ALIGNMENTS
 

I cannot get a good alignment on my car. I've seen a thread on here about poor tire wear, so I know other people have the same problem.

Last time I went to the alignment shop, I left with a pull that the tech blamed on the tires. 400 miles later, it is still there. This is after I replaced UCA bushings, ball joints, and bad tie rods.

That's also with factory specs. I am thinking of trying some of the tips offered in a mopar article I read, which was basically as much caster as you can get (about 3 degrees), 1/4 degree negative camber, and 1/8 toe in.

If anyone has more tips, please share! We can overcome the general incompetence of alignment techs!

Yup. Google it. All-par http://www.allpar.com/fix/alignment.html has a good article. I recently bought an old Ammco caster / camber gauge. You can actually MAKE what you need. One of the FIRST things is a flat level floor to work from.

(In my case, with no shop floor, I've decided that when the time comes, I'm going to jack and level my flatbed trailer !!!??? for a "rack.")

Setting toe is easy. Make a jig to "scratch" the tires, and for added visibility, jack up each tire, spin em, and spray a heavy, wet coat of silver paint on the tread, and immediately spin the tire against your marking jig. All you are doing, here, is making a "true" line around the tire, so that you can measure front to back.

Most everybody agrees, with today's radial tires do NOT USE factory original specs.

Exactly what i wanted to hear. This is the article I was referring to:

http://www.allpar.com/history/mopar/...alignment.html

I'm gonna go back to the shop tomorrow and see if they will fix it up for me....I plan to tell them exactly what I want this time! Will report back!

Ok, just got back from the shop. STILL pulling to the left.

Here are the angles, according to the shop's printout:

LEFT
Camber: .6*
Caster: .8*
Toe: .12*

RIGHT
Camber: -.1*
Caster: -1.7*
Toe: .11*

The difference in caster, they said, is to try to stop the pull (which it didn't). They blame it on the steering box.

I do, and have not had any trouble. But I know that radials require different settings than bias-ply, so maybe my ride might be rougher because I used factory specs.

Steering boxes don't cause pull. How bad is it? Have you tried the car on various roads, most particularly one with NO crown?

It might be in the tires, so if you can rustle up ANYTHING that will fit for a short test run, I'd try that.

I'm not sure I agree about the pos/ neg caster/ camber, either.

You are aware, there are "offset" upper bushings to give you more adjustment, and in some cases you can get aftermarket adjustable strut rods.

That's what i thought! I guess "steering box" is something that the average customer wouldn't question....These tires have been on the back for about 10,000 miles, and on the front for the last 500 or so.....I thought radial pull goes away after a while?

I do have the offset moog bushings in there.

The pull, as of now, with their weird caster adjustments, is totally tolerable. I just worry that the tires will wear too quick in this configuration. What do you think about that? Honestly, if someone could tell me that the tires would wear normally, I would probably leave it for now.

Oi vey.

Personally, I'd either learn to do my own -which I intend--or find a different shop.

Seems to me the guy that did my alignment years ago,old school guy. used to preload the suspension - put a jack under the very center of the k frame and raise the car up an inch then do the alignment