When is a Car "Level" - Home Front End Alignment

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Dartswinger70 said:
So, where might someone find the turn plates and guages to get setup at home? I am a retired tech and have done many alignments on a "machine"
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All kinds of places. Summit sells the Fastrax caster/camber gauges as well as the longacre magnetic types, as well as a whole bunch of different toe plates.

Turn tables can be found on Amazon or eBay, ranging from cheap to really expensive professional versions. And you can always find stuff used, probably the best deals are for used professional stuff.
 
Thankfully in our little city we have a place that still knows old school alignments. He charges $79 and did a great job the last time.
 
Yeah I seem to recall that , an alignment shop will charge say $100 for a wheel alignment, but if they have to get into the caster/camber adjustment ,they want to charge more labor. Also keep in mind if the tech these days knows how to work with the cams properly, they strip and break if they are man handled. key is to take the weight off ,make the adjustment, then lower down and check. it can be time consuming for the wrong technician doing it if they don't have a clue.
 
Look for garages going out of business. Hawk your local craigslist. I found my Hunter turnplates from an old employer, got the rebuild kits from the local Hunter service guy I've known for years and rebuilt my own. You need to make sure whatever turn plates you get allow for wheel movement in and out relative to the center line of the car, or they are pretty useless, IMO, because they won't allow you to lift the tire, make the adjustment and then low the tire back on to turnplate without pushing the car off and back on to allow the suspension to come to full rest. So be careful which turnplates you get.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Look for garages going out of business. Hawk your local craigslist. I found my Hunter turnplates from an old employer, got the rebuild kits from the local Hunter service guy I've known for years and rebuilt my own. You need to make sure whatever turn plates you get allow for wheel movement in and out relative to the center line of the car, or they are pretty useless, IMO, because they won't allow you to lift the tire, make the adjustment and then low the tire back on to turnplate without pushing the car off and back on to allow the suspension to come to full rest. So be careful which turnplates you get.
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So a set of Hunter plates from an alignment rack are the best ones?
 
Dartswinger70 said:
So a set of Hunter plates from an alignment rack are the best ones?
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No, whichever plates you're happy with are the best. I prefer plates that not only turn, but slide as well and the Hunter plates do. So do lots of others.
 
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RabidScott said:
This is probably a stupid question but I wanna know when a Mopar is considered "level".

Can I just go off the rocker? IE; if it is level on the rockers then is the car is considered level?

Again; Seems like a stupid question but I'm doing a home front end alignment in less than perfect conditions and want to get it as close as possible.
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Stinkbug look is level.
:poke:
 
After reading all the above I’m going to do some shopping for alignment tools too. I used to have a nice trammel bar that I gave away. During my time as a Snap-On dealer I sold some of their alignment equipment and took a lot of flack from guys because it was “old school” compared to things like Hunter’s “Lite-align” set-up. I think I also gave away a nice turntable set-up when I turned in my tools. I regret that very much now. I’m going to do some eBay shopping and maybe some used tool sites and see what I can find.
 
You can also make a toe gauge from some EMT conduit, square stock, and shelf brackets (and thumbscrews).

I like that style MUCH better than the dual plate style.


The bottom line on the IP question is-

Set the car at the height and rake that you want.

Set your alignment to what you want from the book, or the radial tire "skosh".

If you can't get those numbers (or close) try to determine if the height or rake is causing it.

Usually it takes extreme alterations from the factory spec height to cause this.

I set my cars lower in front (about an inch) and higher in rear (about 2 inches) and always manage to get camber and caster where I want them.
 
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