My rear wheels do not quite line up properly in the wheel well. I am probably the only one that notices because you need a trained eye but the rear axel is definately shifted more to the rear making the wheels look a little off center in the rear wheel well. I have seen a few other brands of trucks do this and sometimes the wheel is more forward than back. My truck is lowered and I have owned other lowered trucks that have not had this problem and I have seen other lowered f-150's also without this problem. I tried looking at pre-lowered pics of my truck but it is too hard to notice because the wheel is so far away from the sides of the rear fender well. But being lowered and having the wheel stuffed in the fenders it becomes noticeable. I have had two sets of rear leafs put in thinking it was the new leafs but its not and they are exactly the same length as the stockers. My suspension guys are baffled.

My dealer installed a spray in bedliner prior to the purchase and it is obvious that they took out the bed bolts to spray because the bolts are not sprayed. They may have shifted the bed forward, I don't know. Can someone help me out who has a supercrew and measure two things for me:

1. The gap between the cab and the bed.
2. The gap from the tire tread to the fender endings to verify if your wheels are properly centered in the fender well.

I am not losing sleep or anything because it doesn't look bad I guess I just am a little picky and will feel a lot better if my truck is not the only one with this characteristic.

Thanks in advance.

 

Take it to the alignment shop with a laser alignment machine and have them check the "thrust angle" on the rear axel.
Trust me, if there is a problem it will revile itself while checking this.
If not... check how the bed is lined up.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Is this something that most alignment shops will know what I am talking about by asking them to check the "thrust angle" or is this an unusual request. I have never heard of this but thanks a lot for the advice.

 

The rear axle naturally moves forward and rearward as it moves up and down. The axle is fixed to the leaf spring, but the leaf spring moves on an arch. The front of the leaf spring is attached to the frame with an eyelet, but the rear of the leaf spring is attached to the frame through a shackle; this allows the entire leaf spring and axle to basically swing on the front leaf spring eyelet.

I put together the picture above as an example, but the red line may not be exactly representative of our trucks, but the theory still applies. Whenever you lift or lower a truck with a straight axle you're going to move it forward or rearward also. I'm not very familliar w/ lowering kits, but it appears that whatever kind you have in conjunction w/ the factory frame/suspension on the F-150 is causing the axle to move forward. Unfortunately, there's not really an easy way to fix it; you could have custom springs made w/ the axle perches moved rearward or you could remove the shackle and front eyelet mounts from the frame and reweld farther rearward.

 

Got some pictures?
Does it look "too far back" on both sides of the truck or just one?
What does the pinion angle look like?
Does the truck steer correctly (is the steering wheel straight while going straight)?

 

 

Thanks I appreciate your detailed post.

 

The passenger side is more noticeable and you can see from the bottom pick the wheel is not centered correctly in the wheel well. I am really confused and yes the truck drives great and straight.

Thanks for posting pictures I don't have a clue as to posting them.

 

what drop is that?

 

2/4.5 Belltech and Gound Force

 

 

Looks kind of like your bed isn't lined up right from the pics. I've got 1 1/2" between cab and LE of the bed.

 

I'm not a fan of lowered trucks at all (unless they're really fast), but yours looks tastefully done. Are the center of your wheels painted to match the truck?

The passenger side does look more noticeable, but the passenger side also looks lower to me which would explain it; it could be the shadows making it look that way though. From the pics your bed looks lined up too, but won't hurt to check the gap from side to side.

 

Actually this kind of peaked my interest. My truck is lifted w/Rancho and the rear tire is approx 1" closer to the rear than the front (with MT's so hard to be exact). Would someone stock please post their gaps.

 

Thanks for the nice comment my last truck was actually a Tundra with the Total Chaos long travel kit. I like all types of trucks as long as they are done right.

The gaps are the same, wierd???????????