Its time again for a wheel alignment for the 48 ford. Is there anybody in the wellington- Levin Palmy-Wiarapa region that you can reccommend to do a manual type wheel alignment on my old ford V8, Beam axle type, cheers.
bill-robinson,
Apr 27, 7:17pm
Any good wheel alignment shop will be able to do that for you. Not a lot can be changed easily but you should feel a difference when the job is done.
bentcoupe,
Apr 27, 7:26pm
They bend the axle,When i had my 48 mercthe guy chained it to the floor and used a jack to bend the axle. . . Thats if its way out thoSome of those cars could tell a few stories
bill-robinson,
Apr 27, 9:02pm
What did bending the axle do!
newtec1,
Apr 27, 9:20pm
Only increase the camber - or +.I have never heard of that being done.Don't those models have king pins ,and the only alignment would be toe in or out.
petermcg,
Apr 27, 10:30pm
No mate bending the axle beam is one way to alter that part of the alignment,, and also wedges can be placed between the axle and spring, alters something,,, helps to stop wheel shimmy. The wedges tilt the axle forward.
neville48,
Apr 27, 10:35pm
Hence my asking for a person to do it "manually" as it was done in the pre-computer days. Never heard of bending the beam or wedging though !
bill-robinson,
Apr 27, 10:55pm
wedging I have heard of but never done.Bending seems to be a very crude way of changing camber as suggested. Wedging can be done on modern computer machines,BUT the problem will be getting the wedges. PS the modern machines are more accurate than the manual way you speak of.
sr2,
Apr 27, 11:21pm
Yes the axle was bent to adjust the camber and the castor was set with packing under the spring mounts. It started to get messy if there was any torsional twist in the axle, one side would be different than the other!
bill-robinson,
Apr 27, 11:27pm
Just realised that you have a Ford probably with transverse springs. If so forget wedges as there is no place to fit them. Check camber and get the toe in set. castor is done with spacers behind the radius rod/wishbone mount as far as I can tell. Can all be done on a modern machine by a person who understands what you want and how to achieve this.
neville48,
Apr 27, 11:47pm
" can all be done on a modern machine by a person who understands what you want and how to achieve this" this is the guy I am looking for, any help in my region please !
bill-robinson,
Apr 28, 12:36am
Sorry I can't help you. I am in northland but ask around all the different car clubs/race shops between Wellington and Wanganui. There must be someone. It's not rocket science.
rod-zone,
Apr 28, 4:29am
Hey Nev.pop in and see me next time ya down,We will pop next door to cobra tyres.Barry does all our wheel alignments and hes real good.also Bending of the Axles is common Especially with Brand new beams as when the cool from the Casting process they move a little (silky has confirmed this with me) Gav
Roger Bates in Palmerston North.Does monstrous trucks as well as cars etc.
bubbles244,
Apr 28, 9:56am
The used to do it to the front axle of trucks as well to compensate for the camber of the road, drove one mack, you could let go of the steering wheel and she sat beautifully in a straight line.
newtec1,
Apr 28, 11:25am
it would probably be the caster that had that effect on straight lining.
makarau1,
Apr 29, 3:12am
I have 7.3ltr Diesel E350 and I was told by the old guy Bill at VTNZ Huapai there were only 2 guys in the country that knew how to do the alignment in your type of vehicle. One was in Palmerston North!
esky-tastic,
Apr 29, 7:11am
Well when the only easily done adjustment is toe-in then it's time to et physical to set the castor & camber.
bill-robinson,
Apr 29, 8:21am
I would think that the axle would be visibly bent or out of shape to require that much effort. if it looks bent take it out and get it checked and reset if needed.
supernova2,
Apr 29, 8:48am
Something I was reading a few weeks ago showed where to bend the axel to alter alignment.I think it was aCitreon 15.Seen it done on a Cortina diff to give it a bit of camber on a rally car once back in about 1970.Bit of heat, bit of cold water works well.Who knows what happens to the tensile strength etc but it achieves the alignment change.
jrlaw,
Apr 29, 9:20pm
Years ago when I was young we just set the toe in and away it went, when we need to bend a Ford axle we took the axle out. warmed it to be touch warm then it bent easy as under a press.
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