disc conversion then alignment no good

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7dart0

7dart0

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I did the disc conversion wednesday into thursday. I replaced upper and lower ball joints, new a-arm bushings, new strut rod bushings, new pitman and idler arm, with new pads, rotors, bearings, 73-76 a-body spindles.

I took it to the alignment shop friday i didnt get to drive it this weekend. i went to take it to work this morning and its just skating all over the place, and i'm fighting the wheel.

I attached a picture of the printout

charged me $140 too and it took them almost 2 hrs.


The car is a 70 dart swinger with 360, A904, and 7 1/4" rear.
 

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When I swapped out my 69 Barracuda front brakes for '73 up spindles I had to use the Moog off set bushing so the alignment guy could get the wheels where they needed to be. The alignment shop should have told you that they couldn't get the front end aligned properly, if they didn't say anything you need to take the car back as most shop give a one year warranty on their alignments.
PS - I installed the off set bushings as per Moog instruction sheet and the guy still couldn't align it. I had to remove and re-install the bushings opposite the way the instructions said to get the alignment correct.

treblig
 
Take it somewhere else. Someone who knows how to do a performance alignment. Those numbers may work for Grandma's Dart. Camber should be -1.5, Caster should be +2.5-3.5, Toe in should be .06 to .12 for a High Performance street car. I've done this many times without offset bushings. Get a good, if not the best, MOPAR alignment guy in your area. What kind of tires are you running?
 
Yep, those numbers blow for these cars.
If running poly LCA and strut rod bushings 1/16 (.06) is right about perfect on the toe.
I was able to get right at 2.0 on the castor without the offset bushings and it drives pretty nice.

Also just an FYI, I took my car in for new tires and when I got it back it was 1.75 oz out of balance on the drivers tire and 1.5 out on the passenger side.
Needless to say I noticed it right away. :D

Point is, you can't trust anyone to do their damn job right any more (not even a tire balance).
You have to verify it by feel and with trusted sources like you just did.
 
im running stock rubber style bushings but new of course. I called them back and they are going to throw it back on the rack later today.
 
66fs said:
Take it somewhere else. Someone who knows how to do a performance alignment. Those numbers may work for Grandma's Dart. Camber should be -1.5, Caster should be +2.5-3.5, Toe in should be .06 to .12 for a High Performance street car. I've done this many times without offset bushings. Get a good, if not the best, MOPAR alignment guy in your area. What kind of tires are you running?
Click to expand...

In addition to the above, here

http://www.allpar.com/history/mopar/front-end-alignment.html

The "skosh" chart

289d4j7.jpg



Additionally, what kind of shape are the tie rod ends in? A "decent" reading at rest can end up "toed out" if there is some play. And, what do you have for wheels? Severely offset wheels can add to handling problems. You need WAY more caster
 
7dart0 said:
im running stock rubber style bushings but new of course. I called them back and they are going to throw it back on the rack later today.
Click to expand...

Every time I take a modified front end to alignment I go out of my way to talk to the alignment guy and explain to him what I'm trying to accomplish. This way the guy understands what to do if he runs into a problem. A good alignment man will notice problems and tell you what you need to do to fix the problem. In my case, he told me which way I needed to tilt the tires/wheels to get it to align properly. I took the car home and reversed the Moog bushings....PROBLEM SOLVED!!


GOOD LUCK!!
Treblig
 
im running ultra 521 wheels from summit racing 15"x 4" with 195/65/15 tires

Wheel Diameter: 15 in.
Wheel Width (in): 4.000 in.
Wheel Material: Aluminum
Primary Wheel Color: Polished
Wheel Finish: Polished
Manufacturers Wheel Series: Summit Racing Fast-Five Series
Backspacing (in): 1.750 in.
Offset: -19.00mm
Wheel Construction: 1-piece
Beadlock Functional: No
Beadlock Included: No
Lug Nut Seat Style: Conical seat - 60 degree
Hub Centric: No
Center Bore Diameter (in): 3.375 in.
Center Bore Diameter (mm): 83.00mm
Center Cap Included: Yes
Load Rating (lbs): 1,600 lbs.
Valve Stems Included: No
Quantity: Sold individually.
Wheel Bolt Pattern: 5 x 4 1/2 in.
 
Those are not quite handling wheels. Not sure of the tires, but they were good before you had the last alignment? Or is the wheel and tire combo new also?
 
Take it to these guys New Meadow auto in Topsfield 877-968-0136 they're the best around did my street/race duster goes straight as an arrow..
 
For anyone reading this from The north county San Diego area, Vista brake is the place to get your Mopar aligned. They get it right the first time, 3 different "Classic" Mopars for me.
 
Well those front wheels are not helping either at 1.75 backspace, you have moved the tire center to the outside of the factory designed scrub radiusd;the wrong way. The factory wheels have a near zero offset. Yours are .75 offset to the outboard side,and your tires are about 1 inch taller than factory, moving the contact point at the roadway even more outboard. Now I don't know which way the 73up spindles push the scrub radius but I'm pretty sure it's also outboard. So all in all, this scrub radius thing may/will cause the wheels to want to self-steer. This may not be helping the near-crappy (being kind here) alignment.Perhaps it's the best your guy could do with the parts installed, so don't jump on him right away. Give him a chance to explain.
The skosh chart is very helpful.

PS; you don't have air shocks on the back, do you?
 
Either you have run out of room for adjustment, or you need to find another alignment shop.
 
if all was fine before it should be even better/more adjustable now.
you can do your alignment yourself...it's not that difficult.
i'm betting your toe adjustment is out...if your camber is out you'll see it.
 
I did the same conversion you did. When I got done my tie rods where all out of wack. Did the old Nascar String trick to get it to the shop. An Old Timer Shop, still uses mirrors and the projector. Old man says since I have power steering +2 degrees, I forget caster or camber.....

Car rides like it never has before, went on a 40 mile cruise, I look down and I am doing almost 70, like it was on rails!!! I put in to account the big spindles (or its all in my head)

You might need a new shop, with an Old Timer....
 
well i got it back and it does seem much better. i dont know what he did but he said it was out of adjustment.

sounds like he might have not paid too much attention the first time. I did take it for a 5 mile street ride and it was driving straight and i wasn't fighting it at all.

I know my wheels arent the best for the street but i like the look. also im not running air shocks.
 
actually no. i was so eager to see if it was better i just left without the printout. I didnt even think of it until you just mentioned it.
 
Glad you got it fixed. There's no reason for them not doing a good job unless something was wrong with the suspension, in which case the guy should have told you.

PS - You might go back and get the read out in case you knock the alignment out and you have to take it back..........

treblig
 
Most of the time, the problem is the tech looks at a screen and adjust to the std numbers that the alignment software spits out. A good one will know how to do things without the computers std alignment ranges.


The ranges on that sheet for caster and camber are garbage.
 
crackedback said:
Most of the time, the problem is the tech looks at a screen and adjust to the std numbers that the alignment software spits out. A good one will know how to do things without the computers std alignment ranges.


The ranges on that sheet for caster and camber are garbage.
Click to expand...

Eaxctly. When I was doing it, I went strictly by tire wear.
 
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