Has anyone recently had their maverick to an alignment shop? trying to get the front end lined up a little better, local shops wont touch it, even though all the parts on the car are less than 5 years old, and has little milage on em at all. any tips or suggestions on how to get it going straight? manual steering, 5.0 engine, on a 69.5 maverick. Thank you fellas! Ill do what I can to return the favor fir some good info!! ChadS
i recently had mine aligned at a local shop here. came out great. i had noticed some uneven wear on the tires. had some toe in. put new tires on and it rides great.
I had mine aligned last year at a local Body repair shop. Did a great job! Was the first alignment(other than the tape measure method) I had done in over 16 years..very impressed with the differance! Did they find something wrong with your front end? Thats the only reason I can think of for them not aligning the front end. What reason did they give you? If you need specs someone on here can help you out with that I'm sure...
I never had anyone refuse to do an alignment. Had a few I wasn't satisfied with. That's why I do my own.
Got turned down also There are a lot of shops now that tend to pick and choose their work, I got turned down twice last year and wound up getting it done at a Good Year. They probably only did it to find something to sell me but I had already installed all new suspension parts front to rear. :evilsmile
That is the strangest thing. A mav is easyer than 1/2 of the cars on the road to align. All the adjustments are there. Caster, Camber and toe. I bet if it were an old Crapmaro he would have jumped at the chance to align it, with twice the work with the shims and all. The next time you go in to have it aligned ask if they have an alignment tech or just someone that aligns cars. The only cars that I do not align at my shop are mercedes and some BMWs. (because I dont have the special tools to do them). If you ever get in my area I would be more than glad to align your car. I guess sometimes the almighty $$$$$$$ gets in the way of the job the guy is paid to do. Sorry to hear of your plight. I hope you find someone to get the job done. Good luck. Don
yeah i was goin to say im not alignment genuniss(SP) but everything is right there for adjustment....i have to get my car aligned in couple weeks...hope i dont get turned down....i was thinking of doin it myself but i think i trust a pro on this, i hope hes a pro
Local shops around here, if its not 3 years old or less, they wont look at it. Dont know why, I was ticked off enough when I asked and got shot down. No, nothing was wrong, other than the left wheel was tilted out a bit too far,, but heck, all that was, is the adjustment on the lower arm on the eccentric bolt. Ive got the toe in set up, just want to make the "lean" of the tires so they match,,, or close to it. Can I use an angle finder? Chad
They make a manual caster/camber guage but they are pretty spendy. If you could find someone with one you could set the caster/camber yourself. If you do find one remember that any adjustment you make will effect the tow, so it will have to be reset. The best thing would to look around and see if you could find a shop that will do the alignment. I dont know why they will only work on late modle stuff, I guess they are scared to get back to basics. As I said before I will align almost anything. Keeps my skills up and you will for the most part get at least a tie rod end to add to the bill. But anyway, look around in the surrounding towns and see if you can find someont to do it. Sorry for the actions of other alignment guys. Hope you have luck. Don
That is strange. I had my '74 Grabber aligned at a Good Year place about a year ago. Also recently had all new tires and an alignment done on the '72 at Tires Plus.
Ebay often has used alignment gauges for sale. Fifteen years ago I think I paid around $60 for a new caster/camber gauge, $40 for a new toe gauge, and around $150 for degreed turn plates. No doubt new stuff costs more now, but if you can find it used... Considering that alignments around here cost $70-$80 each time the equipment paid for it's self in the first year. Hit a pot hole and knock it out of alignment, no problem. Go home and adjust it and you're back on the road in no time.
