Home brew wheel alignment- but I have a 7" wider rear, what is my best method?

[marauderx]

I am rebuilding the whole front end, PST Poly Graphites Bushings and Parts master joints(cheap, greasable, easy to replace), actually putting a swaybar in it! What is my best method (edit: for aligning the ranger) with such a wide rear track?

 

[upnsmoke]

I'm not sure what you are asking. Are you unsure of how to go about the rebuild, or are you looking to do something custom like changing the front track to more closely match the rear? What rear are you running, just out of curiosity?

 

[marauderx]

I need to align it at the house, I have put a string around all four wheels before, and set them straight, but with a wider rear track, that aint happenin! Now I have a toe gauge, but as far as camber and caster on the ibeams, what settings do I need to shoot for on a stock ride height, what is the best way to measure camber and caster? I am running an exploder rear with 2" spacers. On a Fox Mustang, you camber it all the way in, and caster it all the way back. Give it all it has. How about for the 91 ranger 2wd swb?

 

[upnsmoke]

If you have a flat surface to work on you can just hold a square up to the side of the tire and measure to the rim, top and bottom. The difference between the measurements is camber. You should have negative camber if any, but very little or none is best, and it should be the same left to right. For caster, I judge it by the feel of the steering. If it is too difficult, it needs less caster. If it is too easy or the steering wheel does not center itself quickly enough, it needs more caster. If the vehicle pulls left, it needs more caster on the left or less on the right, and if it pulls right it needs more caster on the right or less on the left.

 

[marauderx]

Cool, I will start after it, as the old girl was pulling to the right pretty bad, but the lower ball joints were done for. I turned wrenches at the local Benz dealership for 3.5 years, and we did our own alignments, set a lot of caster due to Benz's engineered in pull to the right, and we replaced control arms like air filters, but doing it on the ground with no real equipment, and using bushings for Camber/caster is a little different. I am used to either 3 position bolts, or cam adjustments...

 

[upnsmoke]

Mercedes are weird. I've worked on a couple in the past. Generally speaking, I always try to make cars track straight, but if anything, a pull to the left is generally less annoying than a pull to the right as most roads are crowned, as in they lean to the right when you are driving down the right side of the road, causing vehicles that otherwise track straight to pull slightly to the right. A pull to the left, thus, makes them track straight more of the time than a pull to the right. An ideal alignment can never be attained, as I am sure you have witnessed, when any suspension or steering component allows a greater than ideal amount of slack. I had to do a complete rebuild of my suspension and steering when I first took ownership of my truck in order to align it and make it drive in a way that I perceived to be correct. I aligned it and adjusted the steering box when I got it home, but it still felt like a sloppy P.O.S. due to loose ball joints and tie rod ends, worn out bushings, and blown shocks.

 

[marauderx]

Well, I got mad and took it to Jim's wheel alignment here in Baton Rouge, and they did me right, as I need to get back to billing hours...
My ball joints rattled like a beast, and I am glad I kicked them to the curb...
I installed the p-s-t.com poly graphites, and they rock for $40.00 delivered!
Upnsmoke, are you running a rear sway bar? I am running the 8.8 sploder rear, and I am not sure if the BII rear sway bar will clear the pumpkin, and my F-150 airshocks...
You have to get into the German's heads a little bit, and when you do, they make lots of sense. Take the belly pans for example-when every other German manufacturer makes some crazy fastener, Benz uses an old school bolt. They let BMW learn the problems with the new automatics that are totally electronically controlled.

 

[upnsmoke]

I have an 8.8 rear I pulled from a what I believe was a 90 Ranger. It is the same width as my stock 7.5 rear, and bolted up to my leaf springs. I am running a rear sway bar only that I got from the 90 I pulled the rear from. I plan to go to Jeep front coils soon, which are softer than Ranger coils. At that point I will consider running a small front sway bar as well. It was definitely a good move replacing the ball joints if they were worn to the point that they could rattle. Unfortunately I can't tell you anything about the BII bar.
I have mostly worked on Japanese cars in the past, most of which are fairly straightforward, especially as far as what tools are needed. My only significant complaint about working on Fords has been the need for unusually sized tools and the mixed use of standard and metric fasteners. I suppose the German cars weren't too much worse than any other, certainly not as bad as any UK car I know of. They can keep those things as far as I'm concerned.

 

[marauderx]

I kinda like the old spitfires, but but they can keep the Jaiguars...

 

[upnsmoke]

I kinda like the old spitfires, but but they can keep the Jaiguars...

I'll give you that. My friend had a Tr7 that I thought was cool as well.

 

[doorgunner]

Well, I got mad and took it to Jim's wheel alignment here in Baton Rouge, and they did me right

Jim's!? They're the best!

 

[marauderx]

Well if you have reason to be up here, you need to go by and check out the Lincoln Zephyr V12 he has on a stand, it is beautiful, and they do a great alignment, too! The Ranger has never driven better!