Tire discounters can’t align my Dart.

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Just for comparison sake, when I replaced all of the front end pieces on my 68 Dart, I simply pulled the rearward UCA cam bolts all of the way in and the front cam bolts all of the way out (pushing the upper ball joint as far rearward as possible. Then, I adjusted the toe with a tape measure so there was 1/16"-1/8" toe in. Just doing that got it good enough to drive to a local alignment shop with no pulling what-so-ever. It took them about 45 mins while I waited to dial it in to the specs I provided (from the SKOSH chart) and they provided a printout of the specs. I think they charged me $75 and this was about 3 years ago.

I totally get it that life gets in the way sometimes. Enjoy the wedding and honey moon and take care of it afterwards. Some things in life are more important than cars. You'll get it going soon enough!
 
yes, you will need to provide specs, or should i say come armed with them. The Hunter computers data base dont go back that far you basically enter them manually and give it a file name if you want to go back regularly for alignment.
 
Dartswinger70 said:
yes, you will need to provide specs, or should i say come armed with them. The Hunter computers data base dont go back that far you basically enter them manually and give it a file name if you want to go back regularly for alignment.
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Tire Discounters issued a full credit so at least they did that part right. I’ll be calling the local shop after the honeymoon and providing specs when I go.
 
doogievlg said:
Tire Discounters issued a full credit so at least they did that part right. I’ll be calling the local shop after the honeymoon and providing specs when I go.
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Nice job! Can't get that time back but must feel good to get some cash. I'm with @mompars with the upper ball joint moved all the way back and a toe job. See if it feels close. Good luck with the wedding! You are a hard worker.
 
clementine said:
Nice job! Can't get that time back but must feel good to get some cash. I'm with @mompars with the upper ball joint moved all the way back and a toe job. See if it feels close. Good luck with the wedding! You are a hard worker.
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This was my main project that kept me from
The Dart. Luckily I got to tie into a neighbors but digging the holes ate up a weekend real quick.

A8F12D5F-E459-4D39-A836-A5C7BF0E9AD2.jpeg
 
When I got mine together, I took it to a local shop that often does race cars. They dialed in a lot of extra caster in my case. Look for a shop like that.
 
doogievlg said:
I dropped of my Swinger on Wednesday for an alignment. Got a call the next day asking what parts my front end came from. They could tell everything was new because I installed all new moog parts and new shocks. Upper control arm came from another dart and the LCA never came off the car. Zero after market parts besides the moog and one caliper. He tells me they can’t get it aligned but they are having someone else work on it the rest of the week. Got a call today and they said it’s as close as they can get. I asked for the numbers and of course they “couldn’t” get them to me after hours. Drove the car 2 miles home and it’s pulling to the right like crazy and I can see the difference in camber. They charged me $150. At this point I’m not taking the car back there but do I ask for my money back for such a trash job or be lucky that after working on it for so long they only charged me $150.
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doogievlg said:
I dropped of my Swinger on Wednesday for an alignment. Got a call the next day asking what parts my front end came from. They could tell everything was new because I installed all new moog parts and new shocks. Upper control arm came from another dart and the LCA never came off the car. Zero after market parts besides the moog and one caliper. He tells me they can’t get it aligned but they are having someone else work on it the rest of the week. Got a call today and they said it’s as close as they can get. I asked for the numbers and of course they “couldn’t” get them to me after hours. Drove the car 2 miles home and it’s pulling to the right like crazy and I can see the difference in camber. They charged me $150. At this point I’m not taking the car back there but do I ask for my money back for such a trash job or be lucky that after working on it for so long they only charged me $150.
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A good front alignment really starts with the rear wheels, make sure you have a correct thrust angle or you will have a nightmare !
 
I had my Dart aligned at two different shops. Both were horrible. I bought some ebay turn plates, and the Longacre alignment kit. Had 2 problems first, I couldn't get the alignment kit to give repeatable readings. The rounded tips would not stay in the same place. Second, every time I jacked up the car to adjust it, alignment would change. So, I made low ramps from wood for front, and rear, so I could keep it level, and I could just drive onto the turn plates. Then, I just used the digital angle finder from the kit, because I could get repeatable numbers by using a flat bar across the wheel, to put the digital level tool on it.
I then rotated the upper control arm adjusting bolts to all the way back on the rear adjuster, and all the way out on the front. Then I would bring in the front adjuster until I had the camber where I wanted. Last, I used Longacre toe plates to set toe. It was work, but I have a good alignment now. Just posted this for anyone who wants to do their own.
 
doogievlg said:
I dropped of my Swinger on Wednesday for an alignment. Got a call the next day asking what parts my front end came from. They could tell everything was new because I installed all new moog parts and new shocks. Upper control arm came from another dart and the LCA never came off the car. Zero after market parts besides the moog and one caliper. He tells me they can’t get it aligned but they are having someone else work on it the rest of the week. Got a call today and they said it’s as close as they can get. I asked for the numbers and of course they “couldn’t” get them to me after hours. Drove the car 2 miles home and it’s pulling to the right like crazy and I can see the difference in camber. They charged me $150. At this point I’m not taking the car back there but do I ask for my money back for such a trash job or be lucky that after working on it for so long they only charged me $150.
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torchen bar sepention can be a ***** but any good frount end guy should be able to do it . but there r lots of them thstcan only do the ones that use shims (like the gm do) ythe mopars use excentrics & big nuts . this isnt the first time i heard of this . good luck .i dont know where u r @ but my cousin could do it he's in union ,mo.
 
doogievlg said:
I dropped of my Swinger on Wednesday for an alignment. Got a call the next day asking what parts my front end came from. They could tell everything was new because I installed all new moog parts and new shocks. Upper control arm came from another dart and the LCA never came off the car. Zero after market parts besides the moog and one caliper. He tells me they can’t get it aligned but they are having someone else work on it the rest of the week. Got a call today and they said it’s as close as they can get. I asked for the numbers and of course they “couldn’t” get them to me after hours. Drove the car 2 miles home and it’s pulling to the right like crazy and I can see the difference in camber. They charged me $150. At this point I’m not taking the car back there but do I ask for my money back for such a trash job or be lucky that after working on it for so long they only charged me $150.
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I took my 1940 Ford Fordor in to have the wheels balanced. They said they could not as a wheel was bent. It was, but they had a good used one. Then they said the tires were cupped from the unbalance and I needed 2 new tires. OK. So one wheel and two tires I thought an alignment would be a good plan. Had to go back the next day as they had no time. It has a Mustang 2 front end in it.
So I arrived the next afternoon and explained to the counter salesman and the mechanic that nothing annoyed me more than getting a car back from an alignment and the steering wheel is not straight. I asked if he wanted me to sit in it and make sure the wheel was straight. Nope. They should have a tool to clamp on the steering wheel to hold it straight and adjust the front end to that. Well I watched the mechanic in the middle of the process, reach up and tweak the wheel a bit. When driving home the wheel was off about 1 1/2" to the right. Normally the crown in the road causes you to turn a bit left if anything. It tracked straight and did not pull left or right so caster and camber were good. I was so mad after telling them that error infuriated me, that I did not dare return as I would have started punching stupid or llights out of them. Went out to my rented storage and turned one tierod adjuster to lengthen and the other to shorten, and went for a drive. Still off some gave both a bit more until the wheel was centered. Adjusted both the same amount to keep toein the same. About 5 years later I noticed the treads were wearing like toe was out, so went for another alignment at a different shop. I had moved and would not go to the other anyway. Yup, too much toein, but equal on both sides. Told them the story then. Obviously he put too much toein in first time. Turning the wheel on the rack he adjusted incorrectly. Drives me nuts as being a mechanic, an alignment is a fairly straight forward operation. Best let your friends know the shop.
The pat answer/excuse is differences in the crown can cause the car to pullone way or the other. Works for the unknowing but not on me.
 
doogievlg said:
I got dinner cooking so figured I’d go crawl under the car and see if they did any serious damage. Not a single bolt on the tie rod sleeves was tight. All four just rattling around on the drive home.
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Money back time after getting a different shop to inspect, align and give a written report on their findings. Do not tell your intent. If the first shop will not refund your money, sue them in small claims court. That puts a black mark on them.
 
Dale Davies said:
Money back time after getting a different shop to inspect, align and give a written report on their findings. Do not tell your intent. If the first shop will not refund your money, sue them in small claims court. That puts a black mark on them.
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Refer to post #53.
 
67Dart273 said:
The missing elephant in the room, is, DID YOU TELL THEM what specs to use? Unless you are using bias tires, you do NOT want the thing aligned to factory specs, and many of these computerized in/out shops cannot seem to do any different.

Review this:
Turn of the screw: front end alignment for performance...

The so called "skosh chart" has been re-re-re-reposted here many many times
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A good alignment shop or mechanic will know or be able to compensate for the tires design. A short road test after proves the work. Most businesses these days are blow it out the door and get the cash. Then you go back a week later and they say you hit a pothole or something and want to charge you again, even if you call right away when you get home or the next morning.
 
doogievlg said:
Im not professional so there is a chance I screwed something up but this isn’t my first front end rebuild. All parts were OEM stuff besides the moog parts.
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Hard to screw up front end parts installation. A good alignment shop should be able to quickly figure out if you did make a mistake. Problen is now days they are used to only working on new scrap iron 10 years old or less.
 
I built my 1970 Roadrunner (I also own a 1967 Barracuda) with the fully adjustable upper control arms and adjustable front struts. Local alignment shop wouldn't touch it. Shops today only do toe in, all most modern cars need.
Went to the exotic car place (full of Ferraris etc.). Gave him the specs. 2 hours later he was finished. Said as difficult as an old Ferrari. I let him take it for a ride. Perfect charged me $200. Half the hourly rate. Good luck finding a chain tire store that knows what they are doing.
 
Michael Spruyt said:
I built my 1970 Roadrunner (I also own a 1967 Barracuda) with the fully adjustable upper control arms and adjustable front struts. Local alignment shop wouldn't touch it. Shops today only do toe in, all most modern cars need.
Went to the exotic car place (full of Ferraris etc.). Gave him the specs. 2 hours later he was finished. Said as difficult as an old Ferrari. I let him take it for a ride. Perfect charged me $200. Half the hourly rate. Good luck finding a chain tire store that knows what they are doing.
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Even the independents here suck. Pretty much ALL of em.... grrr
 
It is an empty phrase ....similar to "Just Sayin" or at the end of the day.
 
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