I just raised the wheel wells on the fleet, and went to get it lined up, now I am told that, the back is too low to hang the heads for an alignment, I run low now that I raised the wheelwells, and If I raise the *** of the car to get it aligned it will throw off the caster, and a little of the camber. Any ideas other than set the toe and let er go.
try a different shop, they must be trying to use one of them new fangled 4 wheel computerized alignment setups. look for an old shop, possilbly a shop that does trucks, the shops that do trucks have alignment racks at ground level, no ramps to go up, that can be a problem with low cars!
Its not the ramps giving me problems, I got air, its the rear wheel wells, at ride level the tire is way up in the body. The heads wont fit on the wheels. I am gonna get some pics today if it doesnt rain, half o that piece of **** is bare metal, so going out side is a no no.
On the Hunter computerized system, you can do a 2 head alignment (if it uses strings). Leave the rear heads off and wrap the strings around the rear tires. I'm not sure about the ones that use light beams and mirrors. Find a shop running an older Hunter machine. We've done it lots of times on a G-111 Hunter. If you find an old enough shop/tech they can do one with a magnetic gauge with no heads. The newer more sophisticated machines may "not compute" so a modern high tech shop probably won't be any help. An older shop that can't justify 40 g's for the latest and greatest is a better candidate.
eh, i understood your problem, just didn't complete my thought before i started giving the next piece of advice! that's why i suggested an old shop, they don't use 4 wheel alignment equipment, some of the shops that use the simpler two wheels setups, have fairly steep approachs to the rack, that's why i mentioned the truck shops.
Yeah...you don't need a 4 wheel alignment. NICE to see the 4 WA readout but unless you really screwed something up with your rear axle it should be fine. Even if it is out a little...not much you can easily do to realign it anyway! Late model IRS can be adjusted and this is why 4 WA is available.
old school dudes will have the "pads" that the tires sit on then they dont even need a computer to do it! they just know how the stuff works!
yeah I say buy a caster/camber gauge and a toe gauge and some shims. about $200 for it all but thats all money you will save in no time.
The car is channelled heavy over a malibu ch***is, it hasnt been modified, so I hope the rear axle is square. I will start the quest for a old school shop. And here is the front wells, a better shot. Also the trunk ugh its coming together after the second try.
can't ya set the caster with a magnetic angle finder -on the spindle? THEN stick it on the rotors to check Camber...... get two yard sticks[across the tires at about center horizontally] and two tape measures and a friend -to set the toe in...... or ya could just do it the yuppie route at any front end shop!
The new mirror/infrared machine we have at work uses the information from the rear end to setup the front end, you must align the rear axle before you do the front or else the front will be off. The optical heads should be able to be placed on the wheel sideways, so they wouldn't have to tuck the clamp in vertically under the wheelwell, if that makes sense...so i'd say if the lug nuts show below the wheelwell they should be able to get a head on it. But i'm sure they tried that at the shop. Aligning a rear axle that has its thrust angle out is a PITA, we did one on a leaf spring van and had to use a couple com-alongs and big tie down straps to twist the axle to one side and then let it all loose and it springs back so you have to guess and check a bunch. It ****s.
I think speedway has a magnetic caster/camber gauge in the race car section. They usually come with simple instructions to do your own alignment. I have found 3 of the magnetic type at swapmeets from $4 to $15. Loaned one out, sold one, and still have one for my own use. jerry
Aw man now that sounds like work, and thought. With my luck I would realy fu#% up the caster and eat up my tires in the corners. Damn it all, I knew I should have bought that BMW SUV last week..
On your particullar set up a newer alignment machine won`t work for the simple fact that the front heads won`t read! Your front heads won`t SEE each other because of the front of the fenders blocking [ too low ] Go with the old method of bump gauge & magnet caster/camber gauge! As far as the rear goes it only matters to get the steering wheel straight & thurst angle! If no work has been done to the rear axle than you`ll be fine!
Yeah...what he just said. We've got one of these from Speedway. Just did a car at the start of the year. 1000 miles later...no funny tire wear and the steering wheel returns real easy. We've also got one of these from some company called Pole Position or someting like that. The Speedway gage is probably more accurate. If you're going to have someone else do it, I would find a rack that's flush with the floor and the operator works from the pit.
the one we had in shop cl*** used a flashlight lookin thing mounted to the "lip" of the wheel that shot two lines onto a board mounted on the wall. tires sat on rotating plates. worked great for older cars.
Hey Ray, I think they are a late fifties mopar cheepie cap, with a chrome *** that I put on. Some one on board might help you ID them.
Why do they need access to the rear. My 53wagon sits down and I got mine done. they only should need access to the front. go find another shop.
I would look for a front end shop that has been around for a while,not a tire store or quickie alignment place. The three alignment computers at our shop do have a two head option that doesnt require access to the rear. also any shop that has been in business B.C.[before computers] should have magnetic caster camber gauges that go on the front hub,and a toe in bar to measure toe. we have a toe in bar that we cut down[heigth] to fit under race cars and lowered vehicles.
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