Straighten an AAM front, truss required after?

[Bacho]

Brought my 2011 Dodge in for an alignment following a BJ replacement. I got the news that the axle is bent and I need offset BJs to correct. Given that it took me 2 years to find the motivation to change them the first time, I have no desire to do that again anytime soon. I read that this is common on the AAM axles. I plan to try and straighten it out, initally I thought it might need a truss. It appears the axle tube to center chunk fit is poor which causes these problems. I thought previous movement there would make it quite likely to happen again.

Anyone done this and able to comment on if I should expect this condition to return without a truss? I use the truck for on road towing only.

 

[Bacho]

I tackled this project yesterday. It went smoothly. I found an I-beam and what I think was a 20 ton jack. While I have no idea how much force this really took, it seemed to be a lot. Jacking on the axle tube right next to the pumpkin eventually brought the hubs to 0 degrees camber when compared to each other. I plan on an alignment Monday. Time will tell if it goes back to bent condition. Given how much force it seemed to take to straighten, I feel good about it lasting for my uses.

 

[Grendel]

Did you do any welding to help it stay?

 

[Bacho]

I did not, only found one other person doing this online. He acted like his had not moved again.

This was an oil field truck, no telling how much it took to get to this condition. By comparison it has a very easy life as far as the front axle is concerned.

It’s quite easy to check and I’ll check it again six months to see what it looks like. I could straighten it out again in an hour or less. Prior to putting on a truss if it needs it down road.

This is a well abused truck with over 300K on it. I hope I can replace it in a few years. Has some effect on how much work and money I’m willing to throw at it.

 

[Grendel]

Heard!

 

[Bacho]

Over the weekend, I put new tire pressure sensors in the truck prior to bringing it to the alignment shop. I had the wheels off again. They decided to investigate the reference of the sub shaft I had been using compared to the wheel mounting surface. Unfortunately, I measured about half a degree difference there. I should’ve known better than to do that.

I decided to bring it again to the alignment shop anyways yesterday to see what their machine was showing for overall difference that made as well as get the tire pressure sensors activated.

The good news is, I think the concept is working. The chamber was only about half of what was on the initial test. The bad news is it needs more put into it.