Do shackles auto-correct for solid rear axle toe?

Hi friends, new to TW here.

I'm busy doing my best to repair sections of frame on my 2003 Xtracab, ~180k miles spent in salty NJ, and previous owner did not take care of the frame and missed the recall. Repair included rebuilding the rear 19 inches of the rails/beams. I decided to re use the original shackle mounts, while rebuilding the beam out of new metal. It came out looking great, much sturdier than before but i now noticed that I welded in the driver's side shackle mount about 0.5" further back than it was originally. My concern is whether this means the leaf spring will "pull" the driver's side of the rear axle 0.5" backwards- thus misaligning the toe angle. I am currently doing the exact same repair on the passenger side- should I now attach the passenger shackle mount 0.5" to the back? or keep it stock dimensions?

I would usually be taking my time and updating my progress here, but I need to finish this repair as I am moving on a budget across country soon- next week.

Any comments/criticism welcome, I'm just doing my best shadetree work. In any case this truck is _much_ safer to drive in its present state than before. The frame was completely gone in multiple places where I have since substantially rebuilt it.

 

.5 inch is pretty significant when aligning suspension, however id be go for it first and see how it aligns and go from there.

 

Cinder blocks are real scary I had a friend commit suicide using them because he knew better he was in a hurry it was hard on his Mom .

How did you end up a 1/2" off I would weld the right side the same or correct the left?

 

0.5" may be an exxageration, but yes I noticed it since I'm now getting ready to put in both new crossmembers (which is its own whole endeavour, passender frame rail had to be cut anyways), and I noticed the most rear-ward bolt hole for the tire mount crossmember is slightly blocked by the shackle mount.

 

Sorry to hear, that's a scary story. I'm currently using 4 other jackstands in other areas to support the majority of the weight. The cinderblock fiasco was more or less there to maintain level, not bear load, as I reconstructed the driver side front hanger. Fairly confident I have the hanger welded in nearly the stock position.

EDIT: I thought I had the shackle mount exactly in place and was careful to tac and measure, but must have made a mistake somewhere.

 

Just be careful. Cinder blocks weren't meant to bear load sideways like that, if you inadvertently shift the load to them when adjusting another support. This is how I have mine supported. Cinder blocks and shims are cheap.

 

If it were me and I was in a rush Id move the other side back to match the drivers side. Half an inch would be roughly 0.75 degrees thrust angle give or take. Not terrible by any means, but if you can get away with fixing it why not

 

Put the bed on first and see if its centered in the wheel too.

 

Replace the cinderblocks with wood cribbing.

 

Don’t worry about the cinder blocks as much as the .5inch difference. That truck with no bed doesn’t weight enough to crush cinder blocks but stands are better. Get it as close as possible when you can before final welding or fitment. All the adjustment is up front and can correct for a lot but the less the better