After replacing my 21.5k rears which were wore in the middle from being over inflated,today i noticed that the fronts that i thought had another 20k wear left on them are wore big time only on the very inside of both the left and right.This is obviously caused by the sliding control arm and i was wondering if anyone had there truck aligned and welded this bolt in place,and if so does it do the trick?

 

What does the right have to do with the oval mount on the left? You did imply it was both fronts, didn't you?
Tom

 

Yes it is both fronts,its called alignment being off because of the messed up sliding bolt/clunk syndrome. The question is will this stay put with welding after new fronts and alignment?

 

too much negative camber...helps the frontend stick in fast turns.

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2001 Lightning, silver, escort 8500, ranger 2950dx dual band radio, wilson 2000 ant., bot/picked up on 05/08/01, 1997 f150 xlt 4.6L 4x2 with: a/f one fipk, superchip, optima battery, bbk 75mm throttle body, edelbrock ias shocks--2001 lightning to come(she came--see above)

"nothin' but a bunch a low-life white trash drinkin' too much cheap alcohol"

"I don't take s**t from guys who drive Lightnings," the cop said. "You're speedin' when you're sittin' on the parkin' ramp."

 

Toe out will do that also.

Andy

 

ib, you're right and wrong at the same time. The wear has everything to do with the alignment, and nothing to do with the "sliding bolt/clunk syndrome". Ignoring the wear as you have done for 21.5K miles is analogous to the sudden rupture of Firestone Widerness tires on Explorers. One cannot just jump in and drive. If you feel you’re not qualified to periodically inspect your vehicle properly, you should pay someone to do it. We all need to take responsibility for what we drive and not off handedly assign unrelated reasons for perceived problems. The alignment on our trucks has been biased toward handling performance, not high mileage. The result is inner tire wear that I clearly noticed with 1500 miles – not 21500 miles. I then needed to decide do I need/want the improved performance or improved mileage. The answer may be clear - if I cared about mileage, I would have bought a Focus. I’ve rotated the tires at every oil change to maximize the wear. The rears tend to wear in the middle – again due to that performance thing (and maybe slightly over inflated) – and the fronts wear the outside edge. I’m willing to accept all this. Are you?

 

So you are saying that by the adjusting the drivers side camber it also changes the passanger side camber???
Tom

 

I started to rotate my tires last night and noticed something like you describe. My front tires are cupped badly on the inside edge. I rotated the tires when I first bought the truck about 6000 miles ago. The tires were not cupped when they went on and i check my air pressure weekly so I was not running over/under inflated. The truck seems to track straight and does not feel out of alignment. Could the bolts cause this? My truck does make the noise when you turn at lock. If this is the cause will welding the washer/nut work as well as the washers I hear about? Or is this something that the dealer will fix under warantty? I dont want to rotate the tires until I know what to do since i do not need to ruin another 600.00 in tires. Thanks for any help you can give me.

John
2000 Silver Lightning

 

Huricane larry, do you work for ford cause you sound just like you do.The dealer said he never heard of the clunck,and while pulling the L off the rack and turning,a bunch of loud clacking from the lose control arm bolt which has been tightened four times and the truck has been aligned, i guess you just assume i have done no maintinence.The truck steers perfectly straight also at any speed with hands off the wheel.To answer your question no i don,t want twisties performance,just straight line,and still no one has answered the original question.Does welding hold up?I am not asking ford for new tires,just for a cure for the sliding control arm fiasco so that when i bother to rotate and align the L,the front tires have normal wear.My inner cuping all happened since the control arm sliding bolt came lose for the fifth time.Let see i have had my tranny and rear end fluids changed twice,and religously change the mobil 5w30 at less than 3k, do i sound like some one who neglects his L?So please enough of what you assume i haven't taken care of and an answer to the original question would be appreciated.

 

ib fast,

I would think tack welding it would hold for a short while. If you chose this route, I would recommend welding both sides of the control arm as they are both slotted. I'm far from an engineer in metalurgy but the heat cycles from welding could have an effect on the control arm strength.

The best "fix" to date (IMHO) can best be described in five words......HERB'S Washers and cam bolts.

hope this helps

 

We have discussed welding and other solutions in depth in the past, and the consensus was Herb (action911)'s washers are the preferred solution.

I have installed these washers with 14 km on my vehicle and am currently running 3 degrees of neg camber on the front...

 

I scrubbed the inside fronts off my last set bad at the end of their life. Camber was within specs, but it was 1/4" toe out. My 'clunk' was fixed early on and has not recured. I had it aligned to the 'Lightning Owner Prefered Specs' published here, even though the tech and service writer gave me flack. I'm happy that it doesn't wander anymore and am watching for signs of scrub.

 

I just posted my story. Need help!

Check:
https://www.f150online.com/f150board...ML/013469.html

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2000 Lightning Red #1554/4966 born 3/24/00

JDM street chip
JDM 90 mm mass air kit
JL outerwears prefilter
full street dress w/tonno
13.54 @ 101.88 mph (chip only)
best 60' 1.994

 

ibfast, apparently you like simple answers. No answer is simple, just like this one: NO, it does not solve your wear problem entirely

An alignment adjusts the camber, caster, and toe of the front suspension. Your camber and/or toe can be significantly out of long-tire-wear adjustment and still provide perfectly straight, no-hands tracking. Throw enough caster at it and you won’t be able to turn it off center. Not allowing the RIGHT control arm from moving will certainly lock the RIGHT adjustments, but the left is relatively unaffected by the RIGHT movement. Wear on both sides point to a toe or camber problem. The RIGHT camber is directly affected by the RIGHT control arm, but how did you get the same wear on the left?

 

I have the same problem. My tires have 9k miles on them and they've been rotated. I'm seeing Ford tomorrow.