[Vwdiesel] DIY alignment tips?
Roger Brown
r.c.brown at ieee.org
Sun Nov 6 00:02:30 EST 2005
Shawn Wright wrote:
> On 5 Nov 2005 at 19:45, Val Christian <val at mongobird.com> wrote:
>
>> On my 84, I simply went 0 camber.
>
> Last time I got it done, I had to argue with the shop, as they told me camber wasn't
> adjustable! I showed him how, and pointed at the numbers on their computer, and
> refused to pay until it was right.
>
>> For toe, you can use a trackguage which is spring loaded to sit in the
>> tire/wheel grove, and with little chains to get it level and a fixed
>> distance off the ground on each side. If you don't have one, use a
>> light weight chain, and a helper. Put chalk marks on the tire so you
>> can hit the same spots the same height off the ground.
>>
>> You can get pretty close with this method. On the road, I've used string.
>> I was 16 at the time, and a family car hit a sheet of plywood falling
>> off a dumptruck. One 8 yo brother had to ride with me, because the
>> family station wagon was full. It was a Sat night, so I did the align
>> readjustment in a parking lot while little brother ate. The wheels were
>> pretty straight, but the caster was way off. The car was down for the
>> entire vacation while parts were ordered. (We traveled with two, needed
>> for eight kids.)
>>
>> BTW you have the right way to get the camber, but I use a calculator and
>> do it off the wheel, and use a magnetic torpedo level, with shims.
>> For shims, I've used the sheet magnets which everyone hands out. Lift,
>> adjust, tighten, set down, roll car back and forth, and test. Repeat
>> at least twice. Usually more. Oh, your 0.24" sounds like quite a bit
>> too much.
>
> I'll have to double check my math, it could be 1/8" I suppose. I'm more worried about
> toe though.
1/4" over 14" is 1 degree. Prove it yourself, fire up your favorite trig-calculator and enter:
.25 / 14 then Inv Tan and you get 0.982.. degrees.
On the toe in, I once got a spring loaded rod to use between the front tires, but it did not work well on the VW, could not get
it through the measure in back. I suppose you could make up a jig similar to what I use on my 4x4:
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/AxleTech/index.shtml#Alignment
But instead, make up some wooden (or metal) brackets, a horizontal bar about as long as the tire diameter and a vertical panel
to push up against the side of the wheels/tires. Then with both sides tight to the wheels, measure the front and rear
separations for toe in.
--
Roger
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