Too much rear axle/suspension sideways shift?

[Mike's brother]

I was looking over a few pics from a trip to Rausch Creek last summer, and it seems to me that my rear axle is shifting a heck of a lot to the side when the suspension gets a little twist. Just thought I'd get a few more veteran takes on this.

The rear suspension upgrades here are pretty standard stuff ... Warrior shackles, Energy Suspension bushings for the leafs and the shackle mounts, Pro Comp add a leaf and some Ranchos. When this pic was taken, I remember hearing the low tire (245 General Grabber AT 2s on stock rims) rub against the inside of the wheel well pretty good.

And in this shot, you can see the high-side wheel is shoved in there pretty far as well. And keep in mind, this is all with the sway bar still connected.

I'm getting set to upgrade tires and rims, and I'm just wondering if I've got a problem here (wrong leaf bushings maybe?) or if I'm just seeing things that ain't there.

Just for comparison, here's the way everything sits at rest.

Opinions and advice are very welcome.

:exp:

 

[IZwack]

Pretty normal IMO - it is after all a leaf spring system which probably isn't something you'd use if you wanted precision as it's been around since horse drawn buggies. You could replace the bushings (which is a PITA) but I doubt it'll change much, if any.

 

[Mike's brother]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm with you on the PITA thing, which is why I was hoping it was all in my head.

 

[FROADER]

Pretty normal IMO - it is after all a leaf spring system which probably isn't something you'd use if you wanted precision as it's been around since horse drawn buggies. You could replace the bushings (which is a PITA) but I doubt it'll change much, if any.

Agreed.

 

[2000StreetRod]

5th shock

Some of the 4 door models have a side-action shock mounted ahead of the rear axle on the right side. It probably wouldn't help much at low speeds though. Also, according to my Haynes manual the 5.0L models have an anti-windup bar which might help a little.

 

[J_Train]

I'd say it's normal too. Here's mine with a sway bar still connected. My tires stick out 1/2-3/4 inch from out side of the rear fender.

This pic shows the tire at droop and it looks like the rear end/suspension is shifted to the left cause over half the tire looks like there's 9 inches of it out of the fender. But it's just the way it looks. There will be some flex out of the spring bushings.

 

[zukman]

two words love Track Bars
and while your at it dual shocks all the way around baby

 

[Maniak]

Like everyone else said.. Normal..

As you get more flex it makes it look worse.. Because of the angle of the tire (Camber change) it makes the tire appear sticking out more. Its really not moving side to side much. The center of the axle shaft is still about the same left/right. You do get some bushing flex at the shackle but its not much.

Here is a more extreme example..

truckhaven-43 by maniak_az, on Flickr

 

[Mike's brother]

Thanks everybody! That's one thing off the to-do list. Which, as you all know, means there's room for something else to be added to the winter fun in the garage plan.

Excellent!

 

[DUNE RCR]

The "shift" is an optical illusion.

The thing I love is I have yet to rub neither of my rear tires.....yet.

 

[explorinitup]

x2 on the mind tricks. i have 35" and 10" wides and if i get the rear end twisted it will tuck under the fender well. very tight but it does!