Doing an alignment in the driveway on a 72 scamp

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jpywell52

jpywell52

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I've had my scamp in twice to have the alignment done at local shops who make no promises (because the machine doesn't have the numbers) been through a pair of tires and just tired of it. I know alignment is a touchy thing and most people just take their car in to have a pro do it but it seems there are no pros in my area. What do I need to have tool wise to do this at home? Anyone out there done it? I think this would be a valuable sticky to have around if someone can provide a thorough how to.

Thanks. :happy1:
 
There's gotta be a reputable shop in your area somewhere? Ask your general mechanical shop who they use. Many shops "farm" them out....you just need to find out where they send their alignments to be done.
 
i've talked to a dozen places. Most don't want to touch anything thats not in their computer.
 
Hey it's doable, best way to do it is have a helper turn the steering wheel while the engine is running, moving it left to right ever so gently as you eye ball down the tire to the rear tire. Then when both front tires eclipse the rears, toe in just slightly, and your done.

Good luck!
 
You can align it yourself, do some Googling. You need some method of measuring caster/ camber, and you can buy caster camber gauges several places

You need some sort of swivel plates for the front tires, and one website I found suggested some sort of tiles, I don't remember what.

You need an absolutely level pad, such as your garage floor

Toe is the easiest. You can do that by first jacking up the tires and marking them with any method, to produce repeatable results on opposite sides of the tire, IE front and rear. You can spray paint on the tire and scribe, rotate, and scribe, or put patches of tape and scribe that. For a scribe, you need a SOLID stand of some sort to bring the scribe up to the tire in one spot and not move, so that you make a mark in the same spot.
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Then it's a matter of properly aligning it. Jim Lusk posted this some time ago:

This thread:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=60712

"Have them start with the front cam all the way out and the rear cam all the way in. Move the rear cam out until camber is in spec (1/2 deg. neg is good). This is the most positive caster that is available without new parts (offset bushings, tubular upper control arms, etc.). All of this is AFTER setting ride height. I usually set ride height with about an inch between the LCA bumper and the frame, then even the sides up. "
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For alignment specs use the "skosh chart" here:

NOTICE that if you are running radial tires, that there is much more caster needed, and that camber is recommended as NEGATIVE (tires in at the top) instead of positive as the old specs (tires out at the top) The spec listed for "track / autoX" as being neg 2 to 3 should say neg 2 to neg 3*

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

289d4j7.jpg
 
12 inch by 12 inch tile with salt between them...
 
Make sure the lower control arm pivot tube isn't knocked loose in the K frame. You'll never get it to align if that is flopping around.

Yes to tiles and salt. Old school trick.
 
When I did toe adjustments.on heavy trucks in a mom n pop shop. We used to use a sheet of tin under each wheel with a liberal amount of gear lube between the tire and tin. It let's the wheel move very easily with the weight of the car. Just really messy.
 
You can use 2 pieces of 12"x12" Armstrong VCT tile with grease between them, less messy.
 
Just run a string line down side and square it of your rear wheel.
Give yourself 3mm toe in on each wheel at the front.
Make sure you lock the steering wheel from moving and position it in the dead ahead position while doing toe in.
You can get a digital readout level off ebay for cheap. When measuring your caster just turn the steering wheel 1 full turn and take your measurements, don't get hung up what the value is just make sure both sides are the same and it's positive caster.
And give yourself around 1/2 deg neg camber.

Remember to do your toe in last.

I've always done my own wheel alignments. They come out spot on.
 
You can do a lot better than that. You can actually MAKE a caster/ camber gauge without much trouble

Some ideas:

http://www.toyheadauto.com/CasterCamberGauge.html

The operating destructions for this type of gauge NOTE You must know the number of degrees change per rotation of the level control knob so figure that out

[ame]http://www.toyheadauto.com/J-pegs/ToolPicsJpegs/CasterCamberInstruc.PDF[/ame]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Hands-free-Camber-Gauge/?ALLSTEPS

Way way over the top

http://www.quadesl.com/miata_alignment.html

But me, I just found some used junk on Craigs

An old Ammco caster/ camber ga that worked fine after some cleanup, adapter clamps for the wheels, turning plates (not shown) and an Ammco toe gauge which may be more trouble than it's worth.

2whi33r.jpg
 
crackedback said:
Make sure the lower control arm pivot tube isn't knocked loose in the K frame. You'll never get it to align if that is flopping around.

Yes to tiles and salt. Old school trick.
Click to expand...
x2 this is very important seen this a few times. get a fresh alignment and 1 mile down the road its worse than it was check the tube
 
67Dart273 said:
But me, I just found some used junk on Craigs

An old Ammco caster/ camber ga that worked fine after some cleanup, adapter clamps for the wheels, turning plates (not shown) and an Ammco toe gauge which may be more trouble than it's worth.

2whi33r.jpg
Click to expand...

Hey, can I borrow that stuff? :wink:
 
DionR said:
Hey, can I borrow that stuff? :wink:
Click to expand...

I'm not into loaning tools, but and some of this is gonna need some "twiddlin" But I'll tell ya, if we could set up a Sat-Sun morn, I wouldn't mind driving over. I'm sure we would both learn somethin!!!

(I don't have a shop, so we can't do it over here!!. I'm planning on leveling up my car trailer and use that for a rack when my time comes)
 
67Dart273 said:
I'm not into loaning tools,
Click to expand...

No worries, I have to admit I'm not much for borrowing tools. Kind of like taking a buddies motorcycle for a ride, if you don't have the money to replace it, don't ask to borrow it. I was really just joking.

67Dart273 said:
but and some of this is gonna need some "twiddlin" But I'll tell ya, if we could set up a Sat-Sun morn, I wouldn't mind driving over. I'm sure we would both learn somethin!!!

(I don't have a shop, so we can't do it over here!!. I'm planning on leveling up my car trailer and use that for a rack when my time comes)
Click to expand...

Ah, someone else who works in "God's Garage". I don't have a shop/garage/concrete pad either.

My Duster has got to have an alignment (worn the right front down to the cords) and I need to drive it. Thinking right now I might find a slab of concrete someplace where I wont get in trouble and try my own alignment. Probably just move the UCA adjusters as you referenced and use an angle finder to do the camber, then mess with the toe in with some boards or something like you suggested.

I'm game to host you, but without a shop my location isn't any better than yours. Maybe we should both meet at Ink's house. :toothy8:
 
I learned how to do alignments about 25yrs ago after being frustrated with all the mis-alignments I used to pay for along with poor tread wear and handling charactersitcs.

An old mechanic I worked with during my Pontiac resoration stint in the 80's taught me how to use a simple tri-angu-liner bubble gauge attached to the wheel bearing spindle for checking caster and camber on a 58 Bonneville. My Dad was pretty good at driveway alignments too.

We would finish up with either strings or the tape measurer method to set toe in. Been doing my own alignments since then and never looked back. You don't need a $100k machine to set alighnment.

These cars are bushed in rubber for the upper and lower control arms and there is allot of flex in these old chassis. An alignment is nothing more than a pre-setting of the wheels with an expectation of how much the parts are going to move around once the car is in motion. No two cars will have the exact same setting to get optimum wear and handling.

That being said if all you have is a tape measurer and carpenters level you can do a front end alignment.

The most stumblebum way is to use the level to set the wheels pointing almost straight up in regard to camber with a carpenters bubble and then set the caster based on which way the car pulls left or right when you drive it. If the car pulls left add more positive caster to the left or subtract it from the right side and vice versa.

These cars seem to chew up radials if the camber is not close to zero, I would actually shoot for a small amount of negative camber.

A tape measurer works great for setting toe, if you get it close with the tape measurer, drive it for at least ten miles to get the tires warm and see if the outside edges are warmer than the insides. A little warmer is ok but if the outside edges are pretty warm you may want to decrease toe or re-check your camber setting. The outside edges feather out pretty quick if you have too much toe in. Right all your measurements down so you have a reference point when you re-check them.

With a little practice you will surprise yourself how well you can dial in the alignment to reduce tire wear and make the vehicle track the way you want it too.

As a reference my 73 Duster is set at approximately :

2-1/2 degrees positive caster driver side
2-3/4 degrees positve caster passenger side

Aprroximately 0 camber, any positive number over .5 causes the edges to get feathered out on the tires.

1/16" toe in. (Tried running zero to 1/16 toe out and it feathered the insides edges of the tires)

Running Firehawk 215-70r14 radials.

This is based on my own experiences with this car, other folks may have a different take.

Edited in: I park on black heavy duty trash bags, they make great low friction bearing surfaces and do not raise the vehicle in the front one bit.
 
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