DIY Front Alignment Troubles

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Bozwel said:
another measurement that can be done is the king pin inclination. this has to be done on turn/slip plates with the brakes locked.

what this will tell you is if the upright is bent. if the KPI is the same each side but the camber is different then something is bent. if they are out by the same amount then it's down to adjustment.

the KPI is the angle of the ball joints, the camber is the angle of the wheel/upright.
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Well, in these cars, it's call SAI, steering axis inclination, since they don't have king pins, but yes you make an excellent point.
 
Here's pics of the right front and rear:

IMG_2736.JPG


IMG_2739.JPG
 
on my Barracuda I'm going to move the whole K frame forward. Since I'm moving the engine more centre of the body and lowering the K frame by about 3/8 of an inch it's just a case of weld the holes up and re-drill as far back as possible. should gain a good amount of caster without straining the lower arm bushes. and yes the torsion bar will be spaced to compensate. I've got the offset upper bushes as well so the wheels should remain in about the same position.
 
Bozwel said:
on my Barracuda I'm going to move the whole K frame forward...and yes the torsion bar will be spaced to compensate...
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How are you going to accomplish this? Does this require you to relocate the torsion bar crossmember forward or are you going to let the bars just slide less into the LCA's? Sounds like alot of work (driveshaft, trans mount, etc)
 
FJRdoc said:
Here's pics of the right front and rear:
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for maximum caster the front bolt need turning 180 degrees. though this will reduce camber.

you could space the lower ball joint to increase to negative camber but really they need to be even both sides and this will also affect the scrub radius
 
I cant quite make out your camber gauge in one of your pictures. But I think you have the same Longacre unit I have, I had doubts and concerns last year aligning my Duster myself with it and it turns out the instructions included with the gauge were misleading. i could read accurate camber measurements, but caster measurements were not. It all had to do with what buttons to push when. I tried to contact Longacre themselves but only was able to talk to someone who confirmed the gauge he was using worked correctly. It was only till I found this youtube video did I get clarification on what button to push when. Hope this helps
Longacre instructions.png
 
Yes for most positive caster, you have the front cams turned backwards. Once you point the front cams towards the center of the car, you'll find your camber and caster both will increase. From that point, you will adjust the rear cams until your camber is in spec. I "just bet" you'll have enough caster too. I wish you were local. I could align that in 20 minutes.
 
Thanks guys. I’ll try to work on the car this weekend. Not much time to do things during the work week. I wish you lived closer to me too Rob.
 
FJRdoc said:
Thanks guys. I’ll try to work on the car this weekend. Not much time to do things during the work week. I wish you lived closer to me too Rob.
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I'd help you do it in a Georgia minute. That's slower than a NY minute cause we'd take time to have a beer or four.
 
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