• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

alignment question

durk80

durk80

Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Location
South GA
Hello again, after replacing the rack and pinion on my 1990 240, I had my friend take it in for an alignment. He specifically said 'do an alignment'. However, aren't they supposed to reset the steering wheel so it is centered and one doesn't have to have the wheel at the two o'clock position on a straightaway?

Also, there was just the bill. No print out of the specific adjustments made. I've never used this company before, but it seems like if they actually did an alignment, they would give the specs. I hope that I am wrong, but any advice would be most helpful.

DSC-0615.jpg
[/url][/IMG]
 
Normally they would set everything to spec and make sure the steering wheel is centered. You would have a before and after numbers with factory spec'd range of acceptable alignment. Seems odd to me.
 
You center the rack when you do an alignment. The steering wheel may be on crooked.

I had an alignment douchie, center my steering wheel (which was on crooked), and it would turn farther to the left than the right.
Twas bitchen for U turns!
 
When I put a new rack in mine - 1) center the rack; 2) remove/replace steering wheel so it's centered; 3) set toe with the steering wheel locked into center position. This will allow equal amounts of lock on both sides and have the steering wheel centered (or very close) when the car is headed down the road. As above, all contemporary shop alignments I've ever gotten have a fancy print out showing before and after specs. I've started doing it myself in the garage with parallel sewing thread stretched between two jack stands, transparent ruler and the angle finder on my smart phone.
 
KeizerBrickGuy said:
Normally they would set everything to spec and make sure the steering wheel is centered. You would have a before and after numbers with factory spec'd range of acceptable alignment. Seems odd to me.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. If I could've gotten off from work I would have taken it in myself and asked about it. I think that people around here cringe with fear if you don't drive a ford or a chevy.
 
Thanks M.H Yount! I didn't do the 2nd step after the rack replacement. Do you think it will be okay if I lock the steering wheel and then take it off to center it? Or, will I have to have it aligned again?

M.H. Yount said:
When I put a new rack in mine - 1) center the rack; 2) remove/replace steering wheel so it's centered; 3) set toe with the steering wheel locked into center position. This will allow equal amounts of lock on both sides and have the steering wheel centered (or very close) when the car is headed down the road. As above, all contemporary shop alignments I've ever gotten have a fancy print out showing before and after specs. I've started doing it myself in the garage with parallel sewing thread stretched between two jack stands, transparent ruler and the angle finder on my smart phone.
Click to expand...
 
Hard to say - do you know for certain that they centered the rack before they set the toe? If so, and if you can assure you have the car pointed ‘straight’ - then taking the wheel off and replacing it centered up won’t affect alignment at all.
 
Mark the steering wheel with tape for the Zero or straight ahead.
Then count the turns to the right and to the left from that point.
That likely will show you any off-centering of the rack.
 
Dirty Rick said:
Mark the steering wheel with tape for the Zero or straight ahead.
Then count the turns to the right and to the left from that point.
That likely will show you any off-centering of the rack.
Click to expand...

^^^^ This step before removing/replacing the wheel. Put the piece of tape at "noon" on the steering wheel with the car pointing straight ahead. If you have the same number of turns left and right - then you're centered and you can remove the steering wheel and place it on the splines 'centered'. If the rack isn't centered and the toe has been set, then you'll have to start the process of setting the toe over again.
 
M.H. Yount said:
^^^^ This step before removing/replacing the wheel. Put the piece of tape at "noon" on the steering wheel with the car pointing straight ahead. If you have the same number of turns left and right - then you're centered and you can remove the steering wheel and place it on the splines 'centered'. If the rack isn't centered and the toe has been set, then you'll have to start the process of setting the toe over again.
Click to expand...


I believe the rack is centered and the toe is set because it's about even... 2 1/2 turns each way from the tape at "noon" hitting the stops. So I suppose now I can take the steering wheel off and make it even again. Thank you, Dirty Rick and M.H. Yount for your expertise!
 
Look at how far the tie rod ends are threaded in on each side, if the rack is centered properly and the car isn't pranged up from an accident, there should be close to the same number of threads showing on both sides (assuming both ends are identical parts.)
 
NotSoFresh said:
Look at how far the tie rod ends are threaded in on each side, if the rack is centered properly and the car isn't pranged up from an accident, there should be close to the same number of threads showing on both sides (assuming both ends are identical parts.)
Click to expand...

Thanks, NotSoFresh for the good idea! There were 12 threads showing on the passengers side and 13 showing on the left hand side. So it's about even. And fortunately, the car has never been in an accident.

I did notice that both plates on the strut tower had been significantly moved from center position though. It tracks fine down the road, but there is a slight side-to-side movement of the steering wheel (ball joints or tires maybe?) that I didn't notice before and the ride feels a little loose.

My question is: Can the car be aligned, so it will be straight on the road and yet somehow still be off?
I understand little about alignment which is why I would like to know as much as possible before I take the car back to the shop and talk to the manager.




Passengers side of strut tower:
DSC-0617.jpg
[/url][/IMG]

Driver's side:
a>
 
Last edited:
eeaves42 said:
No print out of the spec before and after means it did not happen or its still in the red but the tech wants it to go away.
Click to expand...

This, had a place try that with me, had the wife take her s60 in and told her to make sure to get a before and after print out and she came home and said that they're printer was out of ink. I took her car to a different place the next day and it was clear from the print out the first place didn't touch her car and charged $85 bucks. When I went to get my money back it was no problem when I whipped out the print out.

There were other customers in the lobby and they had no problem refunding my money to shut me up so I would leave.

The shop probably didn't touch your car.
 
Last edited:
Dicktater said:
This, had a place try that with me, had the wife take her s60 in and told her to make sure to get a before and after print out and she came home and said that they're printer was out of ink. I took her car to a different place the next day and it was clear from the print out the first place didn't touch her car and charged $85 bucks. When I went to get my money back it was no problem when I whipped out the print out.

There were other customers in the lobby and they had no problem refunding my money to shut me up so I would leave.

The shop probably didn't touch your car.
Click to expand...

That's sucks you were ripped off like that, there are crooks all over auto repair shops. When are printer runs out of ink (then the porter has to run off with petty cash to staples... takes ages) I finish the alignment and take a photo of the screen which has their vin number on it and go personally show the customer. no excesses
 
Yes i put my ball joints in the wrong side when I rebuilt the front end and the alignment shop didn't catch it, until I read about it here that they are left and right specific
 
I built my own trammel bar nearly 20 years ago after learning about it on TB or BB or somewhere and I haven't had a reason to take a 240 to an alignment shop for toe adjustments since. The bar I built is very accurate and easy to build using scrap sheet metal, a metal ruler and a stiff bar. The bar i used was an old u-channel aluminum extruded curtain rod. Total length is 60 inches.

There are YouTube vids on doing toe alignments using a device like this.
I generally find a line in the tread (or draw one with a marker while spinning the tire) and use that to measure in front of the wheels and then behind and I shoot for 1/8th inch toe-in or whatever spec that's recommended.

Even if you still plan to visit an alignment shop, a tool like this will get you set up just right after replacing a rack or other parts and then you can verify at the alignment shop if you like and see how close you got.
Dave B
.
 

Attachments

  • trammelbar3med.jpg
    trammelbar3med.jpg
    94.9 KB · Views: 129
  • trammelbar2lo.jpg
    trammelbar2lo.jpg
    38.5 KB · Views: 115
94940 said:
I just rebuilt mine and used part # 270477 for the lower ball joint. Is this the ball joint you are referring to? I didn't read about left and right specifications for it for a 94 940t?
Click to expand...
Yours are fine. Symmetrical. Same both sides...

1006946.jpg


<hr>
Now, on freevolvo's 82 245...

Left:
274118VCO.JPG

<hr>
Right:
274119LEM.JPG

<hr>

Bit of a twist, bit of a curve. Sure, they'll bolt on, but they also put the ball joint pivot point where it's not supposed to be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top