Front End Alignment

[orlowted]

Greetings...Another stupid question - is there a "Do it yourself" alignment" for the front end? I have replaced most of the parts in the front and feel that the wheels are way out of alignment. If there is not a good way to do it at home - any advise on how to pick a shop to do it???

Thanks!

[Kisner]

My personal opinion is to leave that to the professionals that have the proper equipment to do it. I took mine to GoodYear and they had all the new state-of-the-art computer alignment equipment and did an outstanding job. Plus it's warranted for a year in case it comes back out of alignment. If you do take it to a shop, you might want to get the spec's (tow-in, camber, caster, etc.) and carry with you (will be in the shop manual if you have one). They can probably get it, but GoodYear's spec sheets didn't go back to 1968. Not that expensive - think I paid $54, including tax.

[orlowted]

Thanks - I think I will do just that and take it to a professional. I was a little concerned that once I got there - they would look at the car and say that they had no idea how to do it. I guess the technique is still the same.
TJ

[Rev]

The only harder part about the '66 and under Mustang front end alignments is that caster and camber are adjusted by adding or subtracting shims from the front and rear attatchments of the upper suspension arm. The toe-in adjustment is just like all others.

I do my own allignments in my driveway at home. I don't really recommend it unless you really like to do stuff yourself. It takes alot of trial and error and is a PITA really.

Having said all that, here is what I do:

1.) Make sure that the front wheels are level side to side

2.) With the front wheels on the ground, make a piece of wood, (I use a piece of 2"X4") that just touches each side of the wheel rim. I place that vertically on the rim and adjust the camber so that the wheel is totally vertical. That's 0 degrees of camber. You increase camber by adding shims to front and rear of the upper suspension arm in equal amounts. Subtracting an equal amount from both ends would decrease camber. What I want is 0 degrees of camber or totally vertica with the wheels on the groundl.

3.) Positive caster is obtained by adding shims to the front of the arm or subtracting shims from the rear. This does also affect camber when these are added or subtracted, so I add equallly and subtract equally to front and rear to get more positive caster. I will want the front to back shim pack difference to be the same for both sides of the car. The shim packs may be different thicknesses though from one side to the other. It's tough to measure caster at home without specialized tools. What I do is make sure the shim pack at the front of the suspension arm is about 25% thicker than the rear pack and that I do have 0 degrees of camber and that the shim pack difference is the same on each side..

4.) After I have that caster and camber the way I want it, I then start on the toe-in. That's adjusted by turning the link between the inner and outer tie-rod ends. If the steering wheel is centerd when going straight down the freeway, you will turn each side an equal amount to make the adjustment for toe-in. Make sure you turn them in the right direction as it's easy to get confused while on your back under the car. What you want is a barely detectable shorter distance beteen the front inside of the tires as apposed to the rear inside of the tires. I just measure between the inside front of the tires as apposed to the inside rear of the tires. I'm shooting for 1/16" less at the inside front.

When everything is correct, the car will track straight down the freeway and not pull right or left. Also the car will not pull when the brakes are applied (assuming the brakes are good).

As I said, I do my own allighnment, but I don't recommend it . A good shop that will do it right is worth what they charge. Ask for 1/16" of toe-in, 0 degrees of camber, and 2-3 degrees of caster. I think this is not exactly what my Ford shop manual calls for but is what works well for me.

Rev

[orlowted]

Ask and you shall receive....It sounds like that is something I could really mess up if I tried it. Thanks for the instructions. I will think about it , but I think if I can find a reputable garage - I will let them take a stab at it first. I am going to make some calls this week and see what kind of reaction I get when I tell them what car I have.....
TJ

[induction]

I'm with Rev on this one.
We did our own "basic" alinement at home too Just s that we could get her to a shop without and damage.. After replacing the ball joints, springs, bushings ect. we put the car in the garage an did a really basic job by getint the steering wheel in roper position first then measureing the distance ( from dricers to passanger side) across the front of the tires and agian across the back of the tires. After adjusting the rods to where thee wheels had the same distance ( toe ?) we took her to Just tires for a final adjustment and we were not far off the mark.