duster alignment specs???

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dust-u

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Anyone have the alignment specs for a 72 duster....:cheers:
 
Camber - 1/2 degree positive
Caster - Manual steering 1/2 degree negative
Power steering 3/4 degree positive
Toe-In 1/8"
Ride Height 1 5/8" Difference between measured points (bottom of lower ball joint & torsion bar adjusting blade).
 
I prefer the camber to be a bit negative -.5 or -.25

Caster in the positive range 3 degrees if you can adjust it there.

Toe in of 1/8"

Alignment Specs 002.jpg
 
My 1973 Motor repair manual lists;
caster -5/8 desired, range -1 5/16 to +1/16, manual steer
+5/8 desired, range -1/16 to +1/5/16, power steer
camber desired +1/4 to +1/2, range -1/8 to +7/8
toe in 1/8

I never paid any attention to how out of date the align specs were on these cars until now......
 
here are a couple from guys on my board. both disc brake cars. one is a 73 chally the other a 66 cuda (djvcuda) with 73-up discs.


challenger: offset upper control arm bushings.
What a difference. I could not wait to get an appointment for Jacks so I went to a local Goodyear service center that I used to use years ago. I told them take the specs in the computer and throw them out the window. I then give him my specs. The guy doing it was older and loves working on the old cars. He laughed when I told him I wanted 4 - 5* Caster. Says you're not getting that out of an old Mopar.

I would up with:
Caster 4.0*
Camber -0.5*
Toe in 1/8"
Click to expand...


ahhhh i can't find djv's.. maybe he will chime in. he has more caster and i think 0 toe but don't remember.
 
I have just been looking into this myself. Lots of information out there says get as mush positive caster as possible up to 3 degrees. Without offset upper control arm bushings, I could not get any positive caster and keep the camber at .5 negative. The car rides well and all is even side to side but I plan to change to the offset bushings.

Here is one of many good articles...

http://www.allpar.com/history/mopar/front-end-alignment.html
 
dmoore said:
It helps to have the right equipment too.................www.davesautocool.com
Click to expand...



those tools mean nothing without the proper specs. problem is with our old cars that came with bias ply tires is thats the specs that the computers have in them. you get some guy that doesn't know anything but how to put the marks in the green area and you wind up with a bad alignment. you can have a guy with the old non computer tools give you an awesome alignment because he knows and under stands what he is doing. its more about the guy thats doing the job then is is the latest fancy all the bells and wistles machine.
 
i ama former alignment tech...and when I stopped doing that iI passed along all my info..to other techs...I wish I could gain access to an alignment machine...so I could personally perform my own alignment...sadly...thats like going to mcdonalds...handing them some hamburger...and saying, "would you mind cooking this for me"...lol..It is getting harder and harder to find some of the "older" techs who know what the numbers mean...and how to apply them...I heard a tech at a local tire/auto shop just yesterday telling his customer his car pulls to the right because of the ROAD....can you believe that...I wanted sooooo. badly to say something....but just looked at the tech and shook my head...he knew what I was thinking...needless to say I did not want that shop doing my alignment....or any other work...for that matter..
 
lol.. your not kidding. they rely on the stinking computer too much anymore. pretty much like with everything else. they put the year and type of car in and then just move things till everything is green..lol. lucky i have a couple good shops in my area. they are a dying breed though.
 
The specs posted above are on a 72 Demon. Positive caster can be achieved w/o the addition of offset bushings.........there are none on this one. :toothy10::toothy10:

Many people think the fancy and newest alignment machine is the most important :rolleyes:....... The machine only reads the specs, nothing else. It does not and never will align the car, although accurate readings from the equipment are vital.

:thumbup: As abodyjoe has expained extremely well.....it's the technician who understands how to make it right....nothing to do with the machine.

Hope this helps dust-u :)
 
it really depends on your tires, wheels and intended usage to fine tune the alignment, but i agree that you need to take what the computer says for a 72 duster and thrown them in the trash!

I run a 17" wheel with a 225/45 tire on it - i do alot of highway . high speed driving, (not road course) but just normal driving - and for that reason i want to use the most of my tread, so a zero camber was selected, if you do road courses, and care less about tire wear, then negative camber is in your cards, same with say a 14: wheel and tall tire combo - there will be alot more tire flex so that helps compensate.
Caster I got lucky - I have stock arms and got 4.5 degrees positive caster - without offset bushings. the guy doing my alignments said thats rare for a mopar - but I dont have an excessive rake ( which will affect caster) and the car was never wrecked. Positive caster helps the tires go straight - kinda like a shopping cart's front wheels - you push it and the wheel automatically wants to go in that direction.

My toe ajdustment was zero'd out for a few reasons. 1 - I upgraded the tie rod ends and sleeves to the larger c body sized ends and used solid sleeves. this eliminates flex where most rear tie rod end equipped cars ( old mopars) car go toe out during hard braking. If you toe out in these situations it causes the car to want to steer, and wander - not something you want during a hard braking, panic stop senerio .
 
Screen shot is nice. However the rear toe is off, which is common on these cars. See our shims to correct the rear toe issues on these cars.

I would run a little bit of toe, contrary to DJV, as the movement under braking usually comes from the strut rod. The orig rubber bushings move quite a bit under braking. Urethane helps alot, but I prefer a bushingless connection to the K.

http://www.xvmotorsports.com/products/detail/index.cfm?nPID=206&cid=35&cdesc=Level I System
 
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