slovcan
I'm Awesome
Hi folks,
I'm a new guy here. I introduced myself over where introductions are done.
Yes, my first post apart from the intro is asking a question. Sorry 'bout that.
The background is years of a slight pull/drift to the right. In the past two years she's had a new right upper ball joint, new steering box and just now a new pitman arm. There was a wheel alignment after the ball joint. The result was the same steering as it always was (right pull), but the worn ball joint symptoms were fixed.
After the pitman arm replacement, the right pull was almost gone, but the steering wheel was now about 5-10 degrees off center to the right. Maybe the wheel was "centered" with worn steering components sometime in the past. Or not. After the new pitman arm there was too much toe-in (0.29 degree L, 0.22 degree R, 0.51 degree total). When did toe change from fractions of an inch to degrees???
After correcting the toe to 0.14L, 0.13R, 0.27 total and centering the steering wheel it is pulling to the right again just like it always did (or maybe a bit less). The centered wheel is again at 5 degrees or so left to maintain straight ahead driving even on flat road with no crown (center lane) which is a slight improvement from before.
I know now that the camber/caster has never been touched. The knockouts were still in place today.
The camber was 0.5L and 0.1R. The right is just out of spec - 0.2-1.2 (always was, I guess). The caster was 2.3L & 2.2R.
So, today I went back in and had them knock out the plugs from the right side front control arm chassis mount. There was no time to do the rear chassis mount. That resulted in being able to get the right side camber to 0.5 the same as the left. HOWEVER, that put the right caster at 0.6 (down from 2.2). Obviously the knockouts need to be removed from the rear chassis mount, too. Surely then FINALLY the alignment can be done correctly.
The question here is about the printed camber spec. It is 0.2-1.2 degrees. There is no negative sign in front of the spec. The rear camber is -0.5L and -0.1R. The pictogram for the front camber on the alignment printout shows both sides at 0.5 in green, BUT the actuality arrow definitely shows the camber as 0.5 POSITIVE. Now she is pulling harder to the right than before the adjustment when it was 0.1 on the right. This makes sense to me in that more POSITIVE camber on the right will make it pull harder to the right because of the crown of the road.
SURELY the correct spec for the front camber cannot be 0.2-1.2 degrees POSITIVE, can it? That has to be a typo. It must really be 0.2-1.2 NEGATIVE, mustn't it?
I am taking her back in to get the other knockout removed. Would the right move then be to get the camber set to -0.5 on both sides and the caster set to 2.3 on both sides?
I know that was a litany, but I really want to FINALLY get the alignment right with a centered steering wheel and no pulling.
Thanks,
Glenn
I'm a new guy here. I introduced myself over where introductions are done.
Yes, my first post apart from the intro is asking a question. Sorry 'bout that.
The background is years of a slight pull/drift to the right. In the past two years she's had a new right upper ball joint, new steering box and just now a new pitman arm. There was a wheel alignment after the ball joint. The result was the same steering as it always was (right pull), but the worn ball joint symptoms were fixed.
After the pitman arm replacement, the right pull was almost gone, but the steering wheel was now about 5-10 degrees off center to the right. Maybe the wheel was "centered" with worn steering components sometime in the past. Or not. After the new pitman arm there was too much toe-in (0.29 degree L, 0.22 degree R, 0.51 degree total). When did toe change from fractions of an inch to degrees???
After correcting the toe to 0.14L, 0.13R, 0.27 total and centering the steering wheel it is pulling to the right again just like it always did (or maybe a bit less). The centered wheel is again at 5 degrees or so left to maintain straight ahead driving even on flat road with no crown (center lane) which is a slight improvement from before.
I know now that the camber/caster has never been touched. The knockouts were still in place today.
The camber was 0.5L and 0.1R. The right is just out of spec - 0.2-1.2 (always was, I guess). The caster was 2.3L & 2.2R.
So, today I went back in and had them knock out the plugs from the right side front control arm chassis mount. There was no time to do the rear chassis mount. That resulted in being able to get the right side camber to 0.5 the same as the left. HOWEVER, that put the right caster at 0.6 (down from 2.2). Obviously the knockouts need to be removed from the rear chassis mount, too. Surely then FINALLY the alignment can be done correctly.
The question here is about the printed camber spec. It is 0.2-1.2 degrees. There is no negative sign in front of the spec. The rear camber is -0.5L and -0.1R. The pictogram for the front camber on the alignment printout shows both sides at 0.5 in green, BUT the actuality arrow definitely shows the camber as 0.5 POSITIVE. Now she is pulling harder to the right than before the adjustment when it was 0.1 on the right. This makes sense to me in that more POSITIVE camber on the right will make it pull harder to the right because of the crown of the road.
SURELY the correct spec for the front camber cannot be 0.2-1.2 degrees POSITIVE, can it? That has to be a typo. It must really be 0.2-1.2 NEGATIVE, mustn't it?
I am taking her back in to get the other knockout removed. Would the right move then be to get the camber set to -0.5 on both sides and the caster set to 2.3 on both sides?
I know that was a litany, but I really want to FINALLY get the alignment right with a centered steering wheel and no pulling.
Thanks,
Glenn