05 B4000 Camber problem

[Ragnar]

My 05 B4000 has an issue with the front left wheel camber angle. The truck has had an alignment about a year ago and a castor camber kit was installed at the time. However the positive camber angle couldn't be adjusted any further than the kit allowed on the front left wheel. Recently I hear the front left tire noise getting louder and the tire is scalping on the inside a bit. This truck has a 3 inch body lift with BFG All Terrain T/A LT265/75R16, KO2s on it with a 3/4 inch wheel spacer. Any ideas how I can rectify this issue? These tires are expensive and I don't want one wearing out before the others.

 

[franklin2]

Are you sure the suspension has never been modified with spring spacers or different springs? That is what usually causes this problem. Since changing the ride height causes this problem, you can use this to your advantage to help get rid of the problem. If the tire is wearing on the inside, if you raised the ride height that should correct it. If the tire is wearing on the outside edge, if you could lower the ride height that should correct it.

I am not sure what type of suspension a 05 uses, so if you want to get a jack and raise the ride height with it, you should be able to tell if that helps the camber problem. Make sure to put the jack on the frame, not the lower suspension arm.

 

[Ragnar]

I'm not 100% sure that the suspension has been modified or not. I was only told that it had a 3" body lift, when I bought the truck 2 years ago. So I just assumed the suspension is stock. I don't really want to raise or lower the ride height to correct this one wheel scalloping on the inside of the tread. I was hoping it might just be a worn bushing or two on this one corner of the truck.

 

[Blmpkn]

Bad wheel bearing?

 

[Ragnar]

Bad wheel bearing?

May well be. I'll have to check. But, you would think that when they installed the camber/castor kit at the same time they did the alignment, they would have checked for that.

 

[Blmpkn]

May well be. I'll have to check. But, you would think that when they installed the camber/castor kit at the same time they did the alignment, they would have checked for that.

You'd think so.. seems like a lot of shops/techs are getting lazy now though unfortunately. Worth a check at least.

 

[sgtsandman]

May well be. I'll have to check. But, you would think that when they installed the camber/castor kit at the same time they did the alignment, they would have checked for that.

A good number of shops only focus on what they are being paid for. They may have noticed a bearing being bad or something else and forgot/failed to mention it.

I had one bearing unit that seemed perfectly fine one minute and rattled and flopped pretty bad the next with no warning or tell tale weird tire wear to clue me in. Weird but it happens.

 

[Ragnar]

I have scheduled an appointment with my mechanic to check wheel bearings and rectify the camber issue. Might be a couple of weeks before I can get it in. I'll let you know then, what they find and how they corrected the issue.

 

[Ragnar]

Update: Finally got the truck in and had the front end checked over as well as wheel bearings and anything that might be related to the camber issue. Turned out it was a bent upper control arm and the ball joint in it was shot. After replacing the control arm and ball joint, checked wheel bearings, rotated the wheels and subsequent wheel alignment, everything came back within spec.