Is there a way that i can set my alignment just enough to be able to drive it about 5 miles? Right now it won't even roll without slowing (because of major toe-in).
Any way to self-align my 69 until i can get it to a shop?

Hi Chris, You can get the toe close with a tape measure. Measure from inner sidewall to inner sidewall at about five oclock and seven oclock on the tire. Adjust untill you get both measurements the same and you will be in the ballpark.

Best idea is to call for a flat bed. This would save a lot of grief if you tried to drive it-parts can be damaged,etc.

Canted has the right answer.

I've "tape measure" aligned quite a number of vehicles, and just for the sake of double checking, brought them in to shops that advertise "free alignment checks". I've never needed to have the alignment re-adjusted!

A good flat concrete garage floor and a carpenters square can be your friend too. You can probably get the caster pretty close by eye balling and measuring ball joints aiming for zero. Same thing for caster measuring the rim and 12 and 6 o'clock. If you want to get really fancy you can get into trigonometry and a calculator to figure angles from differences in measurements. Did that once in high school and had an old school rodder really scratching his head wonder what the heck I was up to.

Keep the speeds down on the way to the alignment shop and you should not hurt anything.

I have eye balled several times and never had a problem. Loosen the tie rods and put the steering wheel at straight and level as you can. Then stand back a little bit and look at each front wheel in compairison to the rear tire and adjust them accordingly to get them close to pointing forward. If your only going 5 miles and the wheels are pointed forward like that. You wont do tire damage.

Caster and camber are adjusted with the shims between frame and upper A arm shaft. For camber, use a carpenter's level to get the tires near vertical (spec is 0 +- 1/2 deg) by adding or removing shims. For caster (front to rear tilt of the spindle), which isn't easily measured, just make the front and rear shims are the same amount. That will be close and isn't real critical for driving a short distance anyway. Toe-in is the most important for driving a short distance and is adjusted by the threaded adjusters connecting the inner and outer tie rod ends on each side. I like to use this method: You can put a straight edge on the sidewall of each front tire about 3" off the floor and measure between sides directly even with the front and rear tread of the tires. Spec is 1/8" to 1/4" toe-in, or front measurement 1/8" to 1/4" less than the rear measurement.

setting them equal will be close but remember when driving forward the tires will tend to move outward due to the friction of forward motion. that's why a little toe-in, 1/4 inch, works better so the tires pull themselves into equal measurement.

Spend a weekend in the garage doing it yourself, think of the rewards telling the guys at he cruise you did it in the garage when they ask where you went for the alignment. Granted nothing is as accurate as a laser machine but you can get within a tenth of a degree and a 1/16" of an inch with tape measures, a square and some string.

Not to mention the booger nosed kid at the tire store that doesn’t really care about car won’t get his grubby little hands on a free joy ride.

setting them equal will be close but remember when driving forward the tires will tend to move outward due to the friction of forward motion. that's why a little toe-in, 1/4 inch, works better so the tires pull themselves into equal measurement.

1/4" of toe is a LOT of toe nowadays! I'd be looking for about 1/16 toe-in!

Caster doesn't wear tires, don't worry about it for a 5-mile trip.
Camber can wear tires, but in 5 miles you'd have to have it so far off that the car'd be hard to steer. If it looks anywhere near good, it's good enough to get you to the alignment shop.
Toe will wear tires, and can make the car skittish. It's the only alignment procedure that's worth doing for a 5-mile trip.
Mind you, the car may pull, you'll want to drive slow and be especially careful.

There's a saying about this:

Set the toe, and let 'er go!

Oh, yeah. If you have a poor alignment shop, they'll set everything within spec, straighten the steering wheel by rotating it on the splines, and shoot you out the door. (Flat-rate butchers)

A better shop will set everything within spec, get the adjustments towards the better end of spec, and straighten the wheel by adjusting the tie rod sleeves.

The best shop will put the alignment where it SHOULD be, which may not be where the spec says it should be. Caster may go more positive. (or less negative) Tires are different now than they were in the '60's and '70's, and driver preferences have changed, too. Then there's the whole issue of lowered suspensions! If you have wide tires, camber and toe will be nearly "straight" or "zero". And they'll reference off the rear axle (Thrust alignment).

H-O Racing Specialties calls for 1 degree positive caster, 1/2 degree negative camber, and 1/16 toe-in, although that's a recommendation for cars equipped with the tall-spindle conversion and H-O springs, etc. I would consider it for a stock-spindle "A" body. You'd have strong self-centering of the steering, somewhat higher-effort steering, good stability on the highway and in cross-winds. Grandma might not like it too much when she turns low-speed corners or parallel-parks. Negative camber puts the tire thrust in the proper direction in turns, but more realistically, it tends to keep the tire upright when the body leans during cornering. (Some of the camber gain in turns is designed into the suspension, some of it is based on static adjustment.) Depending on your vehicle, it might be tough achieving these angles without running out of adjustment.

My '68 Chassis manual says spec is:
Negative 1/2 degree + or - 1/2 degree for caster (must be within 1/2 degree side-to-side) for SS or El Camino; Negative 1 degree + or - 1/2 degree for all others. (must be within 1/2 degree side-to-side) (Note that the "sporty" SS gets 1/2 degree more positive (less negative) caster, for better stability.)
Positive 1/2 degree + or - 1/2 degree for camber (must be within 1/2 degree side-to-side)
Toe-In (total--both sides combined) 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

I did mine in my garage mostly by pulling a string from accross the rear wheels then measured on both sides of the front wheels.. Seems to be pretty darned close..
.....But then again, I also crack my own back when it's out of place ;)

Scott