I threw a little more sunk cost into my 315k mile Ranger and put on a new set of Hankook Optimos. The last set had lasted 60,000 miles, so why not?
Anyway, I decided to get it aligned as well. The alignment guy was able to set the toe, but he said I have 4 degrees positive camber on one side and 4 degrees negative on the other. The truck also leans a bit to the left side. Apparently, this is so common that it's referred to as the "Ranger Lean", like the "Camry Dent"! Since it has Twin I-Beam front suspension, a lean to the side should affect the camber as described, although 4 degrees sounds like a lot. I suppose I could/should replace the ball joints in the knuckle and also install camber adjusting bushings. But I think I need to first fix the lean and then see where we end up on camber.
I measured from the center of the hubcap to the top of the wheelwell at all four wheels. I'm seeing about 1.25" inches of difference between left and right sides at the front wheels and 2" of difference left-to-right in the rear. For this reason, I'm thinking the fix is probably going to be replacing the leaf springs. I didn't see any leafs that looked obviously broken to my eye. I think the spring hangers have been replaced already - they looked OK to me as well.
I hate to spend for new springs. I might try grabbing some junkyard ones if I can convince myself that I can evaluate whether they are any good. I suppose I could first pull the springs I have and see how they measure unloaded.
Anyway, I decided to get it aligned as well. The alignment guy was able to set the toe, but he said I have 4 degrees positive camber on one side and 4 degrees negative on the other. The truck also leans a bit to the left side. Apparently, this is so common that it's referred to as the "Ranger Lean", like the "Camry Dent"! Since it has Twin I-Beam front suspension, a lean to the side should affect the camber as described, although 4 degrees sounds like a lot. I suppose I could/should replace the ball joints in the knuckle and also install camber adjusting bushings. But I think I need to first fix the lean and then see where we end up on camber.
I measured from the center of the hubcap to the top of the wheelwell at all four wheels. I'm seeing about 1.25" inches of difference between left and right sides at the front wheels and 2" of difference left-to-right in the rear. For this reason, I'm thinking the fix is probably going to be replacing the leaf springs. I didn't see any leafs that looked obviously broken to my eye. I think the spring hangers have been replaced already - they looked OK to me as well.
I hate to spend for new springs. I might try grabbing some junkyard ones if I can convince myself that I can evaluate whether they are any good. I suppose I could first pull the springs I have and see how they measure unloaded.