Alignment

[edison1970]

I finally finished installing the glass on my car and need to get it to the alignment shop. First, I wanted to get it some what close. Where would you start? When I diassembled the car 9 years ago, the alignment was already messed up. I returned the tie rods to where they were but as you can see by my photo, nothing is even close.

[70 Challenger Lover]

Don't be intimidated by this. It's pretty easy to dial it in close enough to drive off to your alignment shop.

Basically, you need to get three things close...toe in, camber, and steering wheel straight. I put in this last part in place of caster because you won't have a way of measuring caster at home and many shops fail to straighten the steering wheel when they do alignment which is crap in my opinion so try and get it close for them. Keep in mind that as you play with toe in, camber changes and vice versa with making camber changes.

I would loosen the adjustment clamps on the sleeves first and leave them loose until your done. Play with them until both wheels are pretty much straight ahead. Constantly reposition the steering wheel so it stays straight as well as it will move. Then try to get the wheels as level up and down as you can. I have a small 24" bubble level that I place across the tires up and down to get me close. Then go back to the toe in because it has now changed. Keep doing this back and forth while also keeping that steering wheel straight and after ten minutes or so, you will have it pretty close.

In case you do not know, camber and caster are adjusted using the big cam bolts at upper control arm where it meets the shock tower. Loosen the nuts and twist the bolt head. You will see the camber change immediately. Best to do it without lifting the car because everything changes dramatically when you lift the car. If everything is off now, you really can't make it worse so dig in.

Don't forget to tighten everything when you are done.

[edison1970]

Should I adjust the front end height first before anything else? Also, is there a set starting point for the tie rod ends? I assume they should start at about the same number of threads exposed on each side?
Thanks

[Bullitt-]

Should I adjust the front end height first before anything else? Also, is there a set starting point for the tie rod ends? I assume they should start at about the same number of threads exposed on each side?
Thanks

yes I'd get the ride height done first (adjustment done with weight off the tires) but my experience was the rod ends were not equal.
I set the upper control arms for maximum positive castor (see below) & found the camber was within spec.. with steering wheel straight get the tires parallel using a tape measure then reduce the front by 1/8th inch for toe in.


this is for moog problem solver bushings but the idea works for any UCA

[edison1970]

Cool. Appreciate the feed back!

[70 Challenger Lover]

Yes, get the height where you want it first.

In a perfect world, there would be the same number of threads showing on both sides of each sleeve and both sleeves also match while the wheels and steering wheel are all straight. In reality, it won't end up that way. You just want to make sure that there are enough tie rod threads in the sleeve to safely grab it so it never comes loose. When the steering wheel and tires are straight and when camber is close, it doesn't really matter if one side has few threads exposed and the other has quite a few threads exposed. The nice thing about the split sleeves is you can look inside with a light and see that the tie rod is in far enough to get a good hold. It would be awful to back them out so far that they were only holding on by a couple threads. Then they'd rip out someday while you're driving.

[1 Wild R/T]

Should I adjust the front end height first before anything else? Also, is there a set starting point for the tie rod ends? I assume they should start at about the same number of threads exposed on each side?
Thanks

yes I'd get the ride height done first (adjustment done with weight off the tires) but my experience was the rod ends were not equal.
I set the upper control arms for maximum positive castor (see below) & found the camber was within spec.. with steering wheel straight get the tires parallel using a tape measure then reduce the front by 1/8th inch for toe in.


this is for moog problem solver bushings but the idea works for any UCA

I Agree.. I use the problem solver bushings and still max up the caster adjustments before I take the car in...

I want the alignment tech to know I want absolutely as much caster as the car can give me keeping the camber & toe where they should be...