Fundamentally, Castor is the angle of the "king pin axis" viewed from the
side, while camber is the angle of the wheel viewed from the front. You can
indeed set camber using a plain level and a ruler, I do it all the time on
my race car in fact. Castor is harder. I can think of a couple of fiddles
to get it close, but I'd personally take a truck to an alignment shop and
let them do it.

Fiddles: My race car has a flat machined on the upright so I just put a
digital level on and read the castor directly. You can measure castor
indirectly by measuring it's effect on camber as you turn the wheels,
usually 20 degrees left and right. You could probably get in the ball park
by measuring how far back the upper ball joint is compared to the lower
using your level and a ruler, and compare side to side. You could do it by
adjusting until the truck tracks straight - that has the advantage of
ignoring what the measurement actually is and gets the effect you want.

Brian

Brian




"MK1" wrote in message
...
Go to dodgetalk.com,the ball joint problem is discussed often.Or often
disgusted.I am not certain about the vans but the late 90s trucks are a
real problem.I hope you have a moog and not a dodge ball joint

Martin wrote:
I recently replaced upper ball joints on a '96 Dodge 3500 (1-ton) van.
This vehicle uses pressed-in ball joints, and I replaced them with a
standard C-frame tool. After a few months, one of the ball joints
backed itself out (this is a poor design, IMO). I pressed it back in,
and tack-welded it in a few spots. So far, it's holding just fine.

In order to do the weld, I removed the upper A-frame. Of course, I
didn't think to mark it's position (uses no shims, just slotted bolt
holes to adjust caster/camber) until I'd already loosened the bolts and
let things shift.

I'd like to get the truck properly in alignment. If that's not
possible, at least driveably close until I buy new tires and have a
shop fine-tune it.

I think I can measure camber with a plumb bob, and toe-in's a
no-brainer, but how in the devil can I measure caster?

Also, is there an online reference where I can find the alignment specs
for my vehicle?

best regards,

Martin