caster/ ball joint question

[4x4orbust]

i recently replaced the front u-joint on the pass. side axle.  before doing the work, the caster was fine.    after the work my caster is out about 3/8" (bottom out).   i checked everything over and can't find anything loose.  even took the entire front apart and double checked my work to ensure no fault on my part.
i checked the ball joints as well, and there is no noticeable play anywhere.  can they be bad and have no play/ looseness?  i am not sure if they have ever been replaced, the truck has 135K miles and info is in my sig. has a 10 bolt front axle.  
what can cause this caster problem?  is there any way to shim it back to correct?  i am out of ideas!!

thanks!

edit:  replace every "caster"   with "camber".   thanks engineer.  

[Engineer]

Are you sure you aren't referring to camber?

Caster is set by shimming between the axle, and springs on the 4x4 SFAs.

Camber is the "tilt" of the tire. Your camber shouldn't have changed just by changing an axle ujoint.

BTW, all Chevy 4x4 SFA trucks 1/2, 3/4, and 1-ton should have approx .5~1 degrees of positive camber, and around 6~8 degrees of positive caster.

Caster is the "tilt" of the kingpins/ball joints. You will not be able to see caster with your eyes, this will need to be measured on an alignment machine.

However, .5~1 degrees positive camber (top of tire tilts out) should be slightly visible to the eye provided that the wheels are turned exactly straight ahead. If your truck has too much toe-in, the camber will appear to be negative when viewed from the front as the top of the tire tilts in (because of caster) as they are steered toward the middle of the truck.

Your truck's toe-in shouldn't be more than 1/8"~3/16" total.

Check your toe-in first, then drive your truck straight ahead. At this point the tops of both of your tires should be tilted outward.

[Blazin]

There is no way you could change alignment just replacing an axle u joint. The ball joints should not have been disturbed at all. How are you measuring? Did you put it on an alignment rack?

[4x4orbust]

i do have to get the truck aligned,i was waiting untill I replaced the drivers side tie rod for that.  so maybe the alignment is out, but i don't see how that would make the camber off, and the wheel was straight when i checked.

the way i measured the camber was i put the truck in my garage (level slab) and put a framing square on it (squared off the sab) and measured from the framing square to the rim.   drivers side measured the same on top and bottom, passenger side is 3/8" larger on the top ( meaning top is tilting in, like this /.   it is visually noticeable when looking at the truck head on.  

I didnt touch the ball joints untill yesterday when checking them.   can they be bad with no wobble/ looseness?

[Engineer]

How is the pre-load on your wheel bearings? Make sure that they are not loose.

Only thing I can think that would cause the camber to change just by replacing an axle joint is maybe you got some dirt or other foreign matter between the spindle, and knuckle when you reassembled them.

Otherwise there isn't any reason for the camber to change just by disassembling/reassembling the front axle.

[VileZambonie]

You did something wrong! Take it back apart and quality check your work. Sounds like the spindle isn't installed properly.

[4x4orbust]

thanks guys,  it never occured to me that something could have gotten behind the spindle,  a quick visual check shows no gaps anywhere, but that doesnt mean there isn't anything behind it.  i had disassembled everything down to the spindle, but did not remove the spindle.   i torqued the bearings according to my GM service manual (50 ft lbs while rotating, then back off, then torque to 35 ft lbs while rotating.)  seems like i will be taking it all apart AGAIN!!!     figures.   

i'll report back with my findings!!

[4x4orbust]

ok, found the issue.   turns out you should pay attention to the details when disassembling something.    the spindle had a shim behind , and when i re-assembled after the u-joint, i installed the shim upside down.   thanks for the help guys, i never thought of that untill you mentioned it!   
1st problem solved.   i have a couple others but will be starting a new thread for them.   

i just got the truck back on the road on friday, after 3 years of working on it, so happy just to drive it again!  but there's always something with these old trucks!  gotta love em.

thanks again,  you guys are great!