Re: Wheel Alignment question

["Ryan Moore" <baradium@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Bongo" <dbongo@domain.elided>
To: "IHC Digest" <ihc-digest@domain.elided>
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 15:30
Subject: Wheel Alignment question


> I'm looking for some general knowledge here.  I got my Scout fixed from
> the tie rod mishap, but the alignment is wrong.  I brought it to the
> tire place for an alignment, and they told me they couldn't do it.  (I
> later found out that they could do the toe-in, which is all I was
> worried about -- after all, it was a tie rod problem I had.)
>
> Anyways, they said that the camber and caster were screwed up, but they
> didn't have the right tool to adjust it.  Near as I can tell from
> reading up on this stuff, you can't really adjust camber or caster.
> Well, you CAN, but it's extremely expensive and a real pain in the butt.
>
> The proper caster angle is probably showing up on their computer as 0
> degrees.  As I understand it, 2 degress is about ideal, with 2-4 degress
> being OK.  I'm taking a shot in the dark here: camber is, ideally, zero?
>
> When the tie rod fell out of on the left side, I suppose it's possible
> something got twisted screwing up one of these measurements.  But, I
> kind of doubt it since I was (fortunately) going so slow.  Under 5MPH,
> as it happened less than 10 feet from a stop sign.
>
> Any help verifying the proper numbers would be much appreciated.  There
> is a place in the next town over that might be able to adjust camber and
> caster, but it's a 30+ minute drive each way in a vehicle that can hit
> the 75MPH limit on the interstate.  I'm not sure if my Scout can handle
> that speed.  Oh, yeah.  If it makes a difference, it's a 2WD RHD Scout.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave
>

Castor varies vehicle to vehicle, some positive castor is good, 0 is ok.
you don't want to ask them to touch the camber or castor since there is no
way to adjust it on a scout like there is on other vehicles.  Just get the
toe in adjusted and that's all you need to worry about if the ball joints
etc are ok.

-Ryan