The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk DIY front end alignment

Been phishing on the HAMB and other boards for info on DIY alignment. I have had the Sub aligned professionally twice with very little improvement @ $80 a pop so I am going to try it myself. I realize I am going to have to buy/make some tools to get this done. The tires are wearing OK but the main problem is the steering will not return to center after turning a corner. I have to bring it back manually. I have been told by several people whose opinions I trust that it needs more caster. I just finished an 852 mile trip and at 60 MPH it requires a lot of concentration and both hands on the wheel. The front end is a narrowed 84 GMC 1/2Ton with 2 inch dropped spindles so the stock GMC specs are out the window. I am also told that ride height has an effect on alignment. So I have a few questions as usual.

1. Can someone offer some specs as a starting point?
2. What kind of special tools do I need to buy/make to check the specs? I am willing to spend a reasonable
amount. The jackstands and string and the grease between 2 chunks of plywood method seem cheap
enough but I am pushing 80 YO and the fewer times I have to get up and down the better. Or is that down
and up? So I am willing to buy what I need up to a point. I can make some of the things I need.
3. How are the adjustments accomplished? Where do I put the wrenches and which way do I turn them?
4. Where do the shims go to get the desired result?

Every time I am frustrated I come to the Stovebolt and you guys/gals bail me out. Any more help out there?
I am half Norwegian so take that into consideration. Extreme THANKS to you all!


Weeds

Weeds,
Just a thought is the gearbox worm gear adjustment too tight? 5/8 wrench and a 1/4 turn counter clockwise with a screwdriver and see what happens. I overtightened my box one time and had to loosen it to get the tracking right.

.5 +/- .2 camber
1.5-2 caster max split is .5 between the 2 sides.
toe .1 +/-.05

depending on your FE it may be add/remove shims or adjust cams.
You have had it done at a shop so the alignment should be close so I would check the worn gear b4 trying to realign at home.

Brad

Weeds, I know you have had it aligned a couple times but just by chance is there a shop close by that builds streetrods and has a lot of first hand knowledge?
Sure wish you live close to me. I"m lucky in that I have a guy with 30 years of experience with building rat/street rods as well as a belly full of new stuff.

I must admit what Brad says sounds reasonable. I know you have worked long and hard on this project and hope a simply fix can be found....rarely happens but it does on occassions. Hopefully we all remember to measure twice and cut once.

I've read alot over the years about different suspension stuff. Could it be possible that the truck could be in need if adjusting the "ackerman". I know that it makes lots of difference in how a race car turns. Don

Don S, what's an "ackerman"?

Weeds

Weeds scroll down to the pictures - or see here for race cars

Bill

I wish I could do a complete lesson in front end align. in a few paragraphs but I can't. You can set the camber & toe with a tape & level but for the caster you will need a caster camber gauge. J.C. Whitney has them for shade tree'ers & I think I saw them in Speedway's catalog.
One thing to check is to see if the steering gear is running on center. You can usually find the center point by turning the str. wheel with the wheel's off the ground. You should be able to feel a heavier drag when the wheels are straight ahead or near there. It will usually go for about 1/2 turn. Find the middle & eyeball the front wheels in relation to the rear. They should be the same. If not the tie rod sleeves will need to be adjusted to get it on center & the toe-in reset.
My spec's for something like this would be 2 degrees caster. 1/8 degree neg. camber, & 1/16 toe in.
I know what you mean by getting up & down at our age. You only get so many a day.
I don't know what the Norwegian has to do with it but I am Jewish & we are not supposed to be doing this kind of work. I should be playin bingo with the old ladies at the senior center.

I think that point about the steering being centered is really important.

The Ackerman angle is the angle that is formed by drawing a line through the vertical turn axis of the suspension and the tie rod end. In the good old days of the king pin, this is easy to visualize projecting down from above. The angle points in toward the center of the rearend. If you were to draw lines through the tie rod, the king pins on the old setup, you would end up with a trapezoid, not a rectangle. Your newer suspension has the same thing. This causes the wheels to toe out on turns to compensate for the different tracking of the inner and outer wheel.

All this is leading to a comment that this angle was designed in to fit the track width and wheel base on the vehicle that the suspension came from. Once it is narrowed, as you mentioned it was, that angle needs to be changed. I don't know how one would change it other than with some type of bending.

Weeds, are you running power steering on your burb?

Thank you all for the replies. With your help I am beginning to understand the terminology involved. I am determined to try to align this thing. Wrenchbender, thanks for the specs. This is where I will start. I am going to buy a camber/caster gage and maybe 2 turntables. Don, yes I am running the power steering that came on the original 84GMC IFS. Squeeze & Truckernix thanks for the links explaining Ackerman. From the articles I guess on an IFS it is built in and can't be adjusted. Brad, the gearbox worm seems to be OK. Alvin, thanks for the encouragement. I will keep you all posted.

Weeds

Just so you know, I tend to drool a little when I look at the photos of your burb! Such a nice looking machine you put together.

[quote=Wrenchbender RetI know what you mean by getting up & down at our age. You only get so many a day.
I don't know what the Norwegian has to do with it but I am Jewish & we are not supposed to be doing this kind of work. I should be playin bingo with the old ladies at the senior center. [/quote]

Try Mah Jong

The Ackerman is built into a factory designed suspension. The point I was making is that when the crossmember was narrowed the Ackerman changed.
The other reason I asked if you had power steering is that the effort should be minimal to steer your burb. Is is possible the valve is stuck on the back of the pump? Don

I used to play a lot of that. I still have a Mah Jong set around here some where.

Don, I think the power steering is OK because it steers very easily.

Weeds