Mustang II front end alignment HELP!

Toe plates are quick cheap and easy. Plywood and a tape measure work too.

 

Stop arguing you idiots, lately its all I see on here, get tedious after awhile, it seems to me that nothing has changed on the frontend toe wise, changing parts shouldn't affect toe in. If it does, you got bent stuff, it may change camber, but not toe in or out. Seeing as the car drives the same as it did, I say drive it and watch for tire wear, tires will tell you pretty quick whats going on, then you'll have a pretty good indication. The rest of you....the guy asks a question and you set up arguments as to who is the better backyard mechanic?

 

Well, what if the repro spindles steering arms are not in the same position compared to the the centerline of the car...

or, he did say the company said the spindle swap moves the tires outwards...does that suggest that the tie rod on each side needs to compensate...or not? It would be toe'd in if that were the case, and you did not compensate, right?

 

And now you make it all better...

 

Well I agree the dropped spindles should have changed nothing, the one shop cant get me in till next Friday. I checked upper mount area and I see on the right where possibly splitting the ball joint with the fork and hammer may have slid the upper in.....

Just pickin brains, and actually have gotten a lot of good info from the responses. SO Thanks.....

 

It's entirely possible that the aftermarket drop spindles you put in would have affected the toe. Key word being aftermarket.

Do a quick tape measure job and you should be good to go.

 

I agree with previous comments on your posts regarding alignment. Worthless.

 

It will get you to the alignment shop, accuracy depends on care.

 

If you know the manufacture of your mustang front crossmember then you can get the info for alignment from them. I gave the alignment shop the specs for the Heidts front end under my 1947 Ford and it drives great.

 

I would expect that he would have enough sense to adjust the toe in to where it should be as I have done hundreds of times over the years. I set four or five a day that way in one shop over a period of three years that I worked in that particular shop. It's far more accurate than going from rim to rim or using some of these silly ***ed 2x4 setups that some "experts" seem to want to suggest.

 

How did you ever come out on that? I'd have to agree with the others that say there could be a difference in the location of the hole for the tire rod end to fit in on the steering arm of the aftermarket spindles for any one of a half dozen reasons.

I'd still check and set the toe in so that it won't drag a tire sideways and grind the tread off and then get it to someone who can set it up right with the specs that El Polacko suggested. He has set a ton of MII front ends up over the years including building the whole front end from scratch if you haven't followed his posts over the years.

 

My apt is for next Friday at the alignment shop, so if there is a time to try it my self it would be now..... SO that's what I did.

I used a dial indicator, some angle iron, and a tape measure. Oh ya, and El-polacko's numbers.

I am really shocked, not at his numbers, but How almost dead on it is from my rude o mentry method....

I am darn near 0 deg camber, +2 Caster, and toe is slightly more then 1/8 though.....

The steering wheel is a little crooked, but it runs shocking true.....It will be interesting....

 

Here's my follow up question to this 9 month old thread... I'm installing new tubular upper and lower control arms - removing the factor strut arm. Car is a 1931 Chevy - this MII was installed sometime in the late 70's when the car was built into a street rod - I've had it a little over three years and haven't had to do an alignment yet....

What should I tell the guy when I take it in? What should by alignment specs be? Mustang II - i.e. 1975 Mustang?

Thanks in advance....

 

Yes, specs for the Mustang II should suffice. Taking the factory strut rod off may really weaken the front/back stability of the lower control arm. Ford put that there for a good reason. Good luck and be safe. Stu

 

The tubular ones are more triangulated than the stock lowers.

 

Agreed. The mounting point on the cross member is the weak link in the system. I think some of the newer AM cross members are heavier wall construction, but the leverage factor is still there. Hit one good pot hole at speed and it could turn into a not so nice day. Stu

 

Take some time and make a bracket that drops from the frame to put the rear most pivot in double shear before you even drive that car with those lower tube arms! The strut eliminator type arms are the single worst thing ever devised for these front ends in my humble opinion. The original strut rod puts all of the rearward loads such as road shock (potholes, railroad tracks, etc.) and braking loads into the frame rail. The strutless lower arms that everybody sells, when mounted as most do it with nothing to support the rear most inner pivot applies all of those same loads to the rear wall of the cross member... And then it fails! It doesn't matter how heavy the material is in the construction of the cross member itself, it eventually WILL FAIL as it isn't triangulated in any way shape or form. As I said earlier, a simple 1/4" bracket from the frame rail to that rearmost bushing to put it in double shear concentrates the load right back into the frame rail where it belongs.

 

I do a double-shear setup on all of my installs, and have for many years, except for when I worked in another shop, where my non-engineer boss said it was a waste of time.

It is not. Just do it.

 

^^^^ what these guys said, they know there sh-t

 

Thanks guys! Good advice. I've found some other threads and will review those before making my final decisions. Last thing I want is a problem.


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I've had a couple and set them up this way and it drives great with no tire wear.