Changed the center link & pitman arm...so now alignment time, easy right? in the last week... pep boys.......car too old, come back when experienced is in....? midas.......car too old, wont touch it local shop.......experienced guy never there when I am, checked twice sparks.......experienced guy on vacation sears........young guy dont want to mess with it....experienced guy not there local shop #2........oops, forgot to write down appt., when they see car. local shop#3.......left car there 4 hours....oops we didnt have time. Will try again tommorrow......
mine is Rod and Custom...rack-and-pinion... I gave the "Kid" the specs , he checked his specs on a...1973 Maverick... and they were the same... ...... get the specs and tell them to set it to them...:Handshake
i grew up working on these cars,specializing in brakes/front-end/suspension.try aligning your self,at least set the toe.scribe each front tire,towards outer edge,you need like a reference point,take a tape measure,take measurement in back,and front,take note of difference,example,rear measures 58",front59",tires are toed out,need to eye ball each front wheel,see which one is toed out,against rear wheels,which are fixed.adjust at the adjusting sleeves,in between tie-rods,you can do it!
Sounds like no one wants to touch it...Too bad you didnt live here...I have a guy whos awsome with the old stuff, Did my sprint.(Noticed it was lowered and adjusted accordingly too) Did my blue mav years ago. (1st time I met him) He groused about doing the blue beast till he got it on the rack and noticed it wasnt rusty and all the parts were new. Been doing my cars alignments ever since. Keep looking man!!! Theres gotta be a real alignment guy around you somewhere!!! Good luck!!!
my alignment Guy (Kid)... when he moved to another shop, I followed... maybe some shops machines don't go back far enough to pull up the specs. that's why I suggested you get the specs and ask them to set it to them...
We used to have a shop here that, for the past 30 years, was "the place" to go to for an alignment. Drove past there a few weeks ago ... looks like they closed down.... bummer My exhaust system guy, who had a reputation for putting big pipes where they had no business going, retired ... sigh ... I still don't feel "old" yet .... Just gotta' find new guys with skills .... if you go to some local cruises or car shows, some folks there can probably send you in the right direction.
Shops are refusing old cars all the time for me also. I have been trying to find someone to charge my A/C for me, every shop I go to says the car is too old? I argue and say its all the same. But they feel that older cars have more problems and are more likely to break something if when trying to fix it. And do not want to spend the extra time and money on it. That is fine with me, I don't want them touching my car then anyway and won't go to them for my newer cars either.
Just find yourself lucky... I ended up going to a couple shops getting mine aligned, I would have rather been turned away. What started out as two new front tires and a camber adjustment because my tires were wearing out in the inside well before the outside turned into a big mess when the rack monkey decided that instead of adjusting the alignment eccentric on the lower control arm he would take a really big pry bar and stuff it between my exhaust headers and the shock tower and try and pry the shock tower out to fix the problem. Then the moron didnt drive off the rack straight and high centered on my 2 1/2" xpipe under the car. When they finally got the car out too the parking lot at 5:59 (they closed at 6 and i think they waited till that late intentionally so they could get rid of me)they handed me the keys and locked the door behind me. Upon getting in I found they had hit my exhaust so hard it had broken the spot welds and the clamps I had put on the exhaust collector to hold it in place trying to free the car and my passenger side was running open exhaust, and they had dented my xpipe on the drivers side and my exhaust no longer lined up anymore.... So here i am a month later, I had to take my car to another shop(same chain different location) to get the alignment done (still not 100% right) and I am waiting and fighting to get everything fixed on the exhaust from the first set of morons.
I told my guy I'd pay him extra...whatever it would take to do the job right. I'm not expecting them to align this for $49 which is usually just setting the toe on modern cars. These old cars can be a real headache to modern day techs and shops. The techs deal with squirells all the time and are worried about marrying a problem car. He's good with aligning the car but requested I get everything in order first (replacing any worn components).
Might laugh but you can set your camber using a leveler. I've set the toe using lines on the ground. Sometimes it takes trial and error though. Have a buddy at a local tire shop that does it with lasers pointers. I've always trusted the older shade tree mechanics then these "techs" working in the shops today. That's why I work on my own ride.
Probably 20 years ago I bought my own caster/camber gauge, toe gauge, and slip plates. After doing just two alignments the tools were paid for. Late one Saturday on my way to a car show I hit a pot hole hard about two miles from my house. Knocked the right front wheel way negative camber. Went home, re-adjusted, and was back on the road in 20 minutes.
