Alignment Tips and Suggestions

[james accordino]

--- Larry C Leung <l.leung at juno.com> wrote:
> James,
> 
> Thanks for your reply, but, since I have no means to
> do an alignment
> myself, I rather lack the appropriate tools, so a
> short list would be
> helpful. You said Metric open ends, anything else
> special? (I know I
> don't have any metric open ends large enough to do
> most of the links.)
> 
> Second, as I recall, there was a trick to loosing
> the adjusters on the
> type 44, something about locking collars, or some
> form of wavy washers or
> something. If possible, could you post some form of
> specific procedure
> for loosening the adjusters? This would be much
> appreciated.
> 
I usually just buy Crapsman wrenches.  They're cheap,
readily available and replaceable when you ruin them
using them to pry or beat something.  The adjusters on
both my 44's used a conical crush sleeve.  After you
back off the nuts (1 is right handed, the other side
is left handed) just bang the adjusters a little.  The
cones will move back out of the center piece.  I found
that cleaning the threads (I now use a powered wire
wheel) very well and hosing down the whole assembly
with your favorite lube will work wonders.  If you do
this first, once you loosen the nuts you may just
wiggle the assembly and the cones will pop right out
and then you can turn it by hand.  No beatings
involved.  It really does pay to put some effort into
the prior cleaning/lube portion.  I just did my 89
with 180k plus and they came loose with just my hands
once I loosened the locknuts.  This jives well with 1
of Phil's recent posts regarding a stuck throttle body
screw.  I used to just horse them through (cause I
already had lube on them) but you just drag the
threads through all that crap.  I ruined quite a few
threads before I learned to work smarter, not harder. 
Good luck.

Jim Accordino