Wanted to rent alignment tool, DIY frt. end alignment Options

[Harpo]

I would like to rent a DIY alignment tool. I have seen them for sale for $200 - $250 But because I don't anticipate ever doing this again it would be too expensive for a one time use. Does anyone have one and is willing to work out some arrangement?




Thanks

David

[SLITS]

Nope ....

"String the car"

....four jack stands (or ?) of equal height. Stretch a line between two of them at the center line of the wheel hubs, equal distant away from the hub (each side of car). Floor of garage, pad, whatever, should be level (and no wind).

then a good ol' measuring tape to measure distances between the string and front/rear of the rims. Toe in / Toe out can be set this way'

Drop a plumb bob from the fender thru the center line of the wheel hub to near the ground. Measure from string to top and bottom of wheel and calculate camber.

[rgalla9146]

Nope ....

"String the car"

....four jack stands (or ?) of equal height. Stretch a line between two of them at the center line of the wheel hubs, equal distant away from the hub (each side of car). Floor of garage, pad, whatever, should be level (and no wind).

then a good ol' measuring tape to measure distances between the string and front/rear of the rims. Toe in / Toe out can be set this way'

Drop a plumb bob from the fender thru the center line of the wheel hub to near the ground. Measure from string to top and bottom of wheel and calculate camber.

Those four jack stands go under the outermost ends of the suspension. Not the floor pan !
The hubs would be ideal.......if you have the nerve and a truly flat floor.

[TheCabinetmaker]

I have a question about this method of setting up the strings. If you use the centerline of the wheel hub as a gauge to set the strings from, and assuming your are using the same measurement front to rear, I'm seeing the two strings as not parallel. First, the front track is over 2" (40mm) less than the rear. This is not parallel, and even if you adjusted the dimension in the rear, it would seem that the rear hub will not remain in the same spot as you try to set the toe. The pivot point is at the front inside of the trailing arm. It seems the track would change as you changed the toe. Having the strings perfectly parallel is the key to a successful alingment. In this scenario, it also seem that the toe on the front would be incorrectly set also because of the misplaced string.

I think the strings need to be set from the center of the car, but just how do you determine the exact center?

If my thinking is off base, please feel free to explain it to me.

BTW, I was a factory trained chrysler front end specialist in the 70's , also worked in a few dealerships, so I do have some alignment theory.

[SLITS]

I can't write a book on how to do it (actually, I am just lazy).

You are correct that the strings need to form a rectangle with parallel lines to measure from. We place the jackstands about 1' in front of the car and 1' behind the rear to form a "perfect" rectangle by setting the distance between the jackstands the same.

The discussion was merely a method of doing it without buying or renting a tool. It will get you damn close depending upon the accuracy of your measurements.

Confused? Google it for the complete method.

[sixnotfour]

redruM, I mean reRun;
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...125788&st=0

for camber;
Taper is .017 per inch for 1 degree== 16" straight edge and a level==== 1 degree camber with 16inch str. edge is 16 x .017
Or;
http://www.furybusa.org.uk/camber.php


BTW Rays link appears to be broke ? Or he is tired of making copy ?

This works;
http://www.smartracingproducts.com/pdfdocs...ings_manual.pdf

[yeahmag]

The key to the toe alignment rig is to have horizontal bars that are exactly the same length. From there you are way ahead of the game than with jack stands as you starting with a parallelogram - easy to get to a perfect rectangle from there.