Alignment tomorrow.... what should I set it at?

[cary]

Lee, here's a post from a couple weeks ago. I'm getting set up to do it at home. Don't have a hobby shop to use. And the Les Schwab deal doesn't work. They don't have a clue.

I'm hopeing someone jumps in and gives you the step by step.

DIY Alignment/Corner Balance ?

Bentley shows loosening the four bolts ( trailing arm to torsion plate ). After scribing its location. Then adjust. But we all know how accurate this book is. So would like to here it from one of us thats done it.

FWIW. I've decided to buy the Hit Man alignment tool. Smart Racing's camber/caster guage. And the toe guage from Solotime.
About $400. As for scales, haven't decided yet. $$$, but I was given 10 acres of hay to cut for free. So that should make me another $1000. So I might spring for the digital ones.

FYI. I read the 911 section in Les Schwabs book. Not even close.

[Chuck Moreland]

Leland

All adjustments are made with the vehicle weight on the tires. Period.

As you experienced, jacking totally changes the settings.

There are four bolts you need to loosen on the spring plate to adjust camber and toe. Sounds like you only loosened two, explaining why you couldn't move anything.

Sounds like you found the camber/toe bolts, that's two of them. The other two are at the rear of the spring plate and serve only to lock the settings into place.

The following picture shows the four holes that hold the bolts you need to loosen. The two bolts shown are for ride height and should be left alone.



If memory server, the front most rounded hole adjustes toe, the slotted hole in the middle adjusts camber. The rear two are slotted. They allow movement of the trailing arm for alignment but their function is merely clamping, they are not adjusters.

You might find this thread useful:

Alignment woes

[cary]

Chuck, I was thinking after I posted. Wouldn't it help to give both sides a squirt of PB Blaster the night before ? In between the sandwiched part.

[Chuck Moreland]

Cary,

I'm not sure what you mean by the sandwiched part? But it can't hurt to hit to 4 bolts with PB.

20+ years of exposure to road schmegma can make them tough to turn!

[Wil Ferch]

Guys:
Allow me to build on Chuck's excellent reply...
The factory delivers the later ( 78+ ?) cars with 2 piece rear spring plates. It is slotted to allow a "small" amount of height adjustment whe you're all done..maybe 3/8" to 3/4". Unfortunately, as delivered, these are set up to allow RAISING the car ( only), ...the factory wants a fudge factor built in to compensate for spring sagging over time. So the adjuster is crammed against one side of the slot..it's not center-punched.
Once everything is apart, you might want to "center" the 2 pieces relative to one another. That way, when you're all done, you have at least a small chance to go either up or down by a small amount to fine-tune ride height.
---Wil Ferch

[Leland Pate]

Update

I went back in there as soon as I got off work and this is what they had to say.

The senior wrench told me that the computer was supposed to compensate for the wheels being lifted... Meaning that it gets a base reading with the car on the ground, then you raise the car up and the computer calculates the difference. So, that in theory, when you make adjustments in the air, the alignment readout is already compensated.
This sounds like a ligitimate answer to me... however, that obviously did not happen yesterday. He said that something went wrong,... (hit a button) and it didn't compensate.

I have another apointment to go back in there on Tuesday so we'll try it again.

Any other tips?

[Chuck Moreland]

Yes, ignore what he is telling you. I can't fathom how the machine could possibly make an accurate compensation given all the variables involved.

There is no reason to jack the car. The adjustments can and should be made with the weight on the tires.

[widebody911]

There are starving kids in China that would kill for 3.5 degrees of negative camber in the rear!

Originally posted by Leland Pate
So now I have a car with 3.5 degrees of camber in the rear...

[Superman]

No kidding. If I were you, Leland, I would have some fun with all that negative camber before Tuesday. Your car will probably feel more stable in a violent turn, than in a straight line. So, if the car feels better in violent turns....make your car happy.

[cary]

Chuck the sandwiched part I was trying to describe. Was the space between the trailing arm and the spring plate. I found quite a bit of dissimilar corrosion on the eccentrics.

How did you clean up those spring plates and T-bar covers in the tech article ?

Thanks

[Chuck Moreland]

Cary

I used castrol purple and a pressure washer on everything. The cad plating on the covers was still in good shape. I painted the spring plates.

[john_colasante]

The senior wrench told me that the computer was supposed to compensate for the wheels being lifted

As far as I know this is impossible and incorrect. I think you need to do the whole thing all over. Doesn't that alignment bench come with turntables, slip plates and wheel stands?