How do I adjust the camber, caster, and toe on my 77 maverick? (The wheels are wearing thin on the outside.)
Camber is adjusted with the eccentric located on the inward mount of the lower control arm. Caster is adjusted by lengthening and shortening the front strut rods. Toe is adjusted by turning the adjusting sleeve which connect the inner and outer tie rods together. You really need a machine to do the job properly.
No way to get it right without an alignment machine. You might get it close but I'm betting it's close right now. It doesn't have to be off much on either of the specs to get premature tire wear. If you have to keep replacing tires...well, an $80 alignment will sound real cheap soon.
well i had 2 area shops quote me between 60 and 70 and a 3rd shop did my friends cougar for $65. $39 does sound like a good deal
The prices can vary quite a bit from shop to shop. I have 3-4 cars aligned every week for my body shop. I have noticed that prices have increased the last 6 months along with everything else. So if you get one for $69.95, don't gripe too much because I just paid $79.95 for one at dealership cost by a local tire store. I usually let our service dept do them for me and I only have to pay the technician time but ocassionally have to sublet one out if they can't get to it. I gotta get the cars delivered!
I don't have a "machine" but I do have slide plates, caster/camber and toe gauges and a laser level. I get just as accurate results as an alignment rack, just takes me a little longer 'cause I'm working on the floor of my garage. Two or three alignments and the tools pay for themselves. Wonder how they did alignments before there were computers and machines?
One thing to be careful of when a shop aligns our old cars, the specs they have are for running the original bias ply tires, so if you're running radials (and who isn't nowadays) the specs need to change.
I call . How are you gettin so many cars done when your on here all day?! Just make sure they don't do the alignment and charge you saying you need some parts... unless they will redo it for free when you replace them.
Didn't say I was doin them myself dummy. My phone is sitting right next to my mouse pad so I don't have far to go. Then my porter brings the car where I tell him to.
