles. The ends are connected to jack stands set about 15 feet in front of the truck. The string is pulled to the point that is about all the jack stands will hold. One person moves the stand and the other watches, touches, the string at the front side wall of the drive tire. Start wide and bring it in until the string just touches the sidewall. Then do the other side. Measure from the string to the end of the steer axle spindle on each side and adjust. Then align the rear drive with the front.
If rechecking back the truck out and pull it in straight, Prefer to roll to a stop and recheck it.
There are other methods and variations of this one but this is a pretty good simplistic method.
You can square and measure off the frame as well but are we aligning the frame or the axles? That normally works fine until you come across a twisted frame.

 

[Rod78]

At the moment I'm thinking of tackling this job myself. Dont think I can mess it up any worse than the last guy.

 

[Truck Shop]

Here's a straight frame you can align from, but it's only used as a reference point at anytime.

 

[Tenwheeler]

Here's a straight frame you can align from, but it's only used as a reference point at anytime.

View attachment 212378

Thats nice!

 

[Rod78]

Well I took the truck into a local shop here. They measure everything up and said things were good. I was disappointed they didn't find anything. So I got them to switch the steer tires side to side because of the wear.
Truck seems to run fairly straight now. Can let go of steering wheel for 5 seconds or so without a load before it creeps over to the right edge of the road. When I have a load on it is even better.
I'm still not convinced though. I believe it steers ok because of the wear on the steer tires. I guess I wont really know until these steers wear out and I out a new set on...

 

[Tenwheeler]

Well I took the truck into a local shop here. They measure everything up and said things were good. I was disappointed they didn't find anything. So I got them to switch the steer tires side to side because of the wear.
Truck seems to run fairly straight now. Can let go of steering wheel for 5 seconds or so without a load before it creeps over to the right edge of the road. When I have a load on it is even better.
I'm still not convinced though. I believe it steers ok because of the wear on the steer tires. I guess I wont really know until these steers wear out and I out a new set on...

Radial tire pull happens sometimes.