Home Alignment Tools

[66Satellite47]

Back in the day, I was amazed by the difference in the capability of some the technicians that tried to do an alignment on my '65 Coronet or even my street '70 Barracuda. I did find one shop that had workers that really knew how to align a Mopar. Excellent results for many years. '65 Coronet was a drag car.

 

[Darter6]

Look at the Longacre stuff... It's been the go to for most racers for years... You can 100% do it yourself..

Good tools. Truthfully any of the bubble gauges work just fine.Toe Trammel bars can be bought or you can make your own.
A tape measure and a helper works too for setting toe.

 

[WileE]

I've had that for years, and it works very well ! I've used it a number of times, and once when I checked my adjustments afterward on an alignment rack, I was almost

 

[YY1]

I actually made one that uses a $30 hardware store angle finder.

Wasn't too difficult of a project.

Mopar's are fairly easy to align in part because there's no shims to add or remove and remember where you put them or buy new.

Back in HS, I actually was pretty good at getting them within spec without any tools.

I'd also consider buying or making a toe gauge. I made one of those from what was basically square stock with brackets and EMT tubing that slides in the square. That one's already paid me back for the labor.

 

[wvmarv]

That checks toe, what are you using for caster and camber?

It does all 3.

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

The reason that I would like to be able to do alignments at home is that the 67 year old guy that has been doing mine for the past 40 years just told the shop that he is retiring. There are 2 other garages in town, but they have young pups doing the alignments and are not familiar with these old cars.

67........he's just a kid, shouldn't be retiring yet.

 

[YY1]

The thing that bothers me about those flat toe plates is the potential for them to teeter on the bulge at the bottom of the tire.

This is an adjustment where 1/8 inch can be the difference between great handling and premature tire wear and/or wandering.

Not so big an issue for the ultra low profile tires as in the posted vid, but much more so for our era stock or "day 2" 60 and 70 series tires.

My gauge measures inside, above the bulge.
I still try to match the measurement point front and rear either on or off a raised portion of the sidewall graphics or letters.

My gauge has thumbscrews and I lock them, before removing the tool to measure.
It's very similar to the Hunter tool we used in HS except it's easier to use if you're not under the car in a pit.

 

[hunt2elk]

The thing that bothers me about those flat toe plates is the potential for them to teeter on the bulge at the bottom of the tire.

This is an adjustment where 1/8 inch can be the difference between great handling and premature tire wear and/or wandering.

Not so big an issue for the ultra low profile tires as in the posted vid, but much more so for our era stock or "day 2" 60 and 70 series tires.

My gauge measures inside, above the bulge.
I still try to match the measurement point front and rear either on or off a raised portion of the sidewall graphics or letters.

My gauge has thumbscrews and I lock them, before removing the tool to measure.
It's very similar to the Hunter tool we used in HS except it's easier to use if you're not under the car in a pit.

Got a pic of your contraption?

 

[#41]

You can count me in with the level + framing square + tape measure guys. I started doing this on bomber stock cars starting in the 80's and never looked back. On my road race car, I set it up this way and then took it to the alignment shop for good measure. It was close to perfect with only the caster being off a hair one side to the other.

 

[eldubb440]

you have to do whatever you can to ballpark it enough for a test drive

 

[hunt2elk]

you have to do whatever you can to ballpark it enough for a test drive.

you have to do whatever you can to ballpark it enough for a test drive

Yeah, I always do that, but want to do it perfectly so I don't need to go to an alignment shop. Maybe that isn't possible with these cheap tools sold on Amazon and Ebay.

 

[eldubb440]

Yeah, I always do that, but want to do it perfectly so I don't need to go to an alignment shop. Maybe that isn't possible with these cheap tools sold on Amazon and Ebay.

keep us posted, I'd love to be able to do an accurate alignment

 

[66Satellite47]

Back in the day, most alignment shops didn't really how to do a Mopar as far as could tell. With my Coronet I wanted max caster to go straight. They didn't really know how to do that. Only one guy I found. With my tube Arrow, I did the alignment in my garage. White markers on each side of tires, tape measure used several times. I presumed that the Lamb struts were good on caster. That was a very easy to drive car at 147 MPH. Much easier than my Coronet at 127. Point is, with a stock suspension, you need a really good tech.

 

[T2R9]

I have the fasttrax tool along with a good set of turn plates. I also got the extra bars for setting the toe. Took some time to figure it out and get my car where I wanted the first time I used it, but it works well.

 

[sam dupont]

The shop you want to find is one that straightens frames.

 

[gtxdana]

This is the Tenhulzen setup I have. The toe plates have standoffs that locate off the rim which takes the tire bulge problem out of the equation. I just use a light duty bungee cord to hold the camber/caster tool to the wheel when adjusting the camber and doing the caster swing.

 

[66Satellite47]

The shop you want to find is one that straightens frames.

Finding a good frame shop can be amazing.

 

[YY1]

Mine is similar to this.

...but I think mine might be easier to use.

 

[YY1]

Holy crap 200 bucks.

I think I got $25 in mine.....maybe.

 

[mopar1967440]

I assisted a young pup at Town Fair Tire too align my 67 Dodge on their Hunter.
Took the final spec sheet and verified the measurements on my pair of Fastrax...one on each side.
Once the car was leveled I was able to obtain the same measurements. Now I can align all my own cars with confidence.

If you get the Fastrax, also get the swing arms for toe measurements, and 2 tape measures that measure the same.