Hi Bill, outside tire wear is indicative of too much "toe in" as was found at the shop. The truck can have left and right toe adjusted separately in relation to the center point of the steering gear, total toe is the left toe and right toe added together. It is possible for the total toe to be correct but not on center of the steering gear, this would result in one side being less toe than the other side and would easily show up in the steering wheel being cocked.
Could this be done without completely removing the tie rod from both ends, threading it back into one end a few turns and then continue threading both ends of the tie rod into their respective ends? I can't think of any other way to mess this up other than bending the tie rod.
The first thing they need to do is confirm the center point of the steering gear, then check caster, camber, and adjust the toe. If they are 100% sure of the center point, the steering wheel then can be re-clocked.
When you say "confirm the center point of the steering gear" are you speaking of the center point found by measuring the increased "pull over center" when adjusting the sector gear lash (done with the Pitman arm disconnected) or the center point found by slowly turning the steering wheel all the way in one direction, counting turns to the opposite direction stop and then dividing the count by 2 to find the center?
Are all four tires and wheels the same diameter? are the springs in good shape or does the truck sit higher in the front or rear? If it is high in the rear, there will be too little caster IF everything else is stock.
Tires are all 215R85x16 which are 31.5" tall. I'll try to determine if any springs are out of spec in the next few days. I guess by measuring bottom of the frame to ground near where the tires are???
SAI is similar to the camber angle, in our case with solid front axles, it is the angle through the king pin as viewed from the front of the vehicle. The combination of king pin inclination and spindle angle will determine the camber on our trucks.
There doesn't seem to be any specs in my manuals for spindle angle. Would C + D in the drawing below be the same thing?
One thing I think it is important to keep in mind is that this condition happened suddenly.
