[Vwdiesel] DIY alignment tips?

[pmdolan@sasktel.net]

You can do very accurate alignments in your own shop for not much money.  However, you must be VERY careful about all procedures, since each step introduces some error, and you will suffer the sum of all errors.

The first thing you must establish is that your chosen spots on the floor are all level.  Use one of those $50. lasers to shoot a stick onto the spots where the tires are going to park, and mark those spots with paint.  Park the car and find a horizontal reference point (check the body section of the Bentley for your car) and measure that.  To do so, the car must be fully "settled" on the suspension by bouncing it and rolling it back and forth several times.  If you drive the car alone most of the time, sit someone in the driver's seat to do the measurement.   Tire pressures must be correct.  Record the deviation from level.

Do the camber (I like going hard over on the negative side, but my driving style is more than a little aggressive), according to the range in Bently, but make both sides EXACTLY the same (unless you want to accomodate road camber).  To that value, you need to add/subtract the off-level of the car on each side (so that the camber is relative to the CAR's vertical axis).  There is a tolerance in the specs, but it is not for you, it is for the sloppy pigs that will do whatever is most expedient.  Again, you must settle the car between each adjustment.  If you need to be able to adjust it loaded, you just run the car up on planks to leave room for your creeper or your bod to slither around on the cold floor, but again, you still should settle the car before each measurement.

No that you have done the camber, the toe will be WAY out.  On old VWs, this is where you put the steering gearbox centering bolt into the Pitman arm.  For waterpumpers, just center the wheel (your deadweight helper can do that as well).  Back to the Bently.  If your front and rear track are identical (as many VWs are), there is a neat trick that is a bit of an aquired skill.  You can sight along the inner edge of the tires and adjust each one to expose the appropreate amount of the inner edge of the rear tire.  You need to see a few cars that have been correctly adjusted for toe to do so, but this is the check we used to use to verify that our electronic equipment was in calibration.  Otherwise, take a piece of square steel tubing (about 2") and lay it across the floor ahead of the tire, and use two squares to pick up the outside of the tire at its widest point (midpoint) ahead of the axle, and mark the steel with a pen (over some light paint is best).  That is your plumb l
ine and first reference.  Now go to the back of the tire and repeat.  Calculate the relative location for toe at this radius either from the length difference kind of spec or by doing the sine at that radius for a toe angle spec.

----- Original Message -----
From: Roger Brown <r.c.brown at ieee.org>
Date: Saturday, November 5, 2005 11:01 pm
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] DIY alignment tips?

> 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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