Home Alignment Results

[Charlie Brown]

Just did a home alignment on my 64 Dodge. I'm using an older Snap On bulble unit with alignment plates. The following readings are what I obtained. Drivers side - neg 3/8 camber, positive 1 3/8 castor. Passnger side - neg 1/4 camber, positive 1 5/8 castor. Toe in set at 1/8 inch.
Car pulls slightly to the right.
Both tires showing more inside tread wear (18 k on tires)
Steering wheel is slightly off center.
All suspensions components good. Borgsen steering box.
Brakes adjusted properly and not draging.
I was of the impression that the car should pull to the opposite side (drivers) because the castor is less by 1/4 degree.
I'd like to get the car driving without any pull. Thoughts please.

 

[WileE]

Adjust the toe with the steering wheel straight, keeping the same 1/8".

 

[ckessel]

Do your roads have crowns for runoff? This contributes to pulling to the right.

 

[R413]

It will pull to the side with more positive caster.

 

[pnora]

Your left to right readings are very close to equal. I doubt that caster or camber is causing it. Tires can cause a pull. I assume they are radial. I would swap the front side to side and see what it does. If the rear are the same size and wheel you could swap them to the rear. For what its worth a slight pull to the right could be road crown related.

 

[Kern Dog]

These cars have an easier time getting higher caster numbers the lower that the suspension sits.
I like to have some negative camber, at least 1/2 a degree at the bare minimum. Sometimes it looks like the caster number is great but then the camber comes in near zero. To get some negative camber, you have to give up some caster. THIS is with all stock parts.
Unless.....You start off with this:

Use a washer between the lower ball joint and the knuckle/spindle. This tilts the bottom out while adding negative camber.
Now, you already have a bit of negative camber to work with.

 

[dan juhasz]

Your caster values would if switched would eliminate the drift on normal road crowns. Drivers side should be more positive than passenger side.
Also your negative camber values over time can contribute to inside tire wear.

 

[Kern Dog]

Tire wear with negative camber?
Yeah, with bias ply tires. Radials can tolerate some negative camber because the sidewalls flex a bit, allowing the tread to maintain a better contact patch. Who still runs bias ply tires except for the dudes with stock restorations?
You'll chew up tires much faster if your toe settings are out of whack no matter the type of tires you're running. Why? Well with the tires aimed wrong, they are scrubbing the pavement as the left tire fights against the right.

 

[AR67GTX]

R413 is correct on which side it will pull towards based on caster bias. Be sure all your tires have equal pressure.

 

[dvw]

It will pull to the side with more positive caster.

Your caster values would if switched would eliminate the drift on normal road crowns. Drivers side should be more positive than passenger side.
Also your negative camber values over time can contribute to inside tire wear.

R413 is correct on which side it will pull towards based on caster bias. Be sure all your tires have equal pressure.

I'm not sure where you got this info. It will pull towards the side with the lower caster. Higher camber can cause it to pull as well, but to a lesser degree. The specs given here are good. They shouldn't cause any pull. If the road is flat it should go nearly straight. The first place I'd look is the tires. Radial tire (I'm assuming radials) pull is common.Swap the tires left to right. The wheel could be off as a result of having to hold it to go straight. Or It just needs a tweek of one sleeve rotated in and one out. Pretty common even using a decent alignment rack. Get the pull figured out first. If the tire swap doesnt fix it, sometimes the caster/camber need a little tweek as well. Move the left rear cam outward to add slight + LF camber and reduce LF caster. If you tell me how far the wheel is off and which direction it's off that''ll give the info needed to make a tie rod sleeve move. Probably done over 5000 alignments during my career.
Doug

 

[toolmanmike]

Just did a home alignment on my 64 Dodge. I'm using an older Snap On bulble unit with alignment plates. The following readings are what I obtained. Drivers side - neg 3/8 camber, positive 1 3/8 castor. Passnger side - neg 1/4 camber, positive 1 5/8 castor. Toe in set at 1/8 inch.
Car pulls slightly to the right.
Both tires showing more inside tread wear (18 k on tires)
Steering wheel is slightly off center.
All suspensions components good. Borgsen steering box.
Brakes adjusted properly and not draging.
I was of the impression that the car should pull to the opposite side (drivers) because the castor is less by 1/4 degree.
I'd like to get the car driving without any pull. Thoughts please.

Here's some guidelines that don't cause pull or tire wear.

 

[Darter6]

2 things you can try to check if the pull is road crown related.
On a 2 lane (as long as it is safe) swap lanes as the road slopes from center to the left and right in most cases for rain run off.
The other is a flat parking lot that maybe is 45 meters or so to see if it tracks straight.

 

[gtxdana]

I'm not sure where you got this info. It will pull towards the side with the lower caster. Higher camber can cause it to pull as well, but to a lesser degree. The specs given here are good. They shouldn't cause any pull. If the road is flat it should go nearly straight. The first place I'd look is the tires. Radial tire (I'm assuming radials) pull is common.Swap the tires left to right. The wheel could be off as a result of having to hold it to go straight. Or It just needs a tweek of one sleeve rotated in and one out. Pretty common even using a decent alignment rack. Get the pull figured out first. If the tire swap doesnt fix it, sometimes the caster/camber need a little tweek as well. Move the left rear cam outward to add slight + LF camber and reduce LF caster. If you tell me how far the wheel is off and which direction it's off that''ll give the info needed to make a tie rod sleeve move. Probably done over 5000 alignments during my career.
Doug

^^^^^ Someone in this thread who actually knows what they're talking about.

 

[Charlie Brown]

Do your roads have crowns for runoff? This contributes to pulling to the right.

Some do and some don't. Our roads are all over the map.

 

[Charlie Brown]

I'm not sure where you got this info. It will pull towards the side with the lower caster. Higher camber can cause it to pull as well, but to a lesser degree. The specs given here are good. They shouldn't cause any pull. If the road is flat it should go nearly straight. The first place I'd look is the tires. Radial tire (I'm assuming radials) pull is common.Swap the tires left to right. The wheel could be off as a result of having to hold it to go straight. Or It just needs a tweek of one sleeve rotated in and one out. Pretty common even using a decent alignment rack. Get the pull figured out first. If the tire swap doesnt fix it, sometimes the caster/camber need a little tweek as well. Move the left rear cam outward to add slight + LF camber and reduce LF caster. If you tell me how far the wheel is off and which direction it's off that''ll give the info needed to make a tie rod sleeve move. Probably done over 5000 alignments during my career.
Doug

Thanks for this. I do have radials. I'll switch the tires side to side and see what happens. Do I need to swap the rear tires side to side as well? In regards to the steering wheel center, it needs to rotate counter clock wise to be centered.

 

[dan juhasz]

I stand corrected, I was in error about caster

 

[RemCharger]

Here's a good way to remember it
Pulls to least  ca ster
Or  most ca mber.

 

[gtx6970]

Here's a good way to remember it
Pulls to least  ca ster
Or  most ca mber.

Yep.


MY method remember it is

IN on the FRONT upper control arm mount / pivot is NEGATIVE caster
IN on the REAR upper control arm mount / pivot is POSITIVE caster

My own personal car, I have the rear cam adjusted where its all the way in, Then adjust camber / caster pull with the front . Then set toe in

This was all done sitting on my garage floor. with no alignment gauges of any kind. SO,,,,,
I have no idea what I have for 'actual' caster measurement in degrees. But mine doesn't eat tires Or pull to either side on flat roads

 

[dan juhasz]

Here's a good way to remember it
Pulls to least  ca ster
Or  most ca mber.

I’m happy if I remember to zip my fly