2WD C10 Modern/Performance Alignments

[BMERDOC]

usmcchevy, I know I dont even have to ask you to post the results when you get them Robnolimit said he had 8-9 degrees with a 1" inch movement of the cross shaft mounts. So I wanna see what caster spec your 3/4" movement delivers.

[DM Garage]

Here is a great article that should help people understand alignment angles. Keep up the work Nick!

[BMERDOC]

Very good article! Thank you for posting as a PDF so that it doesnt disappear from the thread. Once I started this thread I looked around for little tid bits of info and realized I coulda just posted a bunch of websites to explain the different angles but that woulda bean cheating.

[69gmcc10]

usmcchevy, I am sorry to hear that. I was hoping good news from your truck so I knew what to do with mine. Hopefully you get it fugured out and you keep us posted.

[BMERDOC]

usmcchevy, that stinks! Hope you can find the problem and easily solve it.

[BMERDOC]

So I aligned my 325i tonight. Notice how much camber is allowed by the spec. Notice how little caster was dialed in back in those days (for a BMW) . I don't know why mine is closer to negative caster though. Check out the fractional toe! Again, 1/16th postive per side and 1/8th total.
The toe was so far out initially because I had to take off the steering wheel to do some work. When I put it back on I installed it one spline of to the right accidentally. Leveling the steering wheel before setting toe made it look like this.

[hairlesshobo]

Originally Posted by BMERDOC

So I aligned my 325i tonight. Notice how much camber is allowed by the spec. Notice how little caster was dialed in back in those days (for a BMW) . I don't know why mine is closer to negative caster though. Check out the fractional toe! Again, 1/16th postive per side and 1/8th total.
The toe was so far out initially because I had to take off the steering wheel to do some work. When I put it back on I installed it one spline of to the right accidentally. Leveling the steering wheel before setting toe made it look like this.

Just curious, what was the before and after caster numbers on your 325i?
Posted via Mobile Device

[BMERDOC]

Caster is non adjustable on these cars. It is possible to swap out the M3 strut plates or some adjustable plates (KMacs, etc). I can use 95 M3 control arm bushings to dial in some more caster which would be the cheapest/esiest route.

[hairlesshobo]

Oh, I didn't realize that. Good info to know.
Posted via Mobile Device

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Alright so here's my baseline specs.

Caster drivers side 2.2, 0.4 pass
Camber -0.5 drivers, -0.4 pass
Toe is .45* inward both sides

Not sure if rear camber will tell you anything but
Drivers rear. 0.2, -0.9 pass
Toe is -.50 drivers and 0.70 pass
And thrust says -0.6 ?
Posted via Mobile Device

[BMERDOC]

Ok, to start with the rear. Like we talked about in your thread, I don't think you have much to worry about. Unless you find out whats causing it you'll have to live with it.
As far as the front goes, without making mods to the front end my only concern is the caster on the passenger side (0.04) and the toe specs.
Are these baseline settings with all the shims removed? If you try to make passenger caster more positve you make that camber more positive too...no good. Is the suspension nice and tight (ball joints, cross shafts)? You have got to get the initial caster closer to matching your dr's side before any shimming can begin. My thought is that you may end up machining the lower cross shafts to gain more positive camber by drilling the dr's at 3/4" cl and the pass at 1" cl to compensate for the current alignment but I would definately check to make sure you wont be covering up a real problem.

[BMERDOC]

I meant to add that because your dr's rear is toed out and your passenger rear is toed in would indicate the Thrust being negative. So the truck would want to rear steer right causing you to correct it by steering left. Either your frame is bowed so that the right side wheel base is shorter or you have a problem in the rear suspension causing the centerline to aim negative. Are the bushing good in the springs? There may be NO problems at all with the rear end and -0.6 is what its been forever.

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Bushings seem ok. It's got drop hangers and shackles from po so the may not be even side to side so I will measure those. But a long time ago it got curbed on the pass side and I don't know if our licorice soft frames absorb that or just bend. Either way I want to be sure
Posted via Mobile Device

[truck farmer]

HEY, everybody
im at this stage in my build and am very much interested in what USMCCHEVY is doing with his front suspension. patiently waiting for more of his results.

[usmcchevy]

Well everyone, I hate to do this, but looks like I will be bowing out of this experiment. I got the truck home tonight, with only around 3.5 deg of caster. Looking at the shims(plenty in all 4 locations), I'd say my instructions never made it to the alignment tech. However I am still very happy with how the truck drives, perfectly straight at 70mph and no longer pulls and fights me in a turn. The shop did a awesome job on the frame and charged me $298, which I think is very fair for this area.

Anyway I see no reason anyone with a straight frame and a good alignment shop should not be able to get 5+deg of caster for the cost of a 5/8" drill bit and a couple cut off wheels. Thanks BMERDOC and everyone else.

[grwnded71]

I am using all 71 front suspension/steering/disc on my 70. Ordered all new Raybestos components, and am doing the caster modification. The stock cross-shaft spotface measures 1-1/4. The Raybestos cross-shafts measure 1-3/4...part numbers seem to be correct for 71 lca's. Am I missing something or do these cross-shafts come with 1/2 added for caster? Went ahead and drilled them at 2" anyway..

[BMERDOC]

Hey Truck Farmer! Here is a thread that Chevyrestoguy did on the Caster mod. Very nice and clean, good info, good pics.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=501241

[truck farmer]

Thanks BMERDOC, I need all the help I can get.

[BMERDOC]

I don't know if they meant to do that on purpose but I doubt it. Kinda cool though! Cough up them part numbers!

[grwnded71]

Raybestos #5951017 it is pretty cool though! both cross-shafts the same 1-3/4!

[Greywolf200]

Could you provide me the angle for a 1/8" toe out for a 70 C10? I finally convinced my line up man to set up my front end to my specs rather that what the computer says, but he doesn't know how to convert inches to degrees. He was sure he knew all about front end alignments and his computer machine until requested to do something different than what the computer called for....lol

Thanks,

[Portmod7]

Originally Posted by Greywolf200

Could you provide me the angle for a 1/8" toe out for a 70 C10? I finally convinced my line up man to set up my front end to my specs rather that what the computer says, but he doesn't know how to convert inches to degrees. He was sure he knew all about front end alignments and his computer machine until requested to do something different than what the computer called for....lol

Thanks,

It will be around .13 deg. per side. It depends on the diameter of YOUR tire though. I used a 28" tire, toed out 1/16".

I think that's probably why they use degrees instead of inches. A 50" diameter tire toed out 1/16" will be .07deg.

[BMERDOC]

Refer to post 139. The specs in the lower picture are 1/8" total, 1/16" per side. The top pic shows a spec of .08° to .22°. Shoot for .15°. Let us know how it feels!!

[CaptRMW]

Here is the recent alignment specs on my '70 CST with '71 suspension. The truck likes to wander more than it did before. I overheard the tech (Goodyear) telling his service manager that "we don't have any shims" so he set the toe in and that was it. I had just replacerd the upper control arm shafts and upper ball joints.
Regards, Roger

[ctandc]

Originally Posted by CaptRMW

Here is the recent alignment specs on my '70 CST with '71 suspension. The truck likes to wander more than it did before. I overheard the tech (Goodyear) telling his service manager that "we don't have any shims" so he set the toe in and that was it. I had just replacerd the upper control arm shafts and upper ball joints.
Regards, Roger

I'd be asking for a refund or taking it back to get aligned when they decide to have some shims.