Toes ... In or Out and How Often Do You Clean?

[zekethomas]

This is an alignment question or questions.
First, how often do you really (tell the truth now) get your front end aligned? I just came out of a B+ Sprinter and I aligned once in 122,000 miles and it has stayed correct. Now in an F53 18,000 GVWR Vista 7,500 miles, and I will use it (see Sprinter miles).

Next, I have seen various thoughts about how to adjust the alignment. Some say toe in more than the factory spec drives better. What gives?

New to F53. Appreciate the inputs....

[Redapple]

My rv is a 2006. Got it aligned when I first bought it. That's it. Replaced tires a few years ago, didn't do it. Drives fine

[vsheetz]

Only if I observe irregular tire wear or drive/handling issue.

[twinboat]

Alignment is needed after being built or only to reset to specs, after repairs.

In most cases, if tire wear is observed, it was never aligned or something is failing and needs to be fixed.

If you align it with worn parts, expect to do it again when the parts are replaced.

An F53 drag link replacement shouldn't need aligning. It has no adjustment. Steering wheel may need adjystment.

King pins should only need alignment, if it was aligned when they were partially worn.

Tie rod end replacement, yes. Some folks count the turns, it unscrewed and screw it back in that much, but that's not real scientific. Been there, done that.

Spring replacement could set the caster off. Too little caster and it will wander. Changing the caster changes the toe.

If your camber changes, your wheel bearings or king pins are failing or you've done some heavy off roading.

[Waiter21]

Checking toe in is easy and anyone can do it.

F53 chassis front end toe-in adjustment – 1999 Southwind 35S

Mine was set at zero, with maybe a slight toe out. I adjusted it to max toe-in, 0.34 deg. Drives much better.

Toe in gives better high speed stability, with increase in tire wear. I've never worn out a set of RV tires.

On our F53s, Toe shouldn't change once set, unless there is damage or substantial wear to the suspension components.

[TeJay]

For the most part you've gotten good answers. Lets just sum it up for clarity.

There's ONLY three reasons why an alignments needs to be performed:

1. Worn parts.
2. Bent parts.
3. The last shop did not align the unit correctly.

Here's another possible reason. You bought a USED RV and just want to know you are starting off with all angles set correctly!! That is a valid reason.

The F-53 has a king pin front end. They are rugged and will take a lot of weight and as long as the pins were correctly lubricated they will/should out last everything else.

The application of the F-53 chassis for an RV does not usually overload, over work or over use the steering and suspension parts so it is unlikely that they will wear out but nothing is impossible. Sometimes leaf springs will sag or suddenly lean to one side. That should be addressed and fixed.

It's not a delivery van carrying who know how much weight.

Max (toe in) is about 1/16" total or 1/32" per side. NO!!! Adding more does not make it better. Adding more may then cause excessive tire wear.

AGAIN!! The F-53 chassis has a SOLID front axle. The rear end has a solid differential. Adding all your camping/living stuff (weight) will not BEND the front axle or the rear differential. That is only true if the front end used is an independent suspension system. We only wish that's what Ford provided.

Therefore aligning the chassis after you get it from the factory is not necessary. What is necessary (NEW or USED) is having it checked/aligned to determine the answer to #3 above. Did the factory (or last shop) correctly align your unit???

We had just gotten home from the factory and there was a slight pull. We received authorization from Ford to have it aligned and had not yet added our camping gear.
We had is aligned with 700 miles and ALL (caster, camber & toe) angles were OFF.

[tconn308]

hello,

i have the same issue. When i was looking to purchase my used 2014 Itasca Sunstar 35F, I notice a slight pull to the right and the steering wheel was way off, like the ford emblem was pointing North South. I explained I wanted it corrected prior to purchase and they said they took it to a Ford Truck Dealer, and had it corrected. The wheel was straight enough and I felt a slight pull still but not near as bad.

First off, I hated the Stealer I purchased it from. I felt everything they said and did was not correct and by the time i purchased it, i hoped they all were, well you know what i mean. Any way, we have put about 3000 miles or so on it and just got back from a 1200 mile New England trip, where I noticed that i seemed to be keeping the coach to the left alot. When we got home I noticed the passenger site tire was worn noticeably more than the left on the outside.

It looks as though some in this thread say the front end does not need alingning. Is this true? I am very careful to load as even as possible. I was going to have the front tires rotated, which is a bandaid, but want it to be corrected prior to our next trip to Tennessee.

Any thoughts?

[TeJay]

tconn308,

We have 23,000 miles on our 2013 chassis and there is no uneven front tire wear. It was properly aligned and I don't expect any. Yes they are wearing (23,000 miles) but evenly.

"It looks as though some in this thread say the front end does not need alingning. Is this true? I am very careful to load as even as possible. I was going to have the front tires rotated, which is a bandaid, but want it to be corrected prior to our next trip to Tennessee."

You need to re-read my post above. The three reasons why an RV may need aligned. Tire wear sooner than normal or in the wrong places is a sure sign that there is an alignment issue.

Do yourself a favor and google "Alignment Angles Video". Watch a video on this and understand how simple this is.

Basically only two angles will cause tire wear. Camber or the tilt of the wheel in or out at the top. Tilting the tire out is positive and tilting it in is negative.

Let me be very clear about this part. You have to bend the front axle to cause the CAMBER to change. That means you have to bend the straight front axle and that's awfully hard to do.

The other angle that causes tire wear is toe in or out. Your tires should be toed in about 1/16" total or 1/32" for each tire. That's not very much. If you know what you are doing you can actually measure your toe in with a ruler. It's not real easy but it can be done with a bit of help.

You have a 2014 RV and a 2013 chassis the same as ours. At this point you should not have any work parts but checking to determine if it's been lubricated correctly is important. That stuff is simple to do and if you found one of the 9 grease points that is not getting lubrication then it was either skipped or just not correctly lubed. Any point not taking grease needs to be corrected.

That still won't cause worn tires but it won't help the driving either. As far as your pulling I'd first swap the two front tires side to side. See how that helps the pulling.

Then back to the alignment shop to have the toe corrected. You can't fix the worn tires but.

When they do an alignment they always first start by checking the tire pressures, look for worn parts and then they read all the current angles. At that point they should print a sheet showing all the angles and advise you the owner on what they think they should do.

You can take two rear tires and put them on the front steer tires. Then you can almost start from scratch with two new steer tires. Having the outside or inside edges worn off because of the toe being off some won't hurt them as a rear tire.

If a shop tells you that you have worn or bent parts you need to ask them to show you how and why they think they are bent or worn. You have that right. Don't just take their word for it. If they say you can't go into the work area because of insurance issues leave. That's just a game they play with customers.

If you think they are scamming you then take it to another shop. And you should not owe them anything.

[House Husband]

Waiter21 is spot on. Follow his simple instructions.

Richard
95 F53