Anyone in the greater Atlanta area know of a shop that still knows how to do a front end allgnment on a Maverick? I tried my local Ford dealer but everyone there is younger than my car!!
Just because their young that does not mean they can't do it.... alot of my good friends are one of the best techs in the area.. and most of em are younger then the cars...
i did the front end allignment on my comet and im 17 even though it says to have a professional do it but it still drives fine.
The alignment specs in the old books, if they even have them, are for bias belted tires, not the radials we normally run nowadays. For the cost of two alignments you can buy the tools and learn to do it yourself. It's been discussed a few times on here.
actually, alignment specs are also in the new machines, my last dealer I worked for bought brand new laser everything machine with touchscreen computer etc... and it had specs for my car also any half way decent mechanic can align your car to your liking... for example I prefer my cars to have 1degree of negative camber on the front and 0 toe on front as well.... so I put it that way....
Age aside, I called two Ford dealers and they both passed on the job. Started calling around and found a shop, "Butler Tire" here in Atlanta that has worked on Mavericks/Comets in the past. Too busy on my other Maverick "humpty Dumpty" project to take the time to learn how to do the alignment myself. Some things you just have to pass off to someone who can do the job right and right away. Damm how i wish I was retired and had more time! Five years to go and counting!!! Thanx to all! BOB
I don't know why some dealers pass on stuff like this, I work for a mitsubishi dealer and just did an alignment 2 weeks ago on a 76 f100! Also age has nothing to do with being able to do an alignment. I'm the youngest person in my shop(21) and usually get the oldest cars to work on. Radial tires has less rolling resistance which allows you to run more caster making the car more stable at speed.
I have no ideas why someone would pass on doing an alignment on one of our cars. They have adjustments for Caster, Camber and Toe. Most new cars only have a Toe adjustment. To adjust anything else you have to get an aftermarket part to adjust it. Its really no big deal about the difference in the alignment specs. Just use the ones for the 77 and all is good. As I have said in the past, if anyone needs their car aligned and they are in the area I will be more than happy to do it. If someone at a shop tells you they don't have the specs in the machine then one of two things are happening, either they don't want to do it or the alignment guy has no idea what he or she is doing. All alignment machines have pretty much every sec for every car ever made in them. I just had mine updated with all the new 2012 specs and it still has everything in it. So for the shops that say they don't have the specs I call .
Maybe the shops are concerned about parts being froze? I have seen the local mechanic use the torch for a lot of old car alignments.
Thanks that makes sense. Fordmaster goood idea of useing 77 specs.Now i like to be prepared when i do anything haha any idea where i can find the alignment specs for a 77.I have the 72 specs in my shop manual.Just incase the front end guy says he doesn't have them.
Our machine has them, if not, I have the shop manuals. Our front end guy might complain a little because it's out of the ordinary, but he'll usually do them anyway. I have always aligned mine even when the older machines didn't have the specs for anything older than 1980. Besides, the Mavericks aren't as hard as a twin I beam truck, you don't usually even need shims unless the front end is really out of whack.
I will get them and post them tomorrow for you if that is soon enough. I don't know what type of machine only goes back to 1980 but my Hunter machine goes back to at least 1949 that I know first hand of. I aligned a 49 Chebby truck about 2 months ago. A 66 charger 3 months ago and the list goes on.
