Front-end alignment

Prior to doing any alignment verify wheel bearings, ball joints and tie rods are not loose. And don't look at the factory alignment specs; these are for stock tires, on stock rims, at stock ride height. Toe-in is the easiest to adjust and has the most to do with how your tires wear. Most people adjust it 1st but remember changing camber will effect it a lot and caster changes can effect it as well, so it should be set close prior to setting camber and caster then reset after all other adjustments are made.

Toe-In

Make a homemade scriber as pictured. (You can use a ballpoint pen on a block of wood with a notch in it if you have a steady hand) Scribe a line around each tire, make sure the line comes back on itself with out any variance; a light coating of spray paint will help in scribing. With the help of a friend, measure the distance between the scribed lines at approximately the centerline of the tire front and rear. Use a stiff tape measure and make sure there is no sag in the tape while measuring. Also do not use the end of the tape to gauge from, It is hard to hold it exatly on the line, even in this picture you can see that the line on the tape is not exactly in the middle of the line on the tire, and should be centered prior to final reading. If a spring or a driveline gets in the way just make sure the front and rear measurements are done at the same height. The actual measurement does not matter, what you are looking for is the difference between the front and rear measurements. The front should be 1/16" less than the rear for tires up to 36" and 1/8" less in front for tires over 38". Or if your tie rod ends are slightly worn set the toe-in a 1/16" extra to compensate. Adjust with sleeve on tie rod. If the sleeve won’t turn use lots of penetrating oil. Also placing a large hammer on one side and pounding with a medium hammer on other side will loosen the adjusters.

Caster (setting/checking)

Using a universal protractor as pictured (costs about 15 bucks at nearest hardware store) place on the lower ball joint or any machined surface as pictured. For best results file any hammer or rock dings off surface. Also be sure the protractor is exactly perpendicular to the centerline of the axle, when measuring the caster angle. (front to back tilt) of ball joints) If not perpendicular to the centerline there will be an error in the reading caused by the compounding of the inclination angle (side to side tilt of ball joints). If you can't find a universal protractor use a 9" level, and it should tilt about ¾" to 1" lower toward the rear of the vehicle. Make sure vehicle is on fairly level ground and tires are straight ahead. If your driveway is sloped, measure the angle of the slope with the protractor and compensate accordingly. Caster angle should be 6 to 8 degrees positive. Positive is when the top ball joint is leaning towards the rear of the vehicle. If you are only 2 to 5 degrees positive and the vehicle stops and drives in a straight line then just consider yourself lucky. There are many ways to adjust caster, the best method is to machine the welds off the steering yoke at the end of the differential tubes and rotate the yokes accordingly while also correcting driveline angle by relocating the leaf spring perches. An easier way to adjust caster is to place tapered shims between the leaf spring and axle perches, or on coil sprung Fords you can change the C-bushing with a different offset. But of course now you steer straight but your driveline vibrates. You can also put offset bushings the top ball joint retainer sleeve however these will only get you 1 ½ degrees and should really only be used for adjusting camber.

Seems the 1st thing many people do to their leaf sprung jeeps is to get longer shackles, this reduces the camber setting a couple of degrees. Jeeps come factory typically with 2-3 degrees casters. But when installing larger tires you will find that 6-8 degrees caster will make them drive down the road much smoother.

Camber

Camber is how straight up and down your tire is. If it is perpendicular to the ground then the camber is zero degrees. Generally roads are slightly curved for drainage. From the factory tires are 1/8 to ½ degree positive (leaned out at top) so they are perpendicular to the part of the road it rolls on I prefer zero to 1/8 degree positive camber for wider tires to prevent the outside lugs from getting scrubbed off during cornering. Park your rig on dead level ground (garage floor) at max rated tire pressure. Place a 24" level as pictured. Vertically along the side of the tire missing the tire bulge. It should not take more than 1/8" to get the level vertical from the edge of the tire. If tire is tilted more than 1/8 inch something is bent or welded on crooked. If tire is within ¼ inch of being vertical and the rig handles well and the tire is wearing ok then consider yourself lucky. To correct camber alignment less than 1 degree, roughly less than 3/8" from vertical, shim the spindle or install ball joints eccentrics, if it is off more than that find what is bent, replace it or straighten it (usually a spindle or axle tube) and then start the alignment procedure all over again. On Fords with the TTB (Twin Traction Beam IFS) nine out of 10 times I find that they have negative camber and upon replacing the ball joints and replacing the rubber swing arm bushings and TTB pivot bushings with Urethane bushings the camber comes back into factory specs. If that does not work then TTB relocation brackets or eccentric ball joints sleeves must be installed to get it right.