Pete 67
Jun 9th, 08, 8:59 PM
Suspension Gurus,
Can one of you guys explain the basics of A body front suspension geometry to me. I did a search, but was unsuccessful in find a topic that dealt in simple layman's terms. After an ordeal today with 2 shops, I want to attempt to align my front end myself if possible.
The first place I went to had a truck on their alignment rack that needed a tranny. Didn't matter that I scheduled an appointment last week. Thanks for calling to tell me. :mad:
The next place I went to told me I needed an Idler arm & told me to come back when it was installed. Fine no problem, but tell your helper to get his greasy hands off my new paint!!!! :mad:
The bottom line is this, after doing all the work on this car myself, it was almost traumatic trusting unknown people to touch my car. I don't want to deal with that again. So now I want to do this myself.
The problem is, I don't have the slightest clue of how caster, or camber work together. Of the posts I've read, it says to set caster 1st, then camber. What exactly is caster? Does that mean how far back the tire sits in the wheel well? I've read posts that say to add positive caster to my stock set-up. How do I do that?
Next, how do I not screw up the caster while setting camber if I have to add or remove shims? :confused:
One thing I do understand is the concept of Toe-In, that seems basic enough.
Any simple advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Pete
Can one of you guys explain the basics of A body front suspension geometry to me. I did a search, but was unsuccessful in find a topic that dealt in simple layman's terms. After an ordeal today with 2 shops, I want to attempt to align my front end myself if possible.
The first place I went to had a truck on their alignment rack that needed a tranny. Didn't matter that I scheduled an appointment last week. Thanks for calling to tell me. :mad:
The next place I went to told me I needed an Idler arm & told me to come back when it was installed. Fine no problem, but tell your helper to get his greasy hands off my new paint!!!! :mad:
The bottom line is this, after doing all the work on this car myself, it was almost traumatic trusting unknown people to touch my car. I don't want to deal with that again. So now I want to do this myself.
The problem is, I don't have the slightest clue of how caster, or camber work together. Of the posts I've read, it says to set caster 1st, then camber. What exactly is caster? Does that mean how far back the tire sits in the wheel well? I've read posts that say to add positive caster to my stock set-up. How do I do that?
Next, how do I not screw up the caster while setting camber if I have to add or remove shims? :confused:
One thing I do understand is the concept of Toe-In, that seems basic enough.
Any simple advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Pete