So a brick fell out of a truck in front of me and took out the driver side front tire.

I was wondering if any of you do your own front end alignments on our trucks?
I have an '03 Jeep Wrangler and have done my own, and from what I gather the front ends look pretty similar in design. Camber is not adjustable, caster is set with the lower control arms and toe is set with the drag link.

Just wondering are any of you doing this? Just asking because it is kind of a common do-it your self thing on Jeep TJs? Just trying to save $$ if all the shop is going to do is set the toe.

Also, I really don't want to change the caster, but is there anywhere to take these measurements with an angle finder on the dodge?

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks hopefully.

 

Anyone know of a better forum to post this question in?

 

I don't think you can. I helped a guy one time rebuild a front end on his car and we used a tape measure to get references before and after each part was replaced but some there was no possibility, like taking control arms off to replace a ball joint. In the end, we had it close enough to drive to a shop and the guy said we weren't far off at all.

 

I've used a tape measure to set toe numerous times, and also to verify what the alignment machine was telling me once or twice. It works fairly well, as long as you find a consistent place on your tires to measure from. Measuring from the rim of the wheel would be ideal, but it is very difficult to get to it. I have never really found a way to measure the other angles without an actual alignment machine.

 

this is just to get close when your talking about a tenth of a degree its best to just pay the 50 60 bucks, what i do is raise the front end on jack stands, level the axle, and with a third jack stand to steady a piece of chalk draw a line on the tread while rotating it, both tires, set the truck on the ground. you wanna measure the distance in between the tires in front of the axle and behind, while your adjusting the drag link your gonna have to lift the tires off the ground a time or two since your not on plates to allow the tire to turn easily, no more than 1/8 of an inch toe in should get you to a shop and be pretty close

 

This is VERY similar to the way I have done it in the past...instead of chalk though I used a sharp nail that had been driven through a board and scribed a mark in the center of the tire while rotating it. I just thought the line was easier to measure to than the chalk I was using before as it was a cleaner line.

Definitely takes 2 people to get it right.

 

oh yeah lary thanks for pointing that out i forgot to mention sharpening the piece of chalk, its been a long time since ive done this, we've got a hunter laser alignment machine at work, no more need to crawl around on the floor

 

This is a pretty good set of instructions for the Jeep. I actually take off my tires and clamp a straight extruded piece of aluminum to the face of the rotors to take my measurements from. Seems to work fine on my jeep, just thinking it would have to work the same on the Dodge since all the components are roughly the same.
Still not sure where I can place a angle finder on to measure caster though?

http://www.stu-offroad.com/steering/align/align-1.htm

Thanks!

 

Last time I took my truck in for a routine alignment the guy messed it up. I knew he did because as soon as I was on the highway and hit a bump I experienced severe DW. Prior to the alignment I could go over 100 mph and take my hands off the steering wheel. As this was on a Saturday and I needed to do a long trip I did my own alignment.

Got a piece of 1" X 1" wood cut to about 1" shorter than the distance between the tires and rounded one end. Screwed a large headed wood screw into the other end. Set this "tool" midway up the tires at the rear and adjusted the screw until the wood just lightly touched the tires. Drove the truck back until the wood hit something solid which unfortunately meant that I could not get a full 180 degree rotation. Discovered that the alignment shop had given me about a 1/2" toe in. Reset the alignment to give me a 1/16" which is the recommendation from Carli. No more DW and when I took the truck back to be fixed the next week, they found that my method had set the alignment dead on and no further adjustment was required. They were puzzled as to how I could do that without their fancy equipment.

 

I do a front and rear alignment on my street/track car about 12 times a year. I checked the alignment on my truck last year, but didn't need to change anything.

A good alignment requires very carefull measurements in very small increments. As has been mentioned, if not done correctly, DW and other bad things happen. You can't just jury rig some boards and rulers and expect to get the right results. 0.5* camber is a lot. If you're off by that much, you won't be happy. If you're toe is off by 1/8" you'll wear out the front tires fairly quickly.

I use a Fastrax alignment tool, with toe adapters. Very accurate and easy to use.
http://www.sparktecmotorsports.com/spc-91000.html
http://www.sparktecmotorsports.com/spc-91100.html

The alignment tool gives you something to attach the ends of the tape measure to. You also need something to attach to the other tire to measure on. Of course, you could just spend a bunch more money and buy another tool. But I'm pretty cheap.

I use a piece of All-Thread, slightly longer than the diameter of the tire. I attach that horizontally to the tire. Then I hang two pieces of weighted fishing line to each end, so that they hang down almost to the ground.

Attach one end of the tape measure to the toe adapter, and then measure off the fishing line on the other side. It's easy to do, and very accurate at 1/32".

I use two tape measures, so it's real easy for one person to do the job.

 

When my truck was new it wondered all over the lane. It wasn't close enough for me so I took it back and had them check it.

i was told it is spec and that all 4X4's drive like that!
Well, that wasn't good enough!
So, I went after it, fould the caster and camber were not even close side to side. did some checking and found ofset top ball joints. After install and several minor adjustments it is right on now. tires wear evenly and it drives better than most 2 wheel drives I've been in.
Get a magnetic bubble level, a tape measure, and some angle iron. After all caster camber was set hang the angle iron in the tire--level, using rope, wire or string---and set the tow-in.

don't let someone say it cannot be done. Mine is better than $50,000 worth of equipment.

 

I have the magnetic level with degree incriments. where are you measuring your caster at? Is there a flat surface that an angle finder will sit nicely on??

 

Don Thuren had a help page on his website on how to do your alignment. Not sure if it is still there, but may be worth a look. The shop that put on my lift just used a tape measure and my truck drives and handles great. The tires are wearing evenly too.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

I use the hub flange and spacers that are exactly the same dimensions.

 

I can see that for camber, but don't see how to measure caster off of the hub?