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Do your own alignment.

dl242gt

dl242gt

The world of the smiling Dogo
Joined
Jun 21, 2002
Location
S NJ, a suburb of Phila.
This is the method I have used a couple of times now to set the toe on my 242 and on a friends 740T. I bought this:https://www.ebay.com/itm/393440646102 especially because green laser is cooler than red. :cool: Anyway. You take a couple of pieces of 2x4 about 2' long. Place one against each front tire. I also put a brick against the wood to help keep the wood in place in case you touch it. Then shoot the beam across to the board on the other side in front and then in back of each wheel. You'll get your basic measurement down to thousandths of a foot.
Take the measurements and subtract one from the other and you have your toe setting. The
front measurement should be less than the rear one if you are toed in.

To get inches I believe you can divide the result by 10 and that is thousandths of an inch?
But maybe one of you guys that is better at math can correct me if I'm incorrect. Sorry,
I didn't write down my actual measurements but I can recheck and post my results if interested. Any questions I'll try to answer.

The hardest part you're going to run into is getting the large nut on the tie rod free and
not seized to the tire rod. If that nut isn't free to move on the tie rod. You can't make
the adjustment.

Edit now that I think about it. I divided by 12 to get inches.
I cam up with .0068" which feels pretty good while dirving.
Thanks for the math info Mr. boon.
 
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Specs state 1/16" accuracy so in feet that's 1/16/12 or ~5/1000ths of an inch.

I'd suggest (for those that care about accurate measurements when dealing with sidewall bulge and everything else that'll make stuff less accurate) getting a 4ft straight edge / level so you can make sure you have nice straight 2x4s and make sure they're the same length (stand them next to each other and cut).

If you just want to make relative changes, then just mark which 2x4 goes on which tire in a specific orientation, then get your measurements and track how they change depending on what you do, that way you can always work back to where you were, even if you don't actually know where you are.
 
I do it similar but more analog.



I use 4 foot bubble levels and use a flathead screwdriver to center/level the middle bubble to the exact center of the wheel lip. Then clamp the level (lightly... because they bend) to the wheel. Then tape measure to measure the distances from end of level to the other side.

Also a tools like so (https://www.kctool.com/knipex-86-03-125-5-pliers-wrench-plastic-grip/) are really nice to quickly adjust the tie rods as they ratchet so you're not sitting under the car in the road grit at the back of a weigh station for longer than absolutely necessary. :lol:
 
So, I've been thinking about buying some sturdy straight edge because the last alignment shop that did a proper alignment & checked it against the more 'real world' bear-scrub-machine in-floor dealie for a real-world feet per mile sort of simulation as the car's suspension has been settled & drives over it dynamically sold out/got replaced with luxury lofts/condos.
 
I made a giant caliper to measure the toe in/out, it is good to .005"
 
My dad and I did string+jackstands+sheets of wood to level the car. Front sway bar disconnected, driver in driver's seat. Helps to only have two wheels to align. Came out way better than the alignment I paid for.
 
redblockpowered said:
My dad and I did string+jackstands+sheets of wood to level the car. Front sway bar disconnected, driver in driver's seat. Helps to only have two wheels to align. Came out way better than the alignment I paid for.
Click to expand...

^this :lol:

Half the time when they?d (jimbo-Elroy) Jack the car up & smash some piece of the unibody underbody (*wince*) while unloading the suspension on their fancy laser alignment rack, I get the car back more screwed up & out of alignment than before the car was dropped off/money left my wallet :grrr: :wtf:

Hence the interest in an efficient effective DIY method & checking it with the in the in floor ?bear scrub machine? more ?real world? simulation & verification?
 
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