RE: alignment

[Paul Lennemann <pjlenn@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here is what Don Dulmage posted several years ago regarding alignment 
with radials on our cars.

Paul L.
'63 Sport Fury
440/727
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/ml-lennemann63.html

4/14/06

for radial tires the specs are normally quite close to 0 camber and 0 
caster (aka a neutral alignment. ) to check take a small plum bob or 
make one with a heavy washer and a piece of string. With the wheels 
straight ahead hang the string and bob over the fender so the string 
passes through the centre of the wheel. When it stops swinging measure 
the distance from the string to the top side of the wheel rim and then 
from the string to the bottom side of the wheel rim. In real life the 
top measurement should be just slightly shorter than the bottom 
measurement . About 1/8 of an inch which gives the car just a slight 
amount of Posotive camber and helps put a bit more load on the inner 
wheel bearing which is larger on our cars. Anything from that to both 
exactly the same would be "in specs" so to speak. 
Next with the wheels still straight ahead hold the string to the bolt of 
the upper ball joint . the washer or bob should be almost centered over 
the bolt for the bottom ball joint. That would be 0 degrees. If it is 
forward it would be neg caster and if it is behind it would be positive 
caster.

rule of thumb 

When i am standing facing the front of my car anything coming towards me 
(from front to back or from the side) is negative (Caster Camber) 
anything going away from me is postive (Caster . camber ) It makes sense 
of you think about it . "if i am standing in front of a car anything 
coming towards me is negative. " hard to forget. 

And now a short note for those who have already said i think it would be 
a lot better getting it lined up on a modern computer ized alignment 
machine. (which never has your 62 to 65 alignment specs init anyway and 
may have been dropped five times that week alone and could be seriously 
out of calibration from ther drops and abuse) let me assure you that i 
can absolutley guarantee that the bob weight is hanging exactly at 0 
degrees. No ifs, ands or buts about it. 
Other than that there is Radial tire pull. a very v common problem and 
the previous recommendations a bout swapping the tire side to side is 
standard check for this. Also rear axle steer if the springs are severly 
arched is possible as the spring gets longer as it is compressed flatter 
which can move the position of the rear axle. other than that there os 
no magic no phantom stuff. assuming the front end is in good condition . 
I have seen a siezed shocjk hold a car out of alignement but that is 
rare. 
Measure also to see the wheelbase is the same both side of the car. 
Short side always pulls. infact the condition is known as short side 
pull and was used by some aligmnment guy including me to offset for the 
tendancy of the crown of the road to pull the car slighty toward the 
ditch as you drove. By puttng a 1/2 degree + caster in the drivers side 
that made that side just a wee bit shorter and would hold the car 
straight even on a crown road. 
Don   
Author of
Return to Deutschland (True Adventure)
Old Reliable (Mopar)
http://stores.ebay.ca/Don-Dulmage-Enterprises


spigot2039@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> I think the original specifications were for for bias tires.  Radial 
> tires allow more positive caster / camber. 
> 
> See if the chart on this page helps.
> 
> http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/spindles.shtml
> 
> Thanks,
> Gary H.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: John Sanders  
> >
> >I have installed the "Moog problem solver" upper a arm bushings in order 
> >to get 
> >more positive caster. I am also now running radial tires in place of the 
> >bias 
> >tires. Any recomendations for front end alignment specs? The '65 Coronet 
> >is a 
> >big block manual steering car which is used on the street only.


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