DIY Wheel alignment with home-made equipment

[bamfordsgarage]

I recently replaced the steering box in my '47 D25 Sedan and needed to centre the steering wheel and set the toe-in. After reading up on the procedure in the factory service manual and a '60s auto mechanics text, I built some crude but serviceable equipment from stuff lying around the garage. It seemed to work pretty well. When I replace these tires, I'll have the shop double-check my work... 

 

Photo 1: First task was marking/scribing a circumferential line all 'round the tread. This gizmo uses a ball-point pen refill, spring loaded against the tire to compensate for minor out-of-round. Mount gizmo on jack stand, rotate tire 360°, marvel that the start and finish of the line matches up!

 

Photo 2: Closeup of marking process. Tire is spun down in relation to the refill. Arrow points at the circumferential scribe line (kind of hard to see).

 

Photo 3: Home-made trammel points are set to exactly the width of the scribe lines at the back of each front tire, same height as the centre of the hub. 

 

Photo 4: Close up of trammel point, rear on LF tire, bang on the line. The other trammel point behind the RF tire is set the same.

 

Photo 5: Trammel moved to the front of the tire, very carefully so as to not disturb the position of the points. 

 

       Continued next post...

 

 

 

 

[bamfordsgarage]

Post 2 of 2...

 

Photo 6: One pointer is lined up dead-on the line at the RF tire, front.

 

Photo 7: Other pointer is about 1/16" outside the line on the LF tire. This indicates about 1/16" toe-in; factory spec is 0-1/16" toe-in. Success!

 

Photo 8: Turntables are required to enable the front wheels to turn freely no matter how small the adjustment.

 

Photo 9: Exploded view of turntable. Auto body sheet metal, 2x6 top and bottom, carriage bolt pivot, washer between top and bottom at the pivot point, lotsa grease.

 

Out of pocket expense: $0. Time to research, develop, build equipment, probably 5-6 hours over a week. Time to do alignment and adjustments, about two hours.

 

It is easy to jar the trammel points out of position while moving the apparatus out from behind the tires and into position at the front. Once I had the toe-in apparently correct, I slid the trammel back under the car and took another reading at the back of the tires just to be sure my measurements were repeatable.

 

This work was done in conjunction with ensuring the steering wheel cross-bar was level when the wheels are straight ahead. I first pointed the wheels straight ahead by sighting along each front tire, front-to-back, at hub height, to see where my line of sight fell back at the corresponding rear tire.

 

After getting the wheels straight, I set the toe-in by turning the tie-rods against each other, then levelled the steering wheel by turning the tie rods together. Finished up by double checking the toe-in and called it a day.

 

 

 

 

[blue p15]

Great job!  You will have to make a trip to sunny Florida for a few days.  I have three cars  for you to hone your skills on!

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

saw your turn plates....did not see your caster/camber gauge.....was this checked in your process?

[bamfordsgarage]

1 hour ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

saw your turn plates....did not see your caster/camber gauge.....was this checked in your process?

 

Good morning Tim... I didn't check for caster or camber: assumed/hoped it was unchanged from my last professional alignment, couldn't conceive of DIYing that apparatus and process, and will get the full meal alignment deal after new tires are installed. For now, it seems to track and drive pretty well.

 

FYI, my only other experience with alignments is on Ford's Mighty Model T... castor and camber are baked into the front axle and can only be adjusted by bending same, and ideal toe-in is about 3/16"

[Plymouthy Adams]

thanks...was just asking if you did the check as I did not see the gauge.  I have slowing built my tool inventory for alignment over the years including most recently an alignment lift and other than the Porsche and that was on the other lift with other plates I have and leveling drive on to keep front and rear level while on the turntables.  I had not really been into an alignment at all on the recent install of the alignment lift.  I have one can in the wings that needs this before going forward.  I am trying to find a few more specialty wrenches and I was hoping to spot and buy at swap meet but not been successful.   Looks like e-bay to the rescue.

[squirebill]

So in the mid-60s, as a commuting college kid with a '50 Plymouth in the engineering curriculum  when trigonometry was still fresh in my mind; I remember setting the camber with a plumb bob and string draped over the front tire just clearing the spindle.  Using trig, converted the zero to 3/4 degree setting to inches.  Didn't have an open end wrench big enough for the camber adjusting nut so bought a large pair of channel-lock style pliers off the economy/ sale/junk table at the local auto store.  The most level concrete driving surface in the neighborhood was at the loading dock of an abandoned warehouse.  Take a camber measurement,jack the wheel up, make the adjustment, let the car down, push the car forward and few wheel rotations, and repeat until the camber dimension was within spec. Not a very efficient process but no gauge required.  No longer have the car.  Mom junked it 6 months before I returned from my patriotic chore/tour.  Still have the junk table pliers. Great memories. Regards 

[Veemoney]

Some pretty crafty wood work you put together. Looks like it worked well for you.

[Dan Hiebert]

Nice!  Last time I did the toe-in on our D24 it was because we put new tires on it, (not a reason to do it, just seemed like a good idea at the time), so I just used the seam that was still quite visible down the center of the tire.  (I also "cheated" a bit to attain the zero cost, I have turntables, but they were given to me.)  Try as I might, I couldn't get it to 0, but did get it to that 1/16".