Alignment excuse !!??

Probably around Y2K one of my old friends gave me that board. His dad used it in their garage just after WW-II. We were using it in the '70s.

Using tape, setting toe is tricky, generally difficult to accurately measure across back side of tire.

With maybe 10K mi, I set toe in on my '99 E-250 service van. The lot of those came through badly toed out, drove like chasing snakes & wore out tires in 25-30K. mi. I could not convince service co they should be realigned. When I ran it across board, had like ¾" toe out. After my adj, it got over 50K miles on tires & drove great. The other 30+ vans in fleet continued to wear out tires.

 

I just love you guys DIY attitude.
"IF there's a will, there's a way"

Thanks!!!

 

Been eying that kit for several months but never took it serious. Now i am being i have 4 old cars with 2 needing an alignment.

 

Up until last year I had degreed slip plates, a bubble caster/camber gauge, and a caliper-type toe gauge. Probably had them for 20-25 years. In my garage, getting the car level for accurate caster measurements was time consuming. With the new digital gauge I can just zero it to the slope of the floor and it compensates for not being on a level surface.

 

Reminds me of Place 1(fstone) after his pitiful excuse of his guys being too young to work on old cars.

I would have said all about the money but old car alignment cost same as new car. In this case probally a service manager with no mechanical skill.

Just a pet peeve of mine when those in charged don't give those that are jr an opportunity to learn something new.

 

We purchased an alignment kit from LONGACRE RACING and we've done several cars and a couple of PU trucks
Successfully . Good Kit ! . Accurate components.
Cometized
Chip

 

Alignment update after 1st test drive.

I ended up buying this kit. Took a little time to figured it out. And yes a bunch of up down, up down, up down, measuring and adjusting but definitely worth it for me.
Car drives nicely but not perfect. Slight drift to left when i take hands of wheel. Will need to tweak out.

Manual steering

Drivers side camber .25
Passenger side camber 0
Driver caster 2.50
Passenger 2.50
Toe is equal for now.

Got things close. Figured i,ll tighten everything up, test drive and remeasure again.

I,d leave it as is if not for left drift.

I,m open to comment or suggestions.

 

Recheck your caster, if not very close on each side can pull.

Also can be amplified by a bit of toe-out. Should always have at least 3/16" toe-in total. At speed, force required to roll wheels will push wheels rearward. Zero toe will be toe-out at greater than 30-35mph, amplified by large tires, worn suspension, etc.

Toe divides equally R & L, whatever is on one side is same on other. In other words 1/8" gives 1/16" each side.

Upon making any large changes, will need 50 mi or so to know exactly how it's going to drive. Often a pull fades after a few miles. Basically tires have to become accustomed(wear) to new setting.

 

Great info Tom!

So i,ll recheck camber, caster and set toe. Got it!

Suspension/tires are new so need some working out. Got that too!

Thank you Sir

 

What kind of setup are you using now? I have been running into the same alignment shop problems as well. Guess I have to learn alignment and add to the list of carpenter, plumber, electrician, mechanic, computer, lawn, sprinkler, tile, fence, paint, ect.. Good luck finding someone that knows what a carburetor or incandescent bulb is anymore.

 

Unless driven with very bad specs, new tires should not need a large amount of mileage.

A little negative camber is good. In turns force pushes tire inward, allowing greater contact patch. If positive, contact patch is reduced in turn.

 

After you make an adjustment roll the car backward about 6 feet and then forward again to settle the suspension. Recheck your setting. Also, once upon a time, I took a bunch of accurate measurements under the car to find the center of the chassis. I have a scribe mark in the center of the front crossmember where center is so I can set toe on either side equally.

 

The kit I mentioned in post 13. Summit had sale going on at the time and I got it for something like $180.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tnh-3300

 

I’ve had good luck using jack stands and some string.