I mounted a Fisher Minute Mount plow weighing around 700 lbs on my 1994 F150 4 X 4 Short Box truck and am noticing that the tires are slightly canting, toeing in? It looks like this from the front (/ - \). When I raise the plow, the truck doesn't drop hardly at all and there's plenty of clearance for the tires. What's the problem, how to correct it and can I drive my truck? The front axle is rated to 3270lbs. I've seen recommendations for adding more heavy duty springs (Moog cc 824s) or Timbrens. Snow's coming and I'd like to get this settled soon.

Thanks much again!

 

What you are describing is not toe, it is camber. It is pretty much in the nature of swing-axle front suspensions that a huge change in load is going to cause a camber change. Short of installing heavier springs there's not much you can do.

There's a reason that most plow trucks are F250s and F350s

 

Yup, the major flaw of the Dana 44 TTB. Best solution? Dana 60.

Adrianspeeder

 

The truck looks looks like this from the front (/ - \).

 

It's called negative camber. It's what happens when you overload the front suspension. If you had it re-aligned to give normal near zero camber with the plow in place you would have extreme positive camber (\ /) when you removed the plow.

The only solution is stiffer front springs (or converting to a solid axle)

 

Could you recommend which spring to install -- a brand and type. I don't necessarily want to raise the truck up since I have good clearance above the tires and the plow is not a permanent fixture.

Thanks.

 

If you plan to keep the plow on the truck permanently, find out its total weight, then add that number to the FGAWR on your door sticker, and go shopping in the JYs for the springs from a truck with that FGAWR. That should put your truck back to stock height (where it belongs) for good alignment.

If you plan to install/remove the plow, get air shocks that you can adjust each time for proper ride height.

 

If it's a 4x4, Ford and others make different camber bushings for the TTB. The 4x2 may use camber bushings as well.

 

I'm not familiar with the camber bushings Windsor mentions. What would I use in this instance? I think I'm going to replace my existing, stock, 20 year old springs with Moog cc822 or cc824 and possibly add an air lift system. But would be interested to know about the bushings.

 

First you showed negative camber(tops of the wheels leaning in), which would be normal for installing a plow. Now you've edited the post and are showing positive camber (tops of the wheels leaning out). Is that in fact the case? It makes a rather huge difference, so which is it?

If it is positive, there is something very, very strange going on. Did you jack up the entire front end with both wheels off the ground to attach the plow? And have you moved the truck since setting it back down again?

 

StrangeRanger: Good catch -- the tires at the top are leaning in, so negative camber-- my mistake. Thanks! But, if the tops were outward, what would have been a cause in installation?

 

Nothing that I know of would make that difference when you put weight on the truck. Typically that happens when a lift is installed incorrectly, sometimes it can be repaired with adjustable camber bushings, but it's not easy. I'm sure bad camber bushings might lead to postive camber, but I've never seen it. Think of it this way, when you put more weight on it (plow) the front in drops and the tires go in (almost how if you were to carry too much weight your knees would buckle inward). With that same line of thought, if the truck goes up (lift) then the tires go in.

The only 3 things that I can think of that might help your situation is to get stronger springs; that will make the ride harsh when the plow is gone tho. Second is spring spacers, rubber spacers that go into the spring to help keep the coils apart (keep the spring from compressing so much); I would think that these may be the easiest (if they would work, let's let a couple experts post what they think on these ideas, i could be wrong), because you put them in and take them out whenever you put the plow on\take it off. Third would be to get an alignment everytime you put the plow or or take it off; that all depends on how much the tires are leaning in, because camber can only be adjusted so much, even with aftermarket bushings, there a very narrow limits. The alignment would also depend on how far away your alignment shop is, you could put a LOT of wear on your suspension parts in the time it takes you to get there lol.

Like I said, I'm no where near the best a TTB, but I know a hell of a lot more than I used to. Steve83, Strangeranger, and Adrainspeeder make me look like I was dropped on my head when I was a child, so I'd go with whatever they say.