Hot Rods I took the 56 chrysler in for a front alignment this morning

I took the old girl in for an alignment and to get the 2 front tires balanced. After about an hour later the guy came out and said they couldn't do it because everything was too loose. I asked the counter guy was needed? He said all the bushing were bad. I said so what need replacing and he shrugged his shoulders and said all the bushings were bad again. I asked to see the fellow who worked on it and they told me he was too busy.Then they charged me $43.00 to rebalance the 2 front tires. Is it me or is that kind of pricey for just 2 tires. Not sure what I am going to do yet due to living check to check . Bruce.

 

As to the $$$ , I just had one tire taken off the rim , rim cleaned and tire re-installed and placed on the car . $30 !!.....kinda shocked me too . I guess I have to wake up to reality !

 

Yea,, kinda,,, $10.00 RR (ea) - $ 20.00
$10.00 Balance (ea) $20.00
Plus Tax (???)) $47.00
for their paychecks

 

If they are too busy to talk to you they won't miss your future business will they?

 

$43 for two tire balances and to put the car up on a rack and figure out that it's too worn out for just an alignment, that sounds about right. My local alignment shop gets $90 an hour and that's probably a half hour's work.

Probably needs a complete front end rebuild to take an alignment. Not uncommon with old cars. A arm bushings top and bottom, idler arm bushings, possibly tie rod ends and the springs in the drag link, ect. Not a cheap job.

I know it's a bummer but it happens. Generally when a car needs an alignment, there's also some part that needs to be replaced, that's how they get out of whack to begin with.

 

Bruce, it may sound like a lot of work and money to rebuild the whole front end, but in the long run it will be cheaper to do it all now. when it is apart everything can get cleaned and painted and when back together you won't have to do it again.

 

Sounds about right. I took my 57 Fuely to have the front end aligned right after we redid it. They put it in a rack and came back and told me it needed a lot of front end parts replaced-I had just completely replaced every part in the front end and zero miles-couldn't go in the shop or talk to the tech-$50 to check ( it was one of the large chain outfits). Went to another shop-aligned as I watched-$35 and out the door. When I take a freshly built 40 to have toe in rechecked they always come up with something--these are axle cars and they have no clue! Finally found a shop that builds race cars--they know what they are doing-only place I go now.

 

Bruce the first thing I would suggest is changing front end shops.Anyone who is "too busy" to talk to me about doing business does not need my money. The second thing I would do is park the car on a level surface and check idler arm condition, tie rod ends and jack it up and get the long pry bar to check ball joint condition and see if anything is left of the A frame bushings.If the ball joints and A frame bushings are anywhere near serviceable you can easily replace any of the other wear parts and set the toe.If it will drive straight and not wear the front tires funny it will do for now.You can then drive it and save money to do the whole front end.

 

Take it to another shop, Bruce, and see what they say.
My first car, a '66 Caprice 2 dr, had over 100,000 miles on it when I bought it (117,624 although odometer showed 17,624 of course). A friend who worked in a garage and I rebuilt the front end: upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arm, upper and lower control arm bushings. I then took it to a Firestone store to have it aligned. The guy put it up on a rack, told me the entire front end was totally worn out and needed a complete rebuild and that the car was not safe to drive and he did not feel good allowing me to drive the car away without the necessary repairs. I then took it to another place down the street and they aligned it, no problem. I haven't been back to a Firestone store since, and that was over 43 years ago.

 

10-15 per tire to bubble balance is average to me. I'm sure some local shops charge more for spin balance.

 

Yeah Bruce, I know how that goes. Every time I've ever been to an alignment shop they have said something is too worn out to align it. It sometimes takes some searching to find a shop/guy who will work with you on old cars.
Like Steinauge said; inspect each component carefully, especially for looseness or slop. Should be plenty of info on the internet and in the manuals. Replace the worst offenders first if you can't afford to do the whole thing.

 

It's not so much the money they charged you but, their give-a-shit attitude about not wanting to explain things to you that would have really pissed me off. There has to be some other shops there in the Sevierville, Dandridge, Newport, Maryville, Knoxville areas that don't employ ass-holes.

 

Got an old school "bubble balancer" for $20 off Craigslist. I see they are new for about 60-70. Work good for regular tires. Sorry Bruce, it won't help you with the 43 you spent already but maybe keep an eye out for next time. Or-- my local tire guy charges a couple bucks for bubble balancing and ten bucks for the digital dynamic balance job. Then again, my guy said he'd take the tires off (mark them with chalk so we don't lose balance) and I could clean and paint the rims- no charge as long as I wasn't standing there telling him to hurry up.
Yeah, first thing is find a different shop if it's not something you want to tackle yourself.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

An old car like that will never be able to have a front end alignment done without one or more new parts being installed.
Chances are that the parts are all shot and you will need to replace all of the ball joints and all of the tie rod ends, idler arms and pitman arm.... in other words every moving part of the front end.
Now parts are not all that expensive if you can do all the work yourself and then take it for the alignment.
That's the way to do it.
When you are down on $ it's probably the only way to do it.

 

There were the 'front end mechanics' back in the best days. There were also 'shim shufflers'...
WE used to straighten bent parts: axles, control arms, (VW) and many others.
I used to pull axles to zero* when off say, 1/2 degree on drivers side and 1-1/4 on passenger.
Do it in one pull. (simple geometry) I'd win lunch money from owner's son. "You can't do that in one pull!" Yes I could.
Seems like front end physics are a black science to the 'front end techs' of today. I hate PC.

 

You might have asked him (politely) if he would have felt any better having his nose flattened out on his face.

 

Guess your having one of those, 'i feel like I got bent over, an shafted' days.
I'd go looking for someone whos competent with older cars.
These guys/wankers weren't to busy, it was just to hard, for them to deal with.
No plastic modern parts for em.

 

90% (at least) of front ends shops don't want to mess with these old cars as they're not as easy to align as a late model; you actually have to remove/replace shims (sometimes more than once), not just shift an eccentric.

Last time I took a vintage car in, the guy said it needed an idler arm (which was a bit loose) before he could do an alignment. I said fine, find one and I'll buy it. After 20 minutes on the phone, he came out and shamefacedly said he couldn't find one (nobody was repoing one at the time, which I knew). I told him to make sure the caster/camber was right, I'd worry about the toe-in.... Got it done, car tracked/steered fine. It's not a big deal to check/adjust toe-in at home.

Are you sure it needs one, or is this 'just because'? My experience is that these old cars don't go out of alignment easily, and it's usually the toe when they do unless there's extreme wear or damage. Of course, if you've replaced parts all bets may be off.

 

This is not a ball joint front end. Mopars through 1956 have pin and bushing pivots from A arm to spindle supports and king pins and bushings on the spindle itself.

For most shops these days, asking them to work on one of these front ends is akin to asking them to do a valve job on a flathead.

Ray

 

How to check your own front end for wear, on any car. This is how we did them in the shop when doing safety inspections.

Jack up front of car and put it on jack stands. Make sure it is on there solid.

Take a 2X4. Slide under the tire so the end is a couple of feet behind the tire. Lift up, and move it from side to side. If the tire moves, you have a problem. Have a helper watch the front end, or you watch while your helper moves it. Is the excess movement in the inner bushings, the ball joints, or on a real old car the king pins?

Check the other side the same way. Then slide underneath and shake hands with the tie rod ends. Have someone turn the steering from side to side while you check the steering box is bolted solid to the frame and the pitman arm is good. Don't forget to check the idler arm including the pivot on the frame.

Basically you are looking for excess movement which is any movement. Except certain Fords can have 3/32" of play even in a new ball joint. The grease takes it up.

There now you can check your front end for nothing. Save a trip to the garage, or know for sure if they are bullshitting you.

 

Find another shop that will talk to you. Explain exactly what happened at the first shop. That way they know what you expect. What you expect is an alignment or to be invited under the car ans shown what the problems are. Then you can establish a plan of attack. If something is falling apart, fix it first. If things are sloppy and not falling apart, take it home, drive it this summer as you order the parts, fix it this winter. You might put some wear in the tires, but unless you are going on a cross country high speed trip (2000 miles or more) you should be fine.

 

I feel for you on this turn of lousy events.
I've had the up-sell package jammed down my throat and wallet many times by alignment shops.
Their word against my common sense and yet sometimes they're right.
Go to another front end shop Bruce for another opinion.


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I feel your pain, I live in a tourist area of northern Wi. and all the shops here are at $100/$125 per hour plus huge markup on parts with no deals for locals, they all seem to be busy, the market here supports these rates apparently. We have 2 front end shops and was quoted $150 to check the toe on my Mercury after I redid some things, all new parts installed by me, I shimed camber, castor built in, not adjustable, set toe with a tape measure, drives good, but thought I'd get it checked, but decided it was close enough for me. OT SUV, Recently had a power steering line, pressure side leaking, local dealer quoted $1000. To replace both lines. The 2 lines cost $120 @ O'Reilly, so.... Bought a repair manual, $30. watched a U-Tube video, PIA job, did it with help of a friend, took about 6/8 hours, paid myself $100/ hour to do the job. In my retirement, I have more time than money, I'm becoming more of a Mr Goodwrench than I want to be. LOL

 

I didn't read all the other responses so someone may have already mentioned this but has the car had a lube job since you've owned it? Adding grease to the front end components sure couldn't hurt any. I had my Edsel lubed at Walmart last year and they only charged me $4.50. If there's no Walmart in your area call around and ask what the local shops charge. Also, you should be able to find a lubrication chart for your car online so print it and bring it with you so the guy doesn't miss anything. Good luck....

 

teejay, guess I am just getting older and used to the old daysI guess its different and I am not working any more and not used to prices going up..LOL.Bruce.

 

typo41, I am glad its just not me.LOL.Bruce.

 

What am I missing here?
Bushings are bad, bushings are a wear item and need replaced .

Talking to The guy who had his hands on your car should increase your bill from 43.00 since it's more of his time on your car and him talking to you should not decrease his pay for the day.

 

The problem with these "alignment shops" is that the children that work there are being paid flat rate and they don't (won't) spend the time to align an old car. I've been a truck mechanic for 27 years and have repaired a shitload of stuff that the kids wanted to just "replace". Nobody today has any clue about how to repair stuff instead of throwing it away and getting something new and made in China.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Clik, As soon as I see what need replacing and do it myself. I sure as hell wont be going back there for an alignment. There were 5 guys just standing around shooting the shit and eating breaskfast to top it off. Too busy Really???? Bruce.