[Vwdiesel] Unibody frame / front wheel alignment

[LBaird119 at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/4/2009 9:20:22 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
cosborn at epix.net writes:

> Sometime in the history of my 1981 PU truck, a shop lifted the truck at 
> an
> incorrect point.  This action pushed the floor pan up about one inch on 
> the
> drivers side and pt a major dent in the rocker panel and unibody "frame".
> Since I have owned this truck, I have been unable to get the front end in
> proper alignment.  I have tried two different shops and they tell me that
> the adjustment is maxed out.
> Could the bend in the frame be responsible?  Would hammering out the dent
> cause it to weaken even more?  
> 

  Not really likely that it's the cause unless the alignment problem 
is in the tracking.  It's probably camber when they say it's "maxed 
out."  Check for a bent lower control arm (they're fairly cheap), bad 
ball joint, loose and/or broken upper strut mount or shot/loose 
control arm bushings.  Depending on the age and experience of the 
tech, you might ask something non challenging like "does this 
have the eccentric bolts for adjusting the camber", or "can the 
adjustable camber bolts be put on this?"  It does indeed have them 
but A2's don't and some newer alignment guys may not realize this.

  I was told that it's not ok to shim the rear alignment on my Passat 
wagon "if it has rear disk brakes" which it does.  I'm going to have 
it done anyway but there's no logic in that, that I can think of.
     Loren


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